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Flying Nun Records

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From Roger Shephard’s formation of the label in 1980 (originally with the Pin Group‘s ‘Ambivalence’ 7″ and The Clean‘s seminal ‘Boodle Boodle Boodle’ EP) through to the mid 90s, Flying Nun Records totally encapsulated great New Zealand pop and rock, plus a suitable home for a substantial amount of fringe or experimental material.

From the first wave of bands (The Clean, The Chills, Sneaky Feelings, Verlaines etc) through to third generation and young upstart bands (The 3D’s, Superette, King Loser etc) the strike rate for the label during this period was as high as any indie label in the world, and produced many a classic release.

In fact, with the emergence of low-cost 4-track recording in the early 80s (mostly brought about through Chris Knox and Doug Hood’s huge involvement in the local scenes) Flying Nun Records recordings soon became known for the Dunedin sound – a label that described the lo-fi, jangly aesthetic of their high-light acts.

Over the course of the 90s, bands started requiring more assistance with their recordings, as drifts away from their humble beginnings to a more high-fidelity approach meant the simple home-brewed studios of the past were no longer up to scratch.

These financial strains led to Flying Nun Records expanding their horizons, setting up European and Australian bases, and even outsourcing their vinyl pressing plant.

Essentially, these changes to a more corporate structure brought about the death of the original ‘nun way of operating.

Shephard resigned from the head of operations role as the label and the label relocated to Auckland, creating a rift between label and their bands.

Finally they we’re brought-out whole by the festival mushroom group in the early 00s, retaining the Flying Nun Records persona mainly as an A and R outlet.

Releases still trickle out, and they’ve been committed to reissuing classic former releases, but they’ve certainly lost a lot of the spark of their former years.

Artist Roster

  • 25c
  • 8 Living Legs
  • Able Tasmans
  • Alaska!
  • Aldous Harding
  • Alec Bathgate
  • All Fall Down
  • Alpaca Brothers
  • avoid!avoid
  • Axemen
  • Badd Energy
  • Bailterspace
  • Ballon D’Essai
  • Bernard Lenoir
  • Betchadupa
  • Bike
  • Bird Nest Roys
  • Black Girls Machine
  • Bored Games
  • Breathing Cage
  • Bressa Creeting Cake
  • Builders
  • Carter – Jefferies
  • Celia Mancini
  • Chainsaw Masochist
  • Children Collide
  • Children’s Hour
  • Chris Heazlewood
  • Chris Knox
  • Chug
  • Clementine Valentine
  • Cloudboy
  • Crude
  • Crystal Zoom
  • Cul de Sac
  • Dartz
  • David Kilgour
  • David Kilgour and the Heavy Eights
  • David Mitchell
  • David Mitchell & Denise Roughan
  • David Mulcahy
  • Dead Famous People
  • Deerhoof
  • Die Die Die
  • Dimmer
  • DOG Power
  • Doublehappys
  • Dribbling Darts Of Love
  • Drill
  • Erny Belle
  • Expendables
  • F In Math
  • Fatal Jelly Space
  • Fazerdaze
  • Feast Of Frogs
  • Features
  • Fetus Productions
  • Fiona McDonald
  • Flak
  • Fly Ashtray
  • Friend
  • From Scratch
  • Garageland
  • Ghost Club
  • Ghost Wave
  • Goblin Mix
  • Gordons
  • Graeme Downes
  • Graeme Jefferies
  • Grayson Gilmour
  • Hamerkop
  • Hamish Kilgour
  • Headless Chickens
  • Heazlewood
  • High Dependency Unit
  • indi
  • International Tall Dwarfs
  • Into The Void
  • Jay Clarkson
  • Jean-Paul Sartre Experience
  • Kane Strang
  • Kim Blackburn
  • King Loser
  • Kody Nielson
  • Labradford
  • Lawrence Arabia
  • Lee Harvey
  • Little Stevie McCabe
  • Log
  • Look Blue Go Purple
  • Loves Ugly Children
  • Mainly Spaniards
  • Marching Orders
  • Marie And The Atom
  • Martin Phillipps
  • Massive Stereo Sellout
  • Mermaidens
  • MGMT
  • milk
  • Na Noise
  • Naked Spots Dance
  • Netherworld Dancing Toys
  • Nick Smith
  • Not Really Anything
  • NRA
  • Office Dog
  • Olla
  • Onono
  • Pan Am
  • Pavement
  • Pell Mell
  • Peter Arnold With Claire Timings
  • Peter Jefferies & Jono Lonie
  • Phantom Forth
  • Pin Group
  • Playthings
  • Pop Art Toasters
  • Princess Chelsea
  • Purple Pilgrims
  • Queen Meanie Puss
  • Raucous Laughter
  • Reb Fountain
  • Recitals
  • Rik Starrr
  • Ritchie Venus and the Blue Beetles
  • Robert Scott
  • S.P.U.D.
  • Scorched Earth Policy
  • Sean O’Reilly
  • SF
  • Sharpie Crows
  • Shayne Carter & Peter Jefferies
  • Shayne P. Carter
  • Shocking Pinks
  • Skeptics
  • Snapper
  • Sneaky Feelings
  • Solid Gold Hell
  • Son Of Goblin Mix
  • Spacious
  • Spines
  • Stephen
  • Stiff Herbert
  • Straitjacket Fits
  • Strange Loves
  • Street Chant
  • Stridulators
  • Sulfate
  • Superette
  • Surf Friends
  • T54
  • Tall Dwarfs
  • Teeth
  • The 3D’s
  • The Bats
  • The Bilders
  • The Body Electric
  • The Cake Kitchen
  • The Chills
  • The Clean
  • The Courtneys
  • The D4
  • The Dead C
  • The Doublehappys
  • The Eric Glandy Memorial Big Band
  • The Exploding Budgies
  • The Fall
  • The Fold
  • The Gordons
  • The Great Unwashed
  • The Hasselhoff Experiment
  • The Jean-Paul Sartre Experience
  • The Jessels
  • The Jumblies
  • The Letter 5
  • The Mad Scene
  • The Magick Heads
  • The Max Block
  • The Mint Chicks
  • The Moas
  • The Orange
  • The Phoenix Foundation
  • The Pin Group
  • The Puddle
  • The Rainy Days
  • The Renderers
  • The Rip
  • The Sombretones
  • The Stones
  • The Strangeloves
  • The Subliminals
  • The Terminals
  • The Verlaines
  • The Victor Dimisich Band
  • The Warners
  • The Wart
  • The Weeds
  • They Were Expendable
  • This Is Heaven
  • This Kind Of Punishment
  • This Sporting Life
  • Tim Burgess & Bob Stanley
  • Tinnitus
  • Tiny Ruins
  • Toy Love
  • Vera Ellen
  • Verlaines
  • Vibraslaps
  • Voom
  • Vor-stellen
  • Wax Chattels
  • Womb
  • Wreck Small Speakers On Expensive Stereos
  • Zen Mantra

