TV Eye was a collective rather than a label, with releases comprised of group, duo and solo material from the musicians that made up the South Island recording collective The Picnic Boys, plus a couple of hard-to-find compilations that include the same groups and a handful of others who may or may not feature key members Kevin Smith, Steve Watson, Pat Faigan, and Tim McCleod.
#tveye #nzmusic #thepicnicboys #sayyestoapes
The early 1980’s solo recording alias of Kevin Smith – who went on to find fame as an actor with the character Ares in the Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princes franchises before his life was tragically cut short.
Smith recorded and released a series of lo-fi underground rock cassettes, often with Pat Faigan (aka Duane Zarakov – later of Space Dust, King Loser etc) and Steve Watson – initially as part of The Picnic Boys collective and later as a member of Say Yes to Apes, who self-recorded and released a variety of lo-fi DIY releases on their own TV Eye label.
#nzmusic #undergroundmusic #hyphensmythe #kevinsmith
Led by the dynamic duo of Celia Mancini and Chris Heazlewood, New Zealand’s surf and noise guitar gods King Loser were one of the best local groups for much of the 1990’s with 3 terrific albums and a handful of singles and bootleg releases before their split in 1997.
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Say Yes To Apes were a loose, noisy, often sloppy and usually creative Dunedin-then-Christchurch-based underground rock outfit formed by frontman Kevin Smith (several years before his acting career took off), drummer Pat Faigan (aka Duane Zarakov of Space Dust, King Loserand multi-instrumentalist Steve Watson, born out of the earlier Picnic Boys.
Hyphen-Ears was an underground group formed by South Island-based duo Kevin Smith (aka Hyphen-Smythe) and Steve Watson (aka Legacy of Ears) as a sideline to their Dunedin-based group Say Yes to Apes – which itself was an outgrowth of the The Picnic Boys recording collective).
The two Hyphen-Ears releases were some of the last by the TV Eye collective – vocalist Kevin Smith was soon channelling his creativity into acting…
#nzmusic #hyphenears #tveye
The Picnic Boys was a loose collective formed around the core trio of Kevin Smith, Patrick Faigan and Steve Watson (who later became Say Yes to Apes). At Faigan’s behest the various members recorded their own take on ‘experimental’ music to tape, which was later compiled into a handful of cassette releases on the groups TV Eye label in the early 1980s.
#nzmusic #thepicnicboys #sayyestoapes #tveye
Presumably named after a song by notorious cult leading serial killer (and Beach Boys collaborator) Charles Manson. One of Duane Zarakov, Celia Mancini and Brother Love’s many psychedelic rock acts – this time a Christchurch-based group who were around during 1991 (after the demise of The Axel Grinders, but before Space Dust and King Loser) and recorded a single cassette EP.
#nzmusic #undergroundmusic #ceasetoexist #theaxelgrinders #kingloser #spacedust
Biography Fuzzy, bluesy Rock’n’Roll from Martin Henderson, aka Brother Love. Henderson has lent his name to a number of groups (‘The Homebacon Gang’, ‘The Second Hand Emotions’, The Free Association’, His Dark Horses’, ‘His Far Out Space Nuts’ etc), featuring… Read More »Brother Love
Biography While a member of the Picnic Boys collective (and later as a member of Say Yes to Apes) Legacy of Ears was the recording alias of multi-instrumentalist Steve Watson, who put out a couple DIY cassette releases on the… Read More »Legacy of Ears
Biography A Christchurch institution of absent idols (only John Christoffels still resides in the garden city from the classic line-up), dating back to 1993 but seldom surfacing more than a single gig every couple of years. The group was original… Read More »Space Dust