Biography
For a band that has so much influence and family history spread across its members, Jean-Paul Sartre Experience (later shortened to JPS experience, due to legal wrangles with Sartre’s family estate) produced what could be considered a limited body of work – never living up to the expectations they had made for themselves as one of New Zealand’s best live acts during the late 80’s and early 90’s.
However ‘Love Songs’, their brilliant first album, is something of a New Zealand classic – an infectious example of quirky New Zealand guitar-pop. A varied album based around love and positively, i always find something to enjoy every time I come back to it. Jangley numbers such as ‘The Loving Grapevine’, cherished sing-a-longs like ‘I Like Rain’, and all-out fun romps such as ‘Crap-Rap’ keep me entertained, if only for the fun aspect.
After the subdued but often sparkling quirky debut, they took a very long time to release ‘The Size of Food’, which showed a change to a more rock sound.
Members
- Dave Mulcahy (Bass/Vocals, 1984 – 1994)
- Dave Yetton (Guitar/Vocals, 1984 – 1994)
- Jim Laing (Guitar/Vocals, 1984 – 1994)
- Gary Sullivan (Drums, 1984 – 1994)
- Russell Baillie (Keyboards, 1991 – 1993)
- Matt Heine (Keyboards, 1993 – 1994)
Discography
- Love Songs (1986, Flying Nun Records Records/Communion, FN078/COMM2)
- Jean-Paul Sartre Experience EP (1986, Flying Nun Records Records, FN057)
- I Like Rain/Bo Diddley 7″ Single (1987, Flying Nun Records Records)
- The Size of Food (1990, Flying Nun Records Records, FN122)
- Elemental/Flex EP (1991, Communion, COMM24CD)
- Precious 7″ Single (1991, Flying Nun Records Records)
- Bleeding Star (1993, Flying Nun Records Records, FN246)
- Masked and Taped EP (1993, Flying Nun Records Records, FNCD244)
- Breathe EP (1993, Flying Nun Records Records, FNCD245)
- Into You EP (1993, Flying Nun Records Records, FNCD271)
- Ray of Shine/Shiver 7″ Single (1993, Flying Nun Records)
- The Jean-Paul Sartre Experience Compilation (1995, Flying Nun Records Records, FNCD078)
Links