    Compilation Discography

    • Dunedin double 4xEP (1982, DUN1/2)
    • The last rhumba (1983, RUM001)
    • Tuatara (1985, FN045 / FNE21)
    • Outnumbered by sheep (1986, BFM001)
    • In love with these times (1990, FN677 / FNE28)
    • Freak the sheep vol. 1 (1991 ,FN189)
    • Flying with Brashs: A Flying Nun Records sampler cassette (1991, FN91/98)
    • Roger sings the hits cassette EP (1991, released for the 10th anniversary)
    • Flying Nun 1981-1991 trading cards (1991)
    • Getting older: Flying Nun Records 1981-1991 double-LP (1991, FN209)
    • Pink flying saucers over the southern alps (1991, FN210)
    • Freak the sheep vol. 2 (1992, FN226)
    • Flying Nun 1993 calendar (1992)
    • Wild things-wyld kiwi garage 1966-1969 vol. 1 (1992, FN-vlp-wt1)
    • Let them eat pavlova (1993, included with Les Inrockuptibles)
    • Shrew’d: a compilation of NZ woman’s music (1993, FN270)
    • Ain’t nothing but a sampler (1993, fmgnz01 FES001)
    • Ak79: Auckland punk (reissue 1993, FN279)
    • Beyond the jangle (1993, Australian release)
    • Abbasolutely (1995, ABBA tribute compilation, FN315)
    • The sound is out there (1995, FN334)
    • 15: Flying Nun Records records (1996, FN377)
    • Popeye’d (1996, FN395)
    • Topless women talk about their lives soundtrack (1997, FN402)
    • 12 hours fast (1997, FNUN 1)
    • Something for the weekend (1997, FNUN 2)
    • God save The Clean (1997, The Clean tribute album, FN409)
    • I’ll make you happy soundtrack (1999, FN425)
    • Scarfies soundtrack (1999, FN425)
    • MGD limited edition (2002, FN466)
    • Speed of sound (2003, FN479)
    • 31 very short films DVD (2004, FN474)
    • In love with these times / pink flying saucers double-cd reissue (2004, FN485)
    • Second season DVD (2004, FN489)
    • Where in the world is Wendy Broccoli? (2005, FN498)
    • Flying Nun 25th Anniversary Box Set (2006, FNCD500)
    • Tally Ho! (Flying Nun’s Greatest Bits) 2xCD (2011, FNCD517)
    • Time To Go – The Southern Psychedelic Moment: 1981-86 (2012, FNCD514)

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