Ballon D’Essai
Young early Flying Nun 5-piece out of Christchurch. With 2 bass players the group had an ‘edgy post-punk sound’.
Artists
Tinnitus
Production group that merged modern technology with visual elements and audience interactions. Key members Angus McNaughten would go on to form Unitone HiFi and Michael Hodgson is one half of Pitch Black.
The Wallsockets
Fairly rudimentary punk coming out of Wellington’s late 1970’s / early 1980’s Terrace scene. Famously organized the **** compilation – which is a pretty effective scene document.
a million lights
In 2004 I (Chris Andrews) compiled a 4-song EP of original recordings and got them pressed in the very limited capacity of 20 copies through Peter King, down in Mt. Somers (in a single day!, June 24th 2004), each with a unique cover and hand-numbered. The music contained within varies between low-key melodic trembling’s on the a side, to caustic, but carefully controlled feedback-entrenched drones and shards of sound (extracted with the help of Cubase’s many distortion tools – from a bass guitar) on the b of an 8″ lathe-cut.
So So Modern
Terrific Wellington-based synth and guitar troop – greatly exciting, fun and wacky group. Often costumed and running through sets at breakneck pace, the group had a give it a go and home-production bent, distributing their own self-produced recordings (with art-work from the very talented Neon Sleep), hand-crafted pins, stickers and posters.
The group evolved out of youthful stints in underground hardcore groups – and they took elements of that (breakneck pace, gang vocals, building a community) to the group, but expanded the sound to make it more palatable to a wider audience.
A Handful Of Dust
One of Bruce Russell’s (Dead C) and Alastair Galbraith’s darkest outfits, often dealing with distinct imagery and motif’s in their music and especially pronounced in their liner notes (most of which are distributed through Russell’s Corpus Hermeticum label).
Formed by the duo in Dunedin in 1984, and primarily a free noise group. Though primarily a duo, Peter Stapleton had been a regular contributor from 1993 until his passing in March 2020.
Pihed
The starting point for two key members of the Christchurch Music Community, Pihed featured Andrew Penman (Salmonella Dub, bass and vocals) and Tom Mahon (The Strange Loves, guitar and vocals), along with Carolyn O’Neill (vocals), Bede Pascoe (keyboards), and Andrew Cavanagh (drums).
Figure 60
Heavy free-noise-metal from Auckland 3, occasionally expanded to a 4 piece with the addition of Constant Pain’s Cameron Bain.
Superette
Dave Mulcahy‘s first post-Jean Paul Sartre Experience band was the unfortunately short-lived Superette, who sprung up in Auckland in 1993. With Mulcahy taking guitar and vocal duties, he pulled together former Blue Marbles duo Ben Howe (Bass) and Greta Anderson (Drums/Backing Vox) to record the rough, thematically scary, but thoroughly charming Rosepig EP. From here the band became known as one of the better live pop-rock acts around New Zealand, and where one of the defining bands (along with the 3Ds) that turned me on to New Zealand bands.
Toerag
An early to mid 1980’s alias for Onset/Offset records Campbell McLay. A strictly DIY affair, engineered like a million other Christchurch records at the time by Arnie van Bussell at Nightshift Studios.
The Enright House
The Enright House was the not quite pop, not quite post rock, brain-child of German born Mark Roberts.
The live band consisted of Roberts along with Thomas Lambert on guitar (also of A Flight to Blackout), Simon Gemmill on Drums and Evan Schaare on synths.
Alec Bathgate
Alec Bathgate’s always kept a couple steps back in his fellow Enemy, Toy Love and Tall Dwarfs shadow, but released a lovely little Byrds-jangle-pop album (with heavy Beatles and Beach Boy flourishes) in 1996.
More technically competent than Knox, and somewhat reserved (in comparison at least), Bathgate is a reflective, precarious song-writer of great talent.
The Incisions
Nick ‘Harte’ Hodgson’s loud rock’n’roll outfit.
Started life as Tony Valens and the Incisions in the mid 90’s and were mostly concentrated on primal rhythms and harsh, noisy guitar flourishes – creating some absolutely brilliant sounds far outside the commercial scope of rock’n’roll.
Techtones
4-piece early 80’s group from Auckland. Key single ‘That Girl’ is a slice of British-style power-pop:
Put out some sought after releases on the iconic Ripper and Propeller labels in the early 1980’s and were included in Propeller’s terrific ‘Doobie Do Disc’ and ‘It’s bigger than the both of us (NZ Singles 1979-82)’ compilations.
Juricevich and Roach came from 2nd gen punk outfit Sheerlux (previously the Stimulators), Chris Burt would go on to join the Stridulators and work with the Headless Chickens, and Solomon would go on to form The Rapture.
Goblin Mix
Short-lived David Mitchell 3 piece, and the last of his Auckland bands. This is when he truly found his voice, with support from Phil Moore, Andrew Moon and (Flying Nun alumni) Alf Danielson. Their complete recordings would later be compiled (along with The Exploding Budgies complete discography) as a compilation CD in 1991.