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Chris Heazlewood

Biography

Fuzz-guitar god Chris Heazlewood had been a visible part of the New Zealand underground for at least a couple years prior to meeting Celia Mancini in Dunedin back in 1991 (and thereby forming the legendary King Loser).

In Sferic Experiment Heazlewood was loud and caustic, putting out a cassette on Bruce Russell‘s iconic XPressway label way back in 1989, flanked by future King Loser alumni Sean O’Rielly and Greg Cairns.

Ratfink A Booboo!

A year later Heazlewood put out his first solo release – entitled ‘Ratfink A Booboo!‘, this ultra-rare cassette release was a blueprint for future releases named after a suitably obscure 1960’s b-movie.

A 2nd solo cassette entitled ‘Hellmouth 66‘ in 1991, along with a 7″ EP as Olla – a group comprising Heazlewood, O’Rielly and Ex-Look Blue Go Purple drummer Lesley Paris, Heazlewood’s first release on Flying Nun Records.

From 1993 through 1996 Heazlewood recorded and release four 7″ singles, and Flying Nun Records would release the combined results as ‘Ca$h Guitar‘ in 1998. By then King Loser were on permanent hiatus, and fairly soon Heazlewood would disappear from view altogether, eventually resurfacing in late 2015.

However the preceding years had been tough on Heazlewood – along with the death of good friend and former band-mate Peter Gutteridge had passed away, plus a Kickstarter page was created to help pay for his own stage four liver disease.

Heazlewood began to recover and even managed a King Loser reunion in 2016/2016, unfortunately brought to an abrupt end in mid 2017 with Celia Mancini’s passing. However circa 2017, Chris Heazlewood continues to perform in a solo capacity.

Members

  • Chris Heazlewood (Guitar/Vocals/Bass/Drums)

Discography

  • Ratfink A Booboo! (1990, A One-Off Productions)
  • Hellmouth 666 Cassette (1991, Xpressway, X/Way 23)
  • Surfs Up In Malibu 7″ Single (As Heazlewood 1993, Flying Nun Records Records, FN222)
  • They Slaughter Small Children, Don’t They 7″ Single (1993, Turbine, TUR004)
  • Badge Or Medallion? 7″ Single (As Heazlewood 1995, Flying Nun Records Records, FN354)
  • The Ron Asheton Club 7″ EP (1995, Crawlspace, SPACE003)
  • Ca$H Guitar (1996, Flying Nun Records Records, FN398)

Links

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