Biography
Eclectic Auckland group with a revolving line-up based around the song-writing talents of David Graham. Their music has pushed and pulled in various different directions over the years, from punky rock’n’roll to encompass full horn sections and strings, to stripped back indie-rock line-ups. Their songs just explode with melody, crazy lyrics and noisy enthusiasm.
The Rainy Days first came together in 1992 as the members of Gestalt found themselves embattled in recording their ‘motherlode’ album and were looking for an outlet to perform live in a setting that did not require the personnel for their increasingly bizarre arrangements and strict instrumentation demanded by their principal songwriter Davy G. The drummer took the brushes, the guitar and bass went semi-acoustic and the singer took to bellowing through an orange road cone.
The Rainy Days live performances varied between teenage house parties, primary school show & tells and mostly unannounced performances at other peoples rock shows.
Official Website
From an original three the line-up ballooned to somewhere over ten. Some hung on, some were lost in the confusion, some left to find the rock mountain path, some just weren’t told about the next practice and others wandered in from the cold to fill the gaps.
Ten years on, 2 and a half EPs and a 7″ later, that era is documented on Spongo, Mummagumma, BullyBeef+ Microchips
Official Website
The group were closely tied to Bob Frisbee and his studio along with the similarly-unfocused group Shaft; who they shared a handful of members with.
The group reached it’s productive peak in the early to mid 2000’s, with two albums and a compilation of their earlier EP releases all put out in quick succession, along with a support slot for The White Stripes.
Members
- David Graham (The Psycho Daizies, Gestalt, The Rainy Days, WWIV, Conduits Of Konsumption, guitar / vocals)
- Richard Whall (aka Rich Mixture, The Psycho Daizies, Shaft, The D4, The Rainy Days, The Rock And Roll Machine, Space Dust, Voom, bass / vocals)
- Steve Pikelet (The Psycho Daizies, drums)
- Phil (Gestalt, piano)
- Lance Strickland (aka Tribal Thunder / Dotdash, 55 Polish Workers, S.P.U.D., The Rainy Days, King Loser, Osterbergs, Freak Power, Mud Death)
- Tom Dale (The Brunettes, The Rainy Days, Shaft, saxophone)
- Stuart Page (Above Ground, The Axemen, Shaft, The Builders, The Rainy Days, drums / bongos)
- Jonathon Hopcroft (Shaft, The Rainy Days, clarinet)
- Ron (percussion / drums)
- Dion Palmer (aka Dion Lunadon, The D4, True Lovers, A Place to Bury Strangers, percussion)
- Tony (drums)
- Glenn (saxophone)
- Jackie Carley (Shaft, The Rainy Days, tuba)
- Allan White (Shaft, The Rainy Days, piano)
- Karen Canzek (The Rock’n’Roll Machine, WWIV, Reb Fountain, bass / vocals)
- Aimee Egdell (drums / vocals)
- Angel (piano)
Discography
- Raspberry Spungo cassette (1993, Frisbee)
- Mummagumma Bubblegum cassette (1993, F-Corp / Gestalt Information and Communication Systems Network)
- ‘Uh Huh!’ 7″ single (1995, Flying Nun Records, FN332)
- ‘Rock N’ Roll Made Me A Man’ 7″ single (1998, Kato Records, KATO-10028)
- Spungomummagummabullybeef+microchips (compilation, 2003, Honest Tooth / Gestalt Information and Communication Systems Network)
- Hot Shit! (2003, Gestalt Information and Communication Systems Network)
- Facework (2005, Gestalt Information and Communication Systems Network)