Biography
Starting life as the Gordons, Bailter Space were one of the most abrasive aggressive and (primarily) loudest bands to ever emerge out of Christchurch and the Flying Nun Records scene of the early 80s. Comprised of Alister Parker on guitar/vox, John Halvorsen on bass and Brent Mclachlan on drums, the Gordons were the sonic exploration end of the dunedin sound, creating tremendous walls of weedback and distortion, never seen before on the New Zealand scene. Parker’s deadpan monotone growl was the icing on the cake in these early albums, and the Gordons were reasonably successful as a local act before disintegrating in 1986, releasing two solid albums on Flying Nun.
Parker formed Bailter Space in 1987 (initially as Nelsh Bailter Space), retaining his role from the Gordons years, but bringing in the Clean‘s Hamish Kilgour on lead guitar, the Pin Group‘s Ross Humphries on bass and Glenda Bills on drums. This line-up never seemed to settle though, with Kilgour switching to drums, Humphries and Bills leaving the group to make way for original Gordons bass player John Halvorsen to resume the bass playing role. This line-up recorded their stunning, ear-bashing debut Tanker, but once Kilgour had rejoined the Clean full time again in time for 1989’s Modern Rock, Brent Mclachlan was brought back in to complete the original Gordons line-up.
Through out the 90s, Bailter Space continued to release brilliant, dense rock albums, cultivating their wall-of-sound to the point of My Bloody Valentine comparisons, but Bailter Space were always more aggressive and indeed louder than their Irish cousins. After several impressive North American tours, Matador signed the band for American distribution, releasing the 4 song ep The Aim to a burgeoning US audience. The positive feedback that Vortura and Wammo (their mid 90s classics) receieved led to the band relocating to New York.
After adapting to a looser, more ‘Indie’ sound with 97s Capsul, the band then set about a less hectic schedule, gradually developing their sound at a more relaxed pace, taking several years between Capsul and Solar.3, even after the more considerable amount of press these albums receieved. In 2004 the (newly coporatized) Flying Nun Records / Festival Mushroom Group issued a best-of compilation compiling the history of Bailter Space. Though put together and designed by the band themselves and contains many classic character-defining Bailter Space songs, the compilation skimps on any band info or details along with some of the more direct and obvious compilation choices, leaving their albums (particularly Tanker and Wammo) much better starting points for the band.
After a lengthy hiatus whilst the members were living in various cities in New Zealand and the United States, Bailter Space re-emerged in 2012 with new recordings on the Arch Hill label – previewing tracks on-line before the new albums eventual release in August 2012 – some 14 years since Solar.3 was released!
Members
- Alister Parker (Guitar/Vocals/Bass, Bailter Space, The Basket Cases, The Gordons)
- Hamish Kilgour (Guitar/Drums, Bailter Space, Bill Direen & The HAT, Cloudcraft, Coloring Book, Roya, The Clean, The Great Unwashed, The Jessels, The Mad Scene, The Moles, The Sundae Painters)
- Ross Humphries (bass, The Great Unwashed, The Terminals, Bailter Space, Compulsory Fun, Lyndon and the Liars, Murder Strikes Pink, Scorched Earth Policy, The After Dinner Mints, The Great Unwashed, The Pin Group, The Terminals, Trillionaires)
- Glenda Bills (drums, Bailter Space)
- John Halvorsen (Bass, Bailter Space, Perfect Strangers, Skeptics, The Gordons, Vorsen)
- Brent McLachlan (Drums, Bailter Space, Skeptics, The Gordons)
- Todd Lindner (bass, Bailter Space)
Discography
- Nelsh Bailter Space EP (1987, Flying Nun Records Records, FN094)
- New Man 7″ Single (1987, Flying Nun Records Records, FN096)
- Grader Spader 12″ Single (1988, Flying Nun Records Records, FN106)
- Tanker (1988, Flying Nun Records Records, FN107 / FNE31)
- Thermos (1990, Flying Nun Records Records, FN142 / FNE32)
- The Aim Ep (1992, Flying Nun Records Records, FN232)
- Shine 7″ Single (1992, Clawfist)
- Robot World (1993, Flying Nun Records Records, FN259)
- B.E.I.P. EP (1993, Flying Nun Records Records, FN284)
- Vortura (1994, Flying Nun Records Records, FN295)
- Splat EP (1995, Flying Nun Records Records)
- Retro CD Single (1995, Flying Nun Records Records)
- Wammo (1995, Flying Nun Records Records)
- Capsule (1997, Flying Nun Records Records/Turnbuckle, FN375/TB005)
- Capsule 7″ Single (1997, Turnbuckle)
- Solar.3 (1998, Wildside/Turnbuckle, TB017)
- Photon EP (1998, Turnbuckle)
- Bailter Space Compilation (2004, Flying Nun Records Records)
- Strobosphere (2012, Arch Hill Records/Fire Records, AHR052)
- Trinine (2013, Arch Hill Records/Fire Records, AHR056)