Biography
A well-known, yet thoroughly underground troop that often swelled in numbers (sometimes up to as many as 10 members in the mid 1980’s). The group have been known for their artistic endeavours as well as their music – with drummer Stuart Page (aka Stu Kawowski) a renowned film-maker and photographer.
Barely out of Cashmere High School, Steve McCabe played alongside Bob Cardy (aka Bob Brannigan – later to form the legendary Shaft up in Auckland) in a variety of pre-cursor bands, before Page jumped on stage at one of their shows. This was the birth of The Axemen, and the core line-up of all the groups earliest recordings.
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The group released three albums on Flying Nun Records in the mid to late 1980’s – with guitarist Dragan Stojanovic joining the line-up in 1986 to solidify the core group. Several releases on their own Sleek Bott imprint followed – following a very make-shift, punk approach to recording, their albums were often of-the-moment pieces…
The story of [Big Cheap Motel] is: Bob and myself went down to check out the Christchurch botanic gardens, the scene of the local council/”Big M” milk drink-sponsored “Summertime” concert-in-the-park series of free outdoor events, only to find the park plastered with billboard-sized posters of skimpily-clad young ladies advertising the sponsors wares.
We immediately proceeded home and wrote the enclosed set of ‘protest’ songs about the travesty, which were performed at the event, to the mild annoyance of the council & the sponsors.
Mayday: The Little Stevie McCabe / Axemen / Sleek Bott webpage
Little Stevie McCabe (aka Stephen Carr) passed away in Mid-September 2023; he was 57.
Members
- Stephen Carr (aka Little Stevie McCabe) ( guitar / keyboards / vocals, Garam Masala, The Gorillas, Axemen, Garam Masala, Little Stevie McCabe, The Gorillas)
- Bob Brannigan (aka Robert Cardy) (guitar / vocals, Garam Masala, They Spunks, Garam Masala, Raith Rovers, Robert Cardy, Shaft, Smoothy, The Axemen, They Spunks)
- Stuart Page (aka Stu Kowalski) (drums / vocals / trumpet, Buildermash, Builders, Shaft, The Axemen, The Rainy Days, Above Ground, Bill Direen, Buildermash, Shaft, The Axemen, The Builders, The Rainy Days)
- Dragan Stojanovic (guitar / vocals / mandolin / bass, Doodle Bugs, Doodle Bugs, The Axemen)
- William Daymond (bass / guitar / keyboards / drums, Cougar Cougar Cougar, The Axemen, The Flying Sorcerers, The Pickups, The Sweethearts, The Winebox Inquiry, Axemen, Coal, Cougar Cougar Cougar, Terror Of The Deep, The Flying Sorcerers, The Pickups, The Steffan Van Soest Hit Machine, The Sweethearts, The Winebox Inquiry)
- Mick Elborado (guitar / bass / vocals, Alien, Gas, Minus 2, Ritchie Venus and the Blue Beetles, The Palace Of Wisdom, Alien, Alpaca Brothers, Brother Love, Cease to Exist, Drowning Is Easy, Gas, Minus 2, Negative Nancies, Projekt Mauve, Ritchie Venus and the Blue Beetles, Scorched Earth Policy, Space Dust, The After Dinner Mints, The Axemen, The Palace Of Wisdom, The Shallows, The Terminals, Thee Hellfire Club, Trillionaires)
- Paul Lee (saxophone / vocals, Graeme Gash, soprano sax, The Axemen)
- Pete Rees ( vocals, The Axemen, The Gorillas)
- Phil Ascott (aka Shorty Hamilton) (bass, The Axel Grinders, The Axemen, The Connoisseurs)
- John Markie (aka John Segovia / Rent Hamilton) ( Boxcar Guitars, guitar, Don McGlashan and The Seven Sisters, Indians, Shaft, The Chance, The Connoisseurs, The Renderers, Boxcar Guitars, Brother Love, Don McGlashan and The Seven Sisters, Indians, Ritchie Venus and the Blue Beetles, Shaft, The Axel Grinders, The Axemen, The Chance, The Connoisseurs, The Renderers, The Vacuum)
- Doug Hamilton (The Axemen, The Connoisseurs)
- Patrick Faigin (aka Duane Zarakov) (drums, Axel Grinders, Brother Love, Cease to Exist, King Loser, Space Dust, The Hi-tone Destroyers, The International Telepaths, Wolfskull, Axel Grinders, Brother Love, Cease to Exist, King Loser, Say Yes to Apes, Space Dust, The Axemen, The Hi-tone Destroyers, The International Telepaths, Wolfskull)
- Gordon Baird (bass, The Axemen, White Noize)
- B.B. Ryan (bass / guitar / vocals, The Axemen, White Noize)
