3 Voices is an extraordinary release in the history of New Zealand underground pop. The group was formed by the core song-writing duo of Rob Sinclair and David Bowater, with brilliant slick drummer Steve Garden, and an assortment of talented musicians contributing to the sole album. Sinclair and Bowater had both been in Schtung, then briefly formed the group Ray A – which is where most of this material originates from.
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Marie and the Atom were an experimental pop group created as a performance and song-writing vehicle for Gill Civil. The group released 3 boundary-pushing EPs in the mid 1980’s and are best remembered for their song ‘Isol’.
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Former singer song-writer (and artist) with popular late 70s Auckland folk-pop group Waves, Graeme Gash made his solo debut with After the Carnival in 1981, which saw some praise in John Dix’s excellent history of New Zealand Rock and Pop ‘Stranded in Paradise’.
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English-born composer who on settling in New Zealand in the early 1980’s started working with many of New Zealand’s best and most creative contemporary independent musicians and groups – Tall Dwarfs, Blam Blam Blam, Big Sideways, Avant Garage etc.
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Blam Blam Blam was a politically-charged underground pop act with touches of post-punk guitar, intelligent lyrics and the melodic touch of Don McGlashan’s vocals and Euphonium playing on killer signature tunes like ‘There is no depression in New Zealand’ and ‘Don’t fight it Marsha (it’s bigger than the both of us)’.
Brilliant synth-pop group formed by former Whizz Kids / Pop Mechanix / The Swingers vocalist Andrew McLennan. Known solely for their one-hit wonder ‘Sierra Leonne’.
Christchurch power-pop Pop Mechanix began their life as ‘Splash Alley’. They built up a strong reputation locally and around the country with Dick Driver (and later, Peter McLennan) as front-man; but never quite made it to the next level in Australia.
Ira Robbins (Trouser Press): “A jazzy-cum-classical nine-person ensemble with clarinets, cello, tuba and bassoon (in addition to guitar, bass and drums), New Zealand’s determinedly oddball Avant Garage sounds like something Zappa might have done in his Dada orchestral phase.”
Biography No kidding big: this New Zealand band boasts a dozen members, including four horn people, four guitarists and two drummers. Seven of ’em are songwriters, which (not surprisingly) makes this a pretty eclectic record, fusing rock, jazz, funk and… Read More »Big Sideways