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Graeme Downes

The Verlaines

Formed in late 1980, The Verlaines is Graeme Downes’ long-standing song-writing vehicle, and one-hell of a brilliant, literate band at that. With the classic early 1980’s line-up of Downes on guitar and vocals, Alan Haig on drums and Jane Dodd on bass, the Verlaines released excellent singles such as ’10 O’Clock In The Afternoon’ from the EP of the same name, and of course their signature tune ‘Death And The Maiden’, which stands as one of the true kiwi classics.

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The Cartilage Family

The Cartilage Family were a short-lived Dunedin group featuring Peter Gutteridge (and a bunch of his best early songs), Shayne Carter, Lesley Paris and Francisca Griffin. No official recordings exist and they only performed live twice; but the Cartilage Family were an important stepping stone for New Zealand Music.

Nick Smith

One of the lesser-known Flying Nun Records releases, young singer-songwriter Nick Smith put out a largely unremembered EP on the label in 1987 after appearing on the ‘Outnumbered by Sheep’ compilation.

He also recorded a preceding EP (with the help of Chris Knox), released on record store Real Groovy Records own imprint back in 1986.
Smith would go on to have a successful career as a journalist.

Graeme Downes

a truely whimsical song-writer, with a douer, charasmatic voice and a penchant for creating lush, beautiful arrangements (thanks to heavy study’s in music composition and production. downes is one of new zealand’s truely great song-writer, though it took him some… Read More »Graeme Downes

Flying Nun Records

The independent label that put New Zealand Music on the map. From Roger Shephard’s formation of the label in 1980 through to now, Flying Nun has been a mark of creative, quirky, inventive music with a distinct kiwi flavor.