A RUMOURS

Rip It Up, Issue 241, 1 September 1997, Page 35

A RUMOURS

Auckland Dead Flowers play an all ages show at Squid on September 5, before doing a few central North Island dates. The band then head off to play gigs in Sydney with Front End Loader and the Angels, as part of the Pacific Circle Music Covention. Dead Flowers have completed their third album, with Eddie Rayner producing ... the AK97 album launch at the Compound on August 16 was an awesome event, with particularly hypnotic and hyper performances from Pitch Black, Overwash Vs. Megaton, and Baiter Cell. AK 97 is available from Cyberculture on K’Rd ...the launch party for Dollar Mixture, a new compilation featuring local guitar/pop outfits, is happening at the Kings Arms in Newton on September 20. Bands playing are Cabbage Bomber, Cane Slide, Lozenge, and Weather ... Matty J’s new band Real Fabrica make their debut, also at the Kings Arms, on Sept 11. Headlining is Boh Runga’s Stellar ... dodginess surrounded the nonappearance of Under-world’s touring DJ Darren Price at Herzog last month. Promoters knew days before the event that Price was unable to enter the country due to visa problems, but still ran radio ads on bFM. On the day of the gig, RipltUp was advised to “buy tickets on the door” to see Price ... Sticky Filth have a new four-track EP available. Witches can be obtained by sending sl2 incl. p&p to PO Box 5514, Wellesley St, Auckland ... the Trainspotting stage production hits the St James Theatre in Queen Street from October 7-19 ... Timestone are recording their debut album, due for release in December ... quarter finals of the Hatching began at @Luna on Aug 30, and continue through Sept, every Saturday night ... more notable gigs this month; Wellington’s Letterbox Lambs and Hell Is Other People make a rare visit to Auckland, playing the Sub Station on Sept 12, and there’s also the chance to catch Stereo Bus live, supporting Bic Runga at the Powerstation on Sept 20. JOHN RUSSELL Hamilton The Contact 89FM Battle of the Bands final was held at the Bongo on August 23. Competing in the final were Msu, the Hollow Grinders, Mindless, Tobermorie, the Nerve, and Trinket. The Nerve were the eventual winners, taking home SSOO cash, and SIOOO of recording time at the Fridge Studio. Runner up was Tobermorie, and Trinket came third ... the third annual Spatula Death Battle of the Bands is taking place at JBC’s in early October and will feature ‘competitors’, Mystery Machine, among others. As with the last two ‘battles’, Spatula Death will

win, although they may not play again this year — they are the judges once again however ... local instrumental surf music band, the Hollow Grinders, have been featured on an international surf music compilation called Reef Madness, released on American indie, Deep Eddy Records ... Nodrog is launching his CD EP, How to Hold a Plectrum, in early October. A release party is scheduled to take place at JBC’s ... the second Contact 89FM Subcard Series for the year is happening in the last week of September. Acts will be confirmed soon. JUSTIN HARRIS Wellington Lots of plans seem to be in the making across the board in the capital at the moment that will hopefully see an eventful few months ahead of us ... the big local gigs of September are Letterbox Lambs, Weta, Breathe, and Pedestrian, at the James Cabaret (26), and Jordan Reyne’s Birds Of Prey album release show at Bodega (13)... Welli can kiss goodbye to Bust who did just that after their rockin’ farewell at Bodega with Pony Club and Killer Ray ... the Homebacon website is now on-line, featuring Ape Management, Brother Love, and Spacedust. Ape Management are set to record their second album ... the crew at Plan 9 have written and will be performing the music for the ballet Alice which is on tour over Sept ... Barry Saunders has finished recording a new album, and is starting a six week stint downstairs every Sunday at Molly Malones ... Capital Blues Inc have a blues club going every

Thursday at the Bristol featuring a variety of bands and guests each week ... Let’s Planet’s new album, La Gloria, is scheduled for an October release... the Hasselhoff Experiment are heading to Sydney this month to play at the Pacifip Circle Music Convention ... Intensified Bar closed down on the weekend of August 30/31, but it looks like business as usual for Bodega and Hole In The Wall, with lots of noise and funky stuff happening over the next month, keep an eye on local gig guides for details ... any rumours, phone (04) 385 9051. ALLAN CLARK Nelson The recent winter hard-times-for-pub-licans-mentality has seen the demise of the Attic as a band venue. Touring bands should now contact the Black Fly Bar (CZ- Nigel on 025 394780) ... the Nelson Wearable Arts Festival dominates September with a major multi-media show Techno Hell, at the Arts Centre on Sat 13, performance poet Neena on Wed 17, and Planet Janet on Fri 26 ... the Arts Centre is celebrating scoring a $150,000 grant towards new premises by releasing a series of compilation albums, the first of which, Rockquest high school bands, is to be released in October. This will be followed by a Women only project in November, and a sequel to the Hairy Armpit Sessions in December. Bands interested in being included should contact the Arts Centre ... send info for this column to (03) 546 6918. DAVE WHITE

Christchurch

Recent tour flops in Christchurch came courtesy of Americans the Melvins, and Japan’s Tripod Jimmy

... Salmonella Dub are on tour in October to promote their forthcoming album, Calming Of The Drunken Monkey ... tire Gathering folks are staging a two day party at the Whitecliffs festival site on the second weekend of October (10/11) ... local trio Debris have just released their debut album, Super 8 Mahem, on Dirge Records ... the Rejuvenation

Battle of the Bands event is happening in April, entries are invited now. LARCONIC/SARAH SOUNDCHECK Dunedin Both the Empire and the Crown are under new management, opening up the live environment in the city after a flat period. The Crown is being run by Tony Partridge and his BACCACU friends (it stands for something like the Bizarre and Completely Captivating Audience Control Unit), while the Empire is under the guidance of Wendy and Trudy. Good luck all ...

ARC continues to host live music from the likes of Mestar, Cloudgirl, and Slate ... Fuel Cafe held their music week from August 18-22, with acts such as D Baser, and Jetty in attendance ... David Kilgour is currently touring in the USA, including shows with Yo La Tengo. He will be back in NZ in time for the October release of his new album ... strip club Whisky A Go Go went up in flames the night before the Bledisloe Cup. Hot girls indeed. Disperse any rumours to (03) 479 5336.

GAVIN BERTRAM