Bill Direen

Biography

One of the longest running mythic underground figures of New Zealand rock who has worked (and commanded) such significant figures in the New Zealand music scene as Chris Knox, Peter Stapleton, Maryrose Crook, Dave Mitchell, Malcolm Grant – the list goes on.

William Direen reviews poetry for the NZ Listener and is both taller and skinnier than me. I should hate him, but damn it, I can’t bring myself to become even … bitter… about his facility with words and notes and the way he can approximate all those dippy guitar chords that I don’t even know the names of. No, really, I can’t even loathe his fucking theatricality ‘cos the shit’s so damn good at it, and it’s Beckett rather than Coward and who can complain about that! For over 20 years Direen has remained in the shadows and developed a hugely significant body of work spanning any number of genre’s and style distinctions.

– Chris Knox

Direen formed something of a legend in late 70s Christchurch when he joined the existing duo of Peter Stapleton and Stephen Coogle (who had been performing as the Victor Dimisich Band up until then) to form the Vacuum Blue Ladder – a band that went sadly undocumented (though some of the recordings from the era, including the startling ‘love in the retail trade’ are included on the Direen accreditted Split Seconds).

Disciplined anarchy. We were trying to build a better world through making good songs.

– Bill Direen

Direens’ discography as a whole is a bit hard to track, with releases under the name Six Impossible Things, Soluble Fish, Feast of Frogs and Above Ground and variations on the Builders name (i.e. The Bilders, Bildirene, Die Bilder etc) essentially relating to Direen in either a solo or group capacity, often linked into his theatrical performances.

Since Flying Nun Records issued 4 separate anthologies of his work in the mid 90s (which comprise pretty much the entire Direen discography, with only the fourth volume, Pyx being somewhat disappointing) Direen has been relatively quite on the music front. Since becoming entrenched in theater through-out the 1980s, Direen then spent many years in the 90s and in to the new millennium as a full-time writer based in Europe.

2006 and 2007 saw new releases, and a return to New Zealand shores for Direen – settling in Dunedin. These new albums are The New York Sack (2006), recordings made with Hamish Kilgour, Allen Meek (original Bilders keyboardist) and others, and Yes Today No Tomorrow (2007), brand new recordings made on the road in USA and Europe 1995 – 2006. A new novel, Song of the Brakeman, is a science fiction guerrilla story set after the ecological implosion of the world.

