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.
Artists
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.
Children’s Hour
Whilst Chris Matthews was struggling within the pop-confines of the Prime Movers, Johnny Pierce (Bass), Grant Fell (Guitar) and Bevan Sweeney (Drums) were forming their own sound as Children’s Hour.
Dr Kevorkian and the Suicide Machine
The early 2000’s recording outfit of Jordan Reyne. Built around Reyne’s strong vocals and a variety of musicians, mostly of the studio-pro variety (which currently includes Trinity Roots’ Rikki Gooch).
Dress
Yuri Frusin and Helen Johnstone (also both of Garbage and the Flowers) with Pianist Kristen Wineera (The Idle Suite, The Drugs, The Blueness).
Both members have since reunited with GATFs guitarist Paul Ling in the Melbourne-based Minit.
The Mint Chicks
Excellent post-punk band taking in equal measures of Voidoids style angular guitar and Blood Brothers style furious hardcore screaming and breakbeat crunch. A talented 4-piece with an excellent grounding in music production, they were snapped up by Flying Nun after building a strong live reputation in auckland during 2002-3. ‘licking letters’ is the first single, coming from the break-through Octagon, Octagon, Octagon Ep, and is a jerky, stop-start ripper, few bands have shown such intensity committed to plastic.
The Topp Twins
Years of playing camping grounds, festivals and all sorts of alternative venues have turned the Topps into a household name in New Zealand, eventually becoming television stars with their scattered performances. Their performances include country yodel sing-a-longs, any number of sketch-character setups (usually with crowd involvement), and of course spoon solos.
Gestalt Switch
(At the time) young and upcoming Dunedin rock act, forming in December 2001. Haven’t heard their 4 song debut ep, but they seem to be pushing a diverse sound – with loudness appearing to be key.
Skeptics
Hugely popular and influential New Zealand industrial rock act who emerged out of Palmerston North in 1979. Known for their grinding sound (a mix of noisy, scattered and angular guitar and eclectic electronic sounds) and one particularly visual music video – the incredible and universally banned ‘Affco’.
Slim
4-piece Christchurch hard-rock outfit who originally formed as Gluefist. Made a bit of an impact in the late 90s through to 2002 with a few singles (particularly ‘Bullet In My Hand’, which received significant radio play) and a few high-profile support slots.
French for Rabbits
Lovely, dreamy, folky indie-pop from (former Ragamuffin Children and The O’Lovelys) keyboardist Brook Singer and Jazz guitarist John Fitzgerald (guitar). Taking a DIY approach the group have toured Europe and the US, garnished exposure on television series soundtracks and grown a fairly sizeable following around the globe.