Straitjacket Fits were a corner stone in New Zealand independent rock from their formation in 1986 till their inevitable break-up in February 1994. Though predominantly a kiwi indie-rock group, they were at times dissonant (and incredibly loud), hiding their delicate… Read More »Straitjacket Fits
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.
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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.
The key group of New Zealand underground legend Peter Gutteridge (despite being a founding member of BOTH the Clean and the Chills). Snapper made driving, droning guitars-infused with synths post-punk throughout the 1980s and 1990s before Gutteridge disappeared from the public eye.
Live review of the late-great Peter Gutteridge at Dark Room on March 29th, 2012 and published by the Christchurch Press on April 5th.
The photos I took of Peter were picked up by International Press when he sadly passed away 2 years later.
Before Dimmer, before Straitjacket Fits, before even the Doublehappys, Shayne Carter was in a Flying Nun Records-type punk band called Bored Games, who opened for the likes of the Clean and Toy Love before the lads had even left high school.
Auckland trio Drill were formed in 1989, featured on the 1st ‘Freak the Sheep’ (bFM Kiwi radio station) compilation, put out the single ‘Happy Home’ and a self-titled album -all on Flying Nun Records in the mid 1990’s. The songs were collected from sessions going right back to 1990.
Jangly indie-rock 4 piece from early 1980’s Christchurch. During their life they put out a well-received 7″ single on Flying Nun before going their separate ways. Failsafe Records released a retrospective compilation of their recordings in 2021.
Christchurch-based shoegazey indie-rock group that started out as a studio project but became a fairly successful touring group with 2 albums and an EP on band member Rob Mayes Failsafe Recordings.
General craziness in musical form at the hand of Michael Weston and his troops Bruce Mahalski, Eric Neuman and Nathan McConnell.
The Dunedin music compilation But I Can Write Songs OK includes their brilliant stars-on-45 take on Flying Nun bands ‘Dunedin sound on 45’, and even featured guest appearances from some of the targets – David Kilgour and Martin Phillips.
Biography Over the years the Chills have released a number of brilliant pop songs, right from the outset their material has been catchy and melodic, and have a certain eerie quality to them that separates them from most mainstream pop… Read More »The Chills