MONKEY BUSINESS

Rip It Up, Issue 243, 1 November 1997, Page 20

MONKEY BUSINESS

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A hour earlier, Auckland duo Pitch Black *"■* * ’ won fans with their irresistible grooveladen dub and tweaked electronic soundscapes, and Salmonella Dub were guaranteed a hyped audience. From the outset they were bouncing, - going loose to uptempo tunes like 'Loletta' and 'THC Winter' or trancing out to 'Conspiracy Dub' and 'Strung Out Between the Beach and Heaven'. It was a night of surprises all round, says ’ • Penman, who was blown away by the crowd, and the flash motel and expensive meals provided by . Astrolabe's owners. “It was quite unexpected to get such wicked hospitality in a small, out of the way place. And also, from all accounts, [Mount Maunganui] can be quite bogan and 'rock' orientated, and to have ‘ so many people turn up and be into boogieing on down was impressive." , After the gig, outside the venue a drunk guy, about 20, wearing a Rage Against The Machine tshirt is thrilled; “I'm not usually into dance stuff, but I got into the Prodigy and that, so I thought I'd check these guys out. It was awesome!" In New Zealand, in the previous 12 months, - there has undoubtedly been a broadening of musical tastes within the young mainstream, to incorporate dance music into the fold alongside guitars. Penman believes the change is due to

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"Yeah, heaps. You see so many bands come away from a record company deal with debts; or they've got to stick with the company until their album sells a million copies, or something ridiculous, and we don't want to get ourselves. locked into something. Of all the labels we . looked at, Virgin seemed the most credible, but more than anything ,they were prepared to deal with us direct, and there's nothing to gain for us by having a middle man. It's not like we've sold out to the 'industry' we've just upped the stakes ' in getting our album into the stores." Is there anything Salmonella Dub haven't , been able to accomplish by staying with Curious? . "... No, initially, we knew what we wanted to do and we knew we could achieve it, and we just, went out and did it. I don't think there's anything we've missed out 0n... video grants maybe." Ah, yes. More than a pet hate of Penman's over recent years has been the top heavy allocation of NZ On Air video grants. "It just seems odd from our end of the . country that probably 90% or more of the video grants go to Auckland. I've had a few discussions with Brendan [Smythe] at NZ On Air about it, and, basically they have to cover their asses by being seen to be giving the money to music that is generally acceptable to the mainstream public. •It's got tough for [NZ On Air] in that there's too many independents applying and they don't ; know what to do about it. Basically, Brendan said to me that unless your aligned with a major , you're not going to get a look-in at a video grant. I dug myself a hole by saying, 'well, it looks like , you're just funding the Americanisms of • ■ Auckland.' He didn't take kindly to that, but that's the way it looks." Otherwise, there's no complaints, says Penman; Right now, Salmonella Dub are where they wanted to be when they began, and have remained their own bosses to get there. "The biggest issue of any band is keeping all -. the personalities under the same roof, and keeping things going. It's always a grind and it's always hard work, but you've got to keep some kind of common goal in place; Our goal has been 1 music as a vehicle for travel, as long as we can ~ . travel with it, we're happy. We're aiming to, I get to Europe for the summer festival season. fora couple of months, play some gigs, ■? come back here, and take it from there. I . don't have any huge aspirations, I don't . lexpectI expect more than what we've got, and what we've achieved is more than enough. If we're still going, and we do get out of the , country next year, after, that I'd quite happily retire. I'd buy a shack on the west coast and mull up for the rest of my life. "We've maintained a professionalism in j both our music and business dealings, and we've been able to remain independent ' because we don't have grandoise attitudes about who we are. Essentially, we set out to be self sufficient and to work within our j means, and by doing this, we haven't gotten I into debt, we haven't fucked anyone over, | and at the end of the day, we have a true , j concept of our worth."

JOHN RUSSELL