Pumice

Biography

The recordings and performances can offer countless stylistic deconstructions – repetition and looping, acoustic folk-blues mine fields, baltic style dance pieces, Martin Denny inspired exotica – nothing is beyond the Pumice grip. Like a hootenanny in hades Pumice are unencumbered by the baggage of stylistic focus…They are stunningly reckless.

Dan Vallor from Popwatch #10

Though essentially the alias of prolific multi-instrumentalist experimental noise-folk artist Stefan Neville, over the years Pumice has featured or been involved in collaborations with a handful of well known New Zealand underground musicians – particularly Jon Arcus and Kaaterama Morehu in the early days and Jade Farley more recently.

Pumice is exceptionally prolific, mostly due to the approach he’s taken over the years – recording heavily-improvised live sessions; with a minimal amount of post-recording edits. As a proficient one-man-band, Neville has embraced the DIY approach – expression emotion through a thoroughly ‘unvarnished’ sound.

Pumice belongs to the musical tradition of the Dead C / Xpressway / Siltbreeze et al. That is to say unconventional, experimental, and textural with a strong lo-fi / cassette four track aesthetic… manage[ing] to contrast the more lo-fi elements with some beautifully recorded sounds.”

— Undertheradar Review of Puny

Pumice releases are usually lo-fi pieces, but in a non-traditional sense – they can veer in a million different directions and styles, with Neville trying his hand at any number of instruments to add texture and creative spark. An affection for lathe cut releases (particularly in the early days on his own A Stabbies and the Rocket Recording DIY label) adds a certain amount of charm too.

Neville eventually joined Auckland punk group The Coolies a around 2005, though Pumice continues to be his prolific creative output.

Kaaterama Morehu passed away in 2020.

Members

• Stefan Neville (guitar / drums / vocals / organ / bass / ukulele / sampler / synth / recorder / accordion / electronics / chanter, 5608, Alien Space Wreck, Blowfly Saint, Casagrante Apparatus, Dribbly Cat Attraction, Lost Roman Legions, lowfly Saint, O/PUS, Ohm, Olympus, Pumice, Sundowner, Sunken, Teen X-Ray, Teen-X-Ray, The Aesthetics, The Coolies, The Ideal Gus, The Renderers, Thee Ideal Gus, They Spunks, Vulcan Steel)
• Kaaterama Morehu (vocals / percussion, Motty, Pumice, Smokehouse, Sundowner, tapes, The Ho’ Dogs, The Strange Girls, Thee Ideal Gus)
• Jade Farley (violin / keyboard / guitar / synth / melodica / vocals / drums / organ, Glucina, Pumice, The Aesthetics, The Coolies)
• Jon Arcus (drums / vocals / electronics, Alien Space Wreck, Armpit, Blowfly Saint, Dribbly Cat Attraction, Naked Sailors, Pumice, Sugar Jon, Sundowner, The Strange Girls, They Spunks)
• Indira Neville (photography / vocals, Drop Zone, Pumice, The Aesthetics, The Biscuits, The Coolies)
• Lucy Danko (vocals / rattle, Pumice, The Gluts)
• Hermione Johnson (piano / prepared piano, Day Breathes Night, O/PUS, Pumice)
• Leighton Craig (keyboard [casio], Blowfly Saint, Fig., G55, Primitive Motion, Pumice, The Deadnotes, The Lost Domain)
• Nigel Wright (remixing / electronics, Kraus, Pumice)
• Chris Berry (layout / design, Flying Canyon, Giantess, Pumice, The Strange Girls)