- Gary Scott (horns, The Axemen)
- Richard Sedger (aka Arthur Sheep) (saxophone, The And Band, The Axemen, The Spies)
- Alan Wright (saxophone, Nux Vomica, The Axemen, The National Sex Grid)
- Peter Hall-Jones (trumpet, Perfect Strangers, The Axemen)
- Joanne Billesdon (guitar, Dark Matter, Demolition, Lo liners, Outsiders, Snort, The Axemen, The Renderers, The Stepford 5, The Thunderbirds, Thee Hellfire Club, Thee Strapons)
- Sharon Billesdon (bass / drums, Lo liners, Outsiders, Snort, The Axemen, The Stepford 5, Thee Hellfire Club)
- Bev E. Rage – guitarist and singer, The Thunderbirds (bev e. rage – guitarist and singer, The Axemen)
- Brent Hayward (guitar, Shoes This High, Smelly Feet, The Kiwi Animal, aka Fats White, Fats White, Shoes This High, Smelly Feet, The Amps, The Axemen, The Kiwi Animal)
- Jessica Walker (viola, Fishschool, Shoes This High, Fishschool, Shoes This High, The Axemen, The Clean)
- Lisa Preston (organ / vocals, Cuticles, Lo liners, The Ginger Group, The Luvin’ 44’s, Thee Hellfire Club, Thee Tryhards, Cuticles, Lo liners, Nux Vomica, Snort, Space Dust, The Axemen, The Ginger Group, The Luvin’ 44’s, The Portage, The Tryhards, Thee Hellfire Club, Thee Tryhards)
- Angela Dawson (vocals, Scab Union, The Axemen)
- Reta Le Quesne (guitar, Five Car Pile Up, Flamejob, Levitating Churches, The Hell City Slickers, The Long Collars, The Stepford 5, The Wrong Doings, Thee Royal Family, Five Car Pile Up, Flamejob, Levitating Churches, Psycho-Kat, Snort, The Axel Grinders, The Axemen, The Hell City Slickers, The Long Collars, The Stepford 5, The Wrong Doings, The Wrongdoings, Thee Royal Family)
- Haydn Jones ( drums, Cease to Exist, Revolution 10, Cease to Exist, Revolution 10, The After Dinner Mints, The Axemen, The Renderers)
- Lissa Bruce (vocals / keyboard, The Axemen)
- George Henderson (keyboards / vocals, Mink, The And Band, The Axemen, The GDH Smoke Machine, The New Existentialists, The Puddle, The Spies)
- Chris Knox (vocals, Chris Knox and the Nothing, Knoxious, Right Left And Centre, Tall Dwarfs, The Jessels, Bill Direen, Chris Knox and the Nothing, Knoxious, Right Left And Centre, Tall Dwarfs, The Axemen, The Builders, The Enemy, The Jessels, Toy Love)
- Peter Gutteridge (keyboard, Alpaca Brothers, Mr. Big Nose, Snapper, The Cameras, The Cartilage Family, The Chills, The Great Unwashed, The Puddle, Alpaca Brothers, Mr. Big Nose, Snapper, The Axemen, The Cameras, The Cartilage Family, The Chills, The Clean, The Great Unwashed, The Puddle)
- Richard Cotton (EOE, The Axemen)
- Billy Naylor (EOE, The Axemen)
- David Graham (guitar, Conduits Of Konsumption, Gestalt, The Rainy Days, WWIV, Conduits Of Konsumption, Gestalt, The Axemen, The Psycho Daizies, The Rainy Days, WWIV)
- Gaylene (percussion, Gaylene and the Undertakers, The Axemen, The Pukes)
- Richard Whall (aka Rich Mixture) (guitar, Space Dust, The D4, The Rainy Days, The Rock And Roll Machine, Voom, Shaft, Space Dust, The Axemen, The D4, The Psycho Daizies, The Rainy Days, The Rock And Roll Machine, Voom)
- Matt Middleton (sax / keyboards, All-Electric, Arcane, Bog, Brainlego, Crude, Dimmer, Disciples of King Spasm, Noisypussy, Pus, Putrid, Southkill, Space Dust, The Aesthetics, The Axemen, The Ho’ Dogs)
- Russell Covini (aka Rustle Covini) (drums, Beautiful Losers, Lo liners, Oh Mental Hospitals, The Aesthetics, The Axemen, zerO)
Discography
- Big Cheap Motel (1983, Sleek Bott)
- Three Virgins Three Versions Three Visions (1986, Flying Nun Records Records, FN049)
- Derry Legends (1987, Flying Nun Records Records, FN120)
- Ak87 (W/ The Shit Pop Boyz 1987, Sleek Bott)
- Scary! (W/ The Sleek Bott Gang 1989, Sleek Bott)
- Peter Wang Pud (1991, Flying Nun Records Fn204)
- Dirty Den Sessions (1991, Sleek Bott)
- Recliner Rocker (1992, Sleek Bott #921)
- Three Rooms (An Elton John Tribute Album) (1992, Sleek Bott)
- Across The Universe In 27879 Days Ep (1992, Sleek Bott)
- The Axemen Singles Collection (Compilation 1998, Sleek Bott)
- Nutsack 7″ Single (2011, Sleek Bott)
- Sac Tap Nut Jam (2013, Spacecase Records, SCR006)
why does it say all those people were in the band in 1991? – they were all involved much earler. 83-84 for most of them.
dragan joined in ’86