Members

• Bill Direen (Guitar/Vocals, Above Ground, Feast of Frogs, Six Impossible Things, Soluble Fish, The Builders, The Vacuum, Vacuum Blue Ladder)
• Campbell Mclay (Bass, Bill Direen, Builders, Dillinger’s Brain, Offtopsthehead, Scorched Earth Policy, The Bottletops, The Mammy Whammy Tata Band, The Riptoids, Toerag)
• Malcolm Grant (Drums,  Minisnap,  Six Impossible Things,  Trillionaires, Bill Direen, Lyndon and the Liars, Minisnap, Six Impossible Things, The Bats, The Builders, The Percy Taiwan Band, The Vacuum, The World, Trillionaires)
• 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)
• Mike Dooley (Drums, $100 Band,  Toy Love, Bill Direen, Jay Clarkson and the Containers, Pop Art Toasters, Snapper, The Beaters, The Builders, The Dri Horrors, The Enemy, The Hundred Dollar Band, The Snares, Toy Love)
• Greig Bainbridge (Bass/Vocals/Percussion, Bill Direen, Chameleon, The Builders, The Haemogoblins, Tinnitus)
• Eddie Ohlson (drums, Bill Direen, The Builders)
• John McDermott (drums, Bill Direen, The Builders)
• Stuart Page (Drums,  Buildermash,  Builders,  Shaft,  The Axemen,  The Rainy Days, Above Ground, Bill Direen, Buildermash, Shaft, The Axemen, The Builders, The Rainy Days)
• Tony Green (drums, Bill Direen, The Builders, The Haemogoblins)
• Allen Meek (Guitar, Bill Direen, The Builders, The Vacuum, The World, Victor Dimisich Band)
• Karl Holdorf (Trombone / Vocals, Bill Direen, The Builders)
• Chris Todd (Trumpet, Bill Direen, Coalition Broadcasting Corporation, The Builders)
• Jay Clarkson (Vocals, Bill Direen, Breathing Cage, Expendables, Jay Clarkson & The Containers, Playthings, The Builders, The Matches, The Pikelettes, They Were Expendable)
• John Christoffels (Bass,  Dark Matter,  Hiding from Stan,  Les Baxters,  Little Dead Things,  The Renderers,  The Terminals,  Vague Secrets, Bill Direen, Brother Love, Dark Matter, Dissolve, Hiding from Stan, Les Baxters, Little Dead Things, Minus 2, Space Dust, The After Dinner Mints, The Bats, The Builders, The Renderers, The Terminals, Trillionaires, Vague Secrets)
• Greg Bates (drums, Bill Direen, The Builders)
• Paul Logan (guitar, Bill Direen, The Builders)
• Paul Girl (guitar, Bill Direen, The Builders)
• Carol Direen (vocals, Above Ground, Bill Direen, The Builders)
• Maryrose Wilkinson (vocals, Bill Direen, The Builders, The Renderers)
• David Edmundson (saxophone, Bill Direen, The Builders)
• Tania Pekelharina (vocals, Bill Direen, The Builders)
• Rob Thorne (Guitar, Bill Direen, Black Pudding, Brickshithouse, Foisemaster, Man Alone, The Bilders, The Builders, The Neckstretchers)
• Steve Wolf (saxophone, Bill Direen, The Builders)
• Alastair Galbraith (Violin, $100 Band, A Handful Of Dust, Bill Direen, Cobweb Iris, Lame & Sorry, Plagal Grind, The Builders, The Rip)
• Victoria Singh (Vocals, Bill Direen, Buffalo Bunny, Dr Versuvs And The Uranus Moon Children, Satina Saturnina, The Builders)
• Stephen Kilroy (piano, Bill Direen, Chug, The Builders)
• Derek Champion (Drums, Bill Direen, Harmony Sold Her Dragon, Nasty On, Satina Saturnina, The Builders)
• Brett Cross (bass, Bill Direen, The Builders)
• Andrew Maitai (drums, Bill Direen, The Builders)
• Andrew McCully (keyboard, Bill Direen, The Builders)
• Nikola Kapetanovic (Guitar / Loops, Bill Direen, The Builders)
• Richard Anderton (Percussion / Vocals, Bill Direen, The Builders)
• Stu Porter (drums, Bill Direen, The Builders)
• Fred Morvan (Bill Direen)
• Dave Allen (Bill Direen)
• Thomas G’schrey (violin, Bill Direen)
• Jon Evans (Bill Direen)

Discography

• Solomon’s Ball 7″ EP (1981, Self-Released)
• High Thirties Piano 7″ EP (1982, Self-Released)
• Schwimmin In Der See 7″ EP (as Die Bilder, 1982, Flying Nun Records Records, FN006)
• Beatin Hearts (1983, Flying Nun Records, JAN8)
• Split Seconds (as Bilderine, 1984, Full Moon Publishing, FM001)
• Let’s Play (1985, South Indies, SINZ 11)
• C0NCH3 (1985, South Indies, PRA2301)
• Ginger Jar 7″ Single (1986, South Indies, SNGL001)
• Cup 12″ Mini Album (1987, South Indies, SOIN5377)
• Divina Comedia (1988 Compilation, South Indies, SOIN 477)
• We Are The Coolest Cats in the World (1989, South Indies, SOIN BILT 5)
• Alien 7″ Single (1991, Hecuba Records, HEX03)
• Max Quitz (1993 Compilation, Flying Nun Records, FN274)
• Cut (1994, IMD, IMDCD 10030)
• Pyx (1994 Compilation, Flying Nun, FN277)
• Chrysanthemum Storm (2008, Powertool Records, PT085)
• Parisian Friday (2010, Powertool Records, PT101)
• Mindful (2010, Powertool Records, PT102)
• Meantime (2010, Powertool Records, PT103)
• Bilders Live CDr (2012, Self-Released)
• Untitled 7″ Lathe (2012, OneC Records, onec023)
• The Utopians 7″ (2014, Smartguy Records, smart035)
• Bilders Tour Europe (Live Tapes) (2017, Self-Released)
• Move Along, Love Among cassette (2021, Thokei Tapes, TT17)

Links

• Discogs Entry
• Bill Direen Part 1 – a maverick voice 1975 to 1984 (Audio Culture article)
• Bill Direen Part 2 – 1985 and into the present (Audio Culture article)
• Bill Direen: A Memory of Others (Bellbird Pictures documentary)