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The Terminals

After a 12-year recorded absense, the Terminals finally return! One of Christchurch’s most-loved underground bands, the Terminal’s have laid dormant, playing one-off shows every year or so since their Flying Nun Records days, but with Brian Crook resurfacing back up in Christchurch, it was just a matter of time before a new album would resurface – that being ‘Last Days Of The Sun’ on American label Last Visible Dog.

The Terminals were an outgrowth of the legendary Scorched Earth Policy (well techinally, they were a reunion that stuck) that ended up putting out some of the best, and darkest pop-rock songs this country has ever produced. I can’t imagine describing the terminals without the phrase ‘rolling thunder’ coming to mind, as they play paranoid, disturbed songs full with doom and gloom (care of Peter Stapleton) over a backing of musical anarchy.

Aaaah, so the Terminals first started in about… it was probably early 1986, maybe even late 1985. I was playing in Scorned Earth Policy and I think Ross Humphries, who had been in the Pin Group, was keen to get Stephen Cogle out of retirement. He had gone into what we called ‘retirement’ after the Victor Dimisich Band folded – the story was he’d given up music to play golf [laughs]. And I think in early 1986, we started having sessions with Mick Eldorado, who was also in Scorched Earth Policy, and Susan Heney from 25 Cents. Towards the end of that year we played live for the first time.

Revitalising scorched earth policy’s early 80s songs like ‘lolita’ and ‘mekong delta blues’, the terminals have released 3 albums under Flying Nun Records and an assortment of limited distribution releases on their own Medication imprint, and continue to play live on rare one-off occasions (with members spread across the country).

Peter Stapleton passed away in March 2020 and Mary Heney passed away in September 2020.

Members

Discography

  • Disconnect 12″ EP (1988, Flying Nun Records, FN091)
  • Do The Void’/’Deadly Tango‘ 7″ Single (1990, Xpressway, X/Way17)
  • Uncoffined (1990, Flying Nun Records, FN116)
  • Disease (1991, Xpressway, X/Way19)
  • Cul-De-Sac (compilation, 1992, Flying Nun Records, FN239)
  • ‘Black Creek’ 7″ single (1992, Siltbreeze, SB24)
  • ‘Witch Doctors’/’Psycho Lives’ 7″ single (1992, Feels Good All Over, FGAO#8)
  • Touch (1992, Raffmond, RAFF001)
  • Little Things (1995, Raffmond, RAFF014-2)
  • Medusa‘ 7″ (1996, Roof Bolt, RB005)
  • Live (1997, Medication, 001)
  • Last Days Of The Sun (2007, Last Visible Dog, LVD-116)
  • Singles & Sundries (compilation, 2014, Ba Da Bing!, BING104)
  • Antiseptic (2017, Ba Da Bing!, BING129)

Links

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