Discography

• Yi-Jun [Cassette, Album] (1994, Plop, PLOP 27)
• Walkden Fisher [Cassette, Album] (1995, Stabbies And The Rocket Recordings)
• 19/4/96 [Lathe-cut 8″] (1996, Stabbies And The Rocket Recordings)
• Poise [Cassette, Album] (1996, Stabbies And The Rocket Recordings)
• Performance [Cassette, Album] (1997, Stabbies And The Rocket Recordings)
• I’ll Take No Chance Near A Volcano [Cassette, Album] (1997, Stabbies And The Rocket Recordings)
• The Day Tape Challenge [3 x Cassette] (1997, w/ Sugarjon and Ee Monk, Stabbies And The Rocket Recordings)
• Let’s Treat The Pig’s Head As Dip [Lathe-cut LP, Album] (1998, Stabbies And The Rocket Recordings)
• Poin [Cassette, Album] (1998, Stabbies And The Rocket Recordings)
• Platter Two [Lathe-cut 7″] (1998, Stabbies And The Rocket Recordings)
• Transactions [Cassette] (1998, Root Don Lonie For Cash, RDL027)
• Withdrawl [Lathe-cut 7″ Picture Disc] (1998, w/ CJA, Root Don Lonie For Cash, RDL029)
• Dumbo’s Jamaican Egg Dance [Lathe-cut 7″] (1998, Root Don Lonie For Cash, RDL033)
• Platter Four [Lathe-cut 7″] (1999, Stabbies And The Rocket Recordings)
• Pumice / CJA – The Pirate [CDr, Album] (1999, w/ CJA, Stabbies And The Rocket Recordings)
• A Window Into A Egg [Cassette/CDr, Album] (2001, Stabbies And The Rocket Recordings)
• White [CD, Album] (2002, Stabbies And The Rocket Recordings, 52128)
• Pumice / Mr Sterile Ensemble / Swagger Jack / Demarnia Lloyd – Live At The Space 12-4-2002 [Cassette, Album] (2002, w/ Various, Wire Bridge)
• Sexual [CDr/Cassette, Album] (2003, PseudoArcana, PA018)
• Armpit / Pumice – Society of Dogs [CDr, Album] (2003, w/ Armpit, Pink Skulls)
• Raft [CD, Album] (2004, w/ Witcyst, Last Visible Dog / Stabbies, lvd062)
• Francis Neville Stelzer Watkins [Lathe-cut 8″] (2005, w/ Richard Francis, Howard Stelzer, and Clinton Watkins, CMR, CMR9)
• Worldwide Skull [CDr, Compilation] (2005, Audiobot, AB33)
• Yeahnahvienna [CD, Album] (2006, Soft Abuse, SAB014)
• Pebbles [CD, Album] (2007, Soft Abuse, SAB022)
• Quo [CD, Album] (2008, Soft Abuse, SAB030)
• Providence [Vinyl, 7″] (2008, 8mm Records, 8mm019)
• Persevere [Vinyl, 7″, EP] (2009, Soft Abuse, SAB040)
• Pumice / Grouper – Tour Single [Vinyl, 7″] (2009, w/ Grouper, Soft Abuse, SAB041)
• Magnedisk Recordings Of Gfrenzy Songs [Vinyl, 7″] (2009, Dirty Knobby, DK-010)
• Worldwide Gullet [CDr, Compilation] (2010, Nyali Recordings, Nyali 5)
• PUNY [Vinyl/CD, Album] (2012, Soft Abuse, SAB050)
• Land [Cassette, Mini-Album] (2014, Soft Abuse, SAB066)
• Kambrook.Rammar.Instant.Archer. [Cassette, Mini-Album] (2014, Clean Teeth Recordings, Teeth 12)
• Poise Etc [Vinyl, Album/Compilation] (2015, Planam, planamice)
• Puddles [Vinyl, Album] (2015, Soft Abuse, SAB072)
• Table [Vinyl, LP, Album] (2020, Soft Abuse, SAB 093)
• Worldwide Table [Cassette, Compilation] (2021, Dubbed Tapes)
• Bung Eye / Winter Cabbage [Lathe-cut LP] (2022, w/ Noemienours, Noemienours Records)
• Phylis [CD/Cassette/Vinyl, Album] (2022, Soft Abuse, SAB 105)
• Miserable Poison [2 x CD, Compilation] (2024, Fördämning Arkiv, F-ARKIV 13)

Links

• Discogs Entry
• BandCamp Page
• A Stabbies and the Rocket BandCamp page
• Puny album review (Undertheradar)
• Interview with Stefan Neville (Undertheradar)
• Table review (Medium)
• The Single Object: The back country record cutter (Objectspace)