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The Dialtones

'Hey Creep' 7" single cover by Rob Haakman

Snort

Hugely popular Christchurch hard-rock all-girl group with a very 90’s riotgrrrl sound and a line-up that changed quite a bit over time. Members have included: Reta Le Quesne, twins Joanne and Sharon Billesdon, Lisa Preston, Fleur Walden Ninakaye Taane-Tinorau and Carla Rotta .

They recorded 2 singles, then had an album and a music video held back by Festival Records in nefarious circumstances.

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'Barnard's Star' EP cover

Barnard’s Star

Excellent Christchurch shoegaze / electronic group with a unique, spacey sound. Released an EP and 2 7″ lathe cut singles on the Beat Atlas imprint in the late 1990’s before going their seperate ways.

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The Dialtones - Better Late

The Dialtones

Long-running country-folk flavoured rock band from Christchurch featuring singer-songwriter Fleur Walden (aka Fleur de Lis). After forming in 1997 it took until 2004 for their debut album was released – a strong selection of songs that date right back to the bands formation.

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A Flight To Blackout

Excellent instrumentalist trio from the garden city formed by Matt Craw (guitar), James Musgrave (bass), and Jared Kelly (drums) in early 2005. Taking cues from a variety of informed directions, the group were prolific features of the local live scene, and attached themselves to both R18 and all-age crowds with varying success. Playing an involved instrumental sound heavy on dynamics.

Venus Cafe

Vaguely hippy Cafe on Lichfield street that hosted a number of diverse small-capacity shows in the late 1990s. The Cafe was upstairs from the ‘Lick Er Lounge’ bar and next to ‘Danz Nightclub’.

#nzmusic #christchurchvenues #venuscafe #lickerlounge #danznightclub

Fleur De Lis

Front-Woman for long-running Christchurch group The Dialtones. De Lis put out a very rare lathe cut 10″ EP on the late-great Mikey Hex’s Noseflute label in 1997; but it’s impossibly hard to come by these days (it wasn’t even listed on Discogs).

Half of the songs released here resurfaced on The Dialtones album, though with full band backing.

Fleur has also been a fixture in the Christchurch music scene since the 1990’s and has contributed guitar to Coal’s live performances, plus several other local groups. De Lis (who’s real last name is Walden) is the daughter of 1950’s/60’s vocalist Paul Walden.

Michael J. Brassell: A Memorial [Mar 2004]

A memorial I wrote for Michael J. Brassell after he sadly passed away from pneumonia in 2004. I helped organize a music tribute wake here in Christchurch to celebrate his life, whilst a similar event was also help in his then-current home of Dunedin.

The Undercurrents

Biography Excellent Christchurch guitar band that evolved from earlier group The Centre Will Hold. From that group Jamey Holloway (Guitar / vocals), and Nathan Bycroft (Drums) were joined by Nik O’Keefe (Bass, Vocals) and Marcus Winstanley (Guitar) to form the… Read More »The Undercurrents