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Kato Records

Quadrophenia

Central city bar that had live shows from local bands such as Future Stupid, Loves Ugly Children, Range, Hawaii Five-O, Creeley, Ape Management, Brother Love, Space Dust, Snort, Squirm, Pumpkinhead and early Salmonella Dub, plus touring groups such as Superette, Nothing At All, and Wendy House.

Located upstairs on the corner of Lichfield and Colombo Streets (though the address is Colombo Street, the entrance was actually on Lichfield) and ran by the Yee family for a few years in the mid 90’s.

#livemusic #christchurch

Satina Saturnina - 'Annabelle' 7" single

Satina Saturnina

Cabaret-punk from Palmerston North’s Victoria Singh with (former Builders drummer) Derek Champion. The duo released a CD and 7″ on Andrew Tolley’s Kato Records label in the late 1990s. In a live context Singh was backed by The Santina Droids – Champion and Chris Swain.

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The Flamin’ Werepigs

The Flamin’ Werepigs were a gritty 3-piece garage-rock outfit from Mid-Late 1990’s Palmerston North who got a couple of recordings put out by Kato Records thanks to pestering label head-honcho Andrew Tolley by faxing a cache of found pornography!

#nzmusic #flaminwerepigs

Thee Strapons

Long-running stylistically variant group based around the duo of Don Campbell (aka Don Gone) and Bev Greene (aka Anastasia Strapon / Nova Technova). Prolific during 2 distinct phases – based in Dunedin in the late 1980’s – early 1990s then in the mid 1990s to early 2000’s in Christchurch.

#nzmusic #undergroundmusic #theestrapons

Matt Alien

Matt Alien is the long-standing nom de plume of Matt Johnstone; a multi-instrumentalist born-frontman from the likes of Christchurch groups The Hitone Destroyers and The Black Panthers, Auckland group Slavetrader, and most recently Melbourne group Levitating Churches. Harnessing the swagger of early Aerosmith or AC/DC, but with a great deal more noise and the feeling that things might just fall apart at any moment.

#nzmusic #mattalien #hitonedestroyers

The Chandeliers

3-piece guitar-less surf trio out of Wellington with members using the aliases Capt Hammondhead (Nigel Patterson – screaming vintage organ), Segue Lugosi (Dylan Herkes – over-driven bass guitar), and Trevlac (rock-steady surf drums).

#nzmusic #surfmusic #thechandeliers #stinkmagnetic

Pro-Drag

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’.

Jawload

Mid 1990s rock’n’roll outfit from Andrew Tolley, before he found fame with The Hasselhoff Experiment. Tolley formed the group with This will kill that drummer Andrew Goodchild, before expanding the band to a 4 piece (and both Tolley and Goodchild switching to guitar).

Jawload were based in Wellington and released an album and two singles on Tolley’s own Kato Records label.

The Black Panthers

Biography Late 90’s sleaze rockers out of Christchurch and featuring Garden City rocker extraordinaire Matt Alien (aka Matt Johnson also of The Hi-Tone Destroyers). Made a habit of being even more extreme than The Hi-Tones, with Matt constantly baiting the… Read More »The Black Panthers