Auckland punk group that marked the arrival of Jed Town. When The Superettes broke up Town formed famed post-punk group The Features; who would eventually morph into Fetus Productions.
#nzmusic #nzpunk #thesuperettes #ak79 #thefeatures #fetusproductions
Little Stevie McCabe has been an underground force in New Zealand music since the early 80s, playing n anarchic form of Rock’N’Roll through a variety of bands – most notably as a key member of The Axemen.
However as a solo musician McCabe was hyper-productive, and when he passed away recently (September 2023) he left behind some 300 unreleased cassette recordings.
#nzmusic #littlesteviemccabe #theaxemen
Wellington group from the late 1980’s; notably sponsored by the NZ Student Arts Council. A review of the debut EP turned up in Feminist magazine ‘Broadsheet’ and there’s a very short clip of them performing at the 1987 Mangawhai Women’s Festival.
#nzmusic #feminist #outofthecompost #oderecords
Bygone Era were a prominent but short-lived late 1980’s rock group with hardcore punk aspirations, during an era when New Zealand had few hardcore punk groups.
They put out an EP, and a split 7″ with The Warners on Onslaught Records label (run by vocalist Rowan Coffey’s brother Simon) before breaking up in 1989, their full length album ‘Get Airborne’ coming out posthumously.
#nzmusic #nzhardcore #bygoneera #thewarners
Blam Blam Blam was a politically-charged underground pop act with touches of post-punk guitar, intelligent lyrics and the melodic touch of Don McGlashan’s vocals and Euphonium playing on killer signature tunes like ‘There is no depression in New Zealand’ and ‘Don’t fight it Marsha (it’s bigger than the both of us)’.
Brilliant synth-pop group formed by former Whizz Kids / Pop Mechanix / The Swingers vocalist Andrew McLennan. Known solely for their one-hit wonder ‘Sierra Leonne’.
A mid-1990s side-project of super-prolific Armpit / Futurians lof-fi / experimental / noise musician Clayton Noon, presumably with his Armpit bandmate Jon Arcus (aka Sugar Jon).
Formerly known as The Dallas Pro-Drag Allstars, Pro-Drag were a loud, hard-rocking Wellington-based Rock’N’Roll combo who put out releases on the lo-fi Stink Magnetic tape label. Band member (and Stink Magnetic label founder) Dylan Herkes described the group as ‘Hawaiian Industrial’.
Pop-funky 3/4-piece Christchurch act from the mid 80s. Made an appearance on Radio with Pictures article on the current state of Christchurch live music (in 1984), released a cassette single recorded at Nighshift Studios and at one point had The Chills keyboardist Andrew Todd as a member.
Double Happys brought together former Bored Games bandmates Shayne Carter and Wayne Else – originally with an unreliable drum-machine (named ‘Herbie Fuckface’), but eventually replaced with their High School friend John Collie. A wonderful, sometimes confrontational group who came to a tragic conclusion with the accidental death of Wayne Elsie in June 1985.
Clangy Auckland post-punk / indie-pop from the mid 1980’s. Released a brash, tuneful and fun LP-sized EP on Meltdown Records in 1987 before going their separate ways.
The Cartilage Family were a short-lived Dunedin group featuring Peter Gutteridge (and a bunch of his best early songs), Shayne Carter, Lesley Paris and Francisca Griffin. No official recordings exist and they only performed live twice; but the Cartilage Family were an important stepping stone for New Zealand Music.
Noisy Dunedin rock group formed by Ex-Alpaca Brothers Bruce Blucher and Paul Cahill. Robbie Yeats was their primary drummer, but their recordings feature contributions from a number of well-known underground performers. Released 3 albums and a couple 7″ singles.
Excellent Dunedin 4-piece with a stellar line-up. Dark, noisy guitar and driving rhythm, but sadly only a single hard-to-find album (plus a couple 7″ singles) to their name. Closely tied to Bruce Blucher concurrent band Trash.
Christchurch eletro-pop troop that burst onto the All-Ages scene with the super-fun home-recorded MySpace single (‘Nikee’) and then a flurry of live shows, including achieving success as a wildcard entry in the Smoke-Free Rock-Quest regional finals. An exciting mix of electronics, guitar and pulsating rhythm, Bang! Bang! Eche! are Charlie Ryder (guitar), James Sullivan (Drums), T’Nealle Worsley (Bass) and Zach Doney (Vocals / Effects).