Biography
The Renderers are New Zealand’s prime example of southern-fried country, and are indeed one of our finest ever bands. Brian Crook formed the Renderers with his partner Maryrose in early 90’s Christchurch when The Max Block failed to go anywhere, and the duo returned from Sydney.
Brian was already part of the Scorched Earth Policy / The Terminals sequence of bands that was picking up wind again – but The Renderers were the Crooks band.
Their early recordings stuck to a strictly country approach and seemed a bit too forced and distant, it wasn’t until the band relocated to Port Chalmers, a small bay just outside of Dunedin that The Renderers really found their sound.
Maryrose’s vocal on the 7″ single ‘A Million Lights” is like a defining moment in New Zealand rock. An achingly beautiful, all be it brief song that has since featured on many Flying Nun Records and Xpressway compilations, the song typified the Renderers new found dark and country-tinged rock sound – latter referred to as ‘Southern Gothic‘.
Over the course of the 90s, The Renderers albums grew stronger and stronger – culminating in the masterpiece that is 1998’s A Dream of the Sea. Featuring a wonderful cover of Ritchie Venus forgotten gem “Forbidden Planet” and a swagger of fine, dark songs themed around the sea, it was welcomed with open arms by the U.S. underground music scene, whilst going mostly ignored in New Zealand.
The Renderers are still going strong, touring sporadically, whilst both Maryrose and Brian have released their own solo material (most notable Brian’s 2002 album as Bible Black, and Maryrose’s contributions to the Arc Life series of Dunedin music compilations).
In early / mid 2004 during the process of organising a Christchurch show with the band, I managed to conduct an interview with the duo, and have kept up to date on their schedule for future releases. Since the recent demise of Arclife Records, plans were then intact for The Renderers to start their own label. With Maryrose’s first solo release, a further solo release from Brian in a form similar to that of his fractured solo debut Bathysphere under his current Anti-Clockwise performing alias, and perhaps the 5th Renderers release on the way, to boot.
Circa mid-2005 the group made further line-up changes, this time coinciding with a possible move back to Christchurch. Original bassist John Bellows was reinstated, and drummer Mike Daly become the groups rhythm section for a one-off Christchurch show, still proceeding the highly-anticipated 5th album.
Members
- Brian Crook (Anti-Clockwise, Bible Black, Flies Inside The Sun, guitar, guitar / keyboards / vocals, Guitar/Vocals/Drums, Renderizors, Scorched Earth Policy, The Max Block, The Renderers, The Terminals, vocals)
- Maryrose Crook (Above Ground, Bass, Bible Black, Feast Of Frogs, guitar / vocals, Renderizors, The Max Block, The Renderers, Vocals/Organ)
- John Billows (bass, Dark Matter, MEDaL, The Renderers, Thee Strapons)
- Joanne Billesdon (Dark Matter, Demolition, drums, guitar, Lo liners, Outsiders, Snort, The Axemen, The Renderers, The Stepford 5, The Thunderbirds, Thee Hellfire Club, Thee Strapons)
- Haydn Jones ( Cease to Exist, drums, Revolution 10, Cease to Exist, drums, Revolution 10, The After Dinner Mints, The Axemen, The Renderers)
- Patrick Simmonds (violin, The Renderers)
- John Markie ( Boxcar Guitars, Don McGlashan and The Seven Sisters, guitar, Indians, Shaft, The Chance, The Connoisseurs, The Renderers, aka John Segovia, aka John Segovia / Rent Hamilton, bass, Boxcar Guitars, Brother Love, Don McGlashan and The Seven Sisters, Guitar, Guitar/Vocals, Indians, Ritchie Venus and the Blue Beetles, Shaft, The Axel Grinders, The Axemen, The Chance, The Connoisseurs, The Renderers, The Vacuum)
- Peter Mitchell (Creeley, drums, Golf Course Alligators, Hiding From Stan, Hiss Explosion, Junkanoo, percussion, Squirm, The Dialtones, The Renderers, The Suspenders)
- Denise Roughan (bass, bass / vocals, bass/drums/vocals, Ghost Club, guitar / vocals, Lishka, Look Blue Go Purple, Marineville, Pink Plastic Gods, The 3Ds, The Neanics, The Renderers)
- Robbie Yeats (Brown Velvet Couch, Dating Godot, drums, The Dead C, The Renderers, The Verlaines, Trash)
- Greg Cairns ( Sferic Experiment, The Idle Suite, The Real Life Tragedies, The Renderers, The Verlaines, Constant Pain, drums, Marineville, Sferic Experiment, The Idle Suite, The Real Life Tragedies, The Renderers, The Verlaines)
- Richard Baker (Palo/Ona, Polyp, bass, The Renderers)
- Nathan Thompson (Eye, guitar / noises, Piano, PSN Electronic, Renderizors, Sandoz Lab Technicians, Sleep, The Renderers, Unspecified)
- James Kirk (Black Boned Angel, drums, drums / percussion, Guitar, King Loser, Ohm, Renderizors, Sandoz Lab Technicians, Superbugger, The Renderers, The Stumps, With Throats As Fine As Needles)
- Thom Bell (The Dark Beaks, David Kilgour and the Heavy Eights, The Shifting Sands, bass, The Renderers)
- Allan Thomasson (keyboard / bass, The Renderers)
- Thomas Geigenschrey (Der Fremde, Hitmen 3, violin, The Renderers)
- Johannes Contag (Bad Statistics, bass, bass / guitar, Cloudboy, drums, Ferocious, Mink, Sleepytime, The Golden Awesome, The Renderers)
- Michael Daly (Dark Matter, drums, Kimo, Leadleg, The Renderers, This Cage, Y.F.C., YFC)
- Shannon O’Brien (bass / electronics / guitar, The Renderers)
- Sean O’Rielly (Chug, Guitar/Vocals/Organ, King Loser, Olla, Sferic Experiment, synthesizer / bass / percussion, The Renderers)
- Stefan Neville (5608, Alien Space Wreck, Blowfly Saint, Casagrante Apparatus, Dribbly Cat Attraction, Drums, Drums / Saxophone, guitar / drums / vocals / organ / bass / ukulele / sampler / synth / recorder / accordion / electronics / chanter, 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)
- Geoff Soul (drums, The Renderers)
- Ryan Erskine (bass, The Renderers)
Discography
- Trail of Tears (1991, Flying Nun Records, FN184)
- ‘Bigger than Texas’/’Revival Radio’ 7″ single (1991, Flying Nun Records, FN185)
- ‘Million Lights’/’Primitive Country’ 7″ single (1993, Merge Records, MRG036)
- ‘A Touch of Evil’/’Howling at the Moon’ 7″ single (1993, Flying Nun Records, FN1254)
- That dogs head in the gutter gives off vibrations (1995, Ajax Records, AJAX042)
- Surface of Jupiter (1996, Ajax Records, AJAX058)
- A Dream of the sea (1998, Siltbreeze, SB72)
- Ghost of our Vegas lives (2005 as ‘Maryrose Crook with the Renderers‘, Tinsel Ears, TECD002)
- Monsters and Miasmas (2009, Last Visible Dog, LVD136)
- A Rocket into Nothing (2011, Ba Da Bing!, BING76)
- Measured Strychnine Invitations (2013 compilation, Exiled Records, EX03)
- In the Sodium Light (2016, Ba Da Bing!, BING110)
- This world just eats me up alive (2019 as ‘Brian Crook with The Renderers‘, Ba Da Bing!, BADA151)