The Terminals - Subway 09.04.88

The Terminals

Here be another of James Greig's live recordings from back in the good old days. 
I remember tying my horse up outside this bar, kicking in the saloon doors, Smith & Wesson in both hands, ready for the usual showdown before I could get to the bar for my usual whisky bottle. 
The coffin maker was always hangin round outside rubbing his hands...
Oh hang on, shit... hang on, that was a Clint Eastwood film. 
I will hand you over to James now... 
He has a more reliable brain.

Terminals. Subway, 1988

James Greig   3:46 a.m.

Terminals were part of an event where I saw the first three Flying Nun bands I'd ever seen live. Flying Nun Xmas party, hosted by Maryrose Crook (in 'The Max Block' at that point, pre -'Renderers') above an auto parts joint in Oxford Terrace, Christchurch, probably 1987.
I was 17 and didn't understand the way things worked at all, to the point where, I was offered a toke of the ol' Mary Jane and I asked what it was. Dick. Glad I declined, because I had to drive anyway.
Terminals were something. It was before their first release, the 'Disconnect' EP came out.
Stephen Cogle's pipes got to me especially. That warble was/is the sound of the three tenors being forced to dry dock a ship by themselves.
This thing Rob's put up is a recording of a gig they did a year or so later at The Subway,1988.
Recorded on the Walkman again, which I lost when my car got nicked one night. The filth found the stolen vehicle, but, unfortunately, the walkman was gone, as were the doors to the car.
Why the doors?! No wonder...... I'm not really a big Doors fan :)
I was more upset about the walkman than the car, vastly unlike my father. But then his idea of music is a dinner party, with the 'Cats' soundtrack on the stereo, and the stereo turned off.
Anyway, I bet those fuckers who nicked my car used the walkman for nothing more than farting into it and hearing it back (the pricks) if they could even work out how to do that, before selling it to a pawn shop.
Terminals this night at The Subway were a joy to see. Kind of a different band back then, but the same ethos. Ross Humpheries was still there, in the days before Brian Crook showed up and gave the sun the blisters it deserves.
To Rob, this sounds like a sedate version of the band. Listening to this again my memory doesn't suggest that. They just became dirtier and more intense when the line up changed. There has always been a dark and forboding beauty about them, which I cherish. You could call some of these pieces great 'pop' songs, often buried beneath hunger, anger, worry and misplaced love.
So enjoy this for what it is; a recording made at a time when some bands in the lower half of the south island of NZ embraced the psychededic and poppy sounds that came out of the '60s and made them their own.

Download: Terminals Live at The NZR Tavern.

Shellac - Live in Auckland, New Zealand 1993

Steve A.  Showing off his Dead Moon apparel.

Ok, stuff is comin in thick and fast now.
Yet another cracker from James Greig's tape collection.
And she's a real banger.....
Covering first album and early 7" material, the set list is a Shellac fan's wet dream.
The recording itself is a little rough round the edges. I tweaked it here and there but left it largely intact as it holds up reasonably well. You can play with the knobs on your amplifier if the EQ is not agreeable. Play away.... I give you free reign.
I wasn't present for this concert but did see Shellac in NZ in Christchurch at the turn of the century (2000AD) at the old Jetset Lounge (Aka The Subway, New Zealander Tavern, etc) with none other than HDU and that was a complete mind-fuck.
It was one of those instances where I'd heard the rumour they were coming to town but refused to believe it. I'd heard these kind of lies before. And besides, my friends like to play tricks on me because I'm really gullible. Then I realised they really were coming to town so I dutifully ran to score a ticket and hey presto, made the gig. Actually James was there too but that was before we knew each other. I think he spat on me because I had long hair. But I'm not one to hold a grudge. I can move on......grow up...... it's just saliva after all. Who gives a monkeys?

So anyway, Shellac are insanely cool. If you don't know anything about them, you should buy the first album and listen to it 1000 times. Then you will understand how this engine works.
Steve is also a sound engineer. He's recorded more bands than Kmart have items for sale.
He carries a lot of weight. He holds the keys.....he unlocks the doors....he has the master tapes...
But not this tape.
We have this tape.
And we will not disclose its location.
But we are willing to bargain.
How about, the entire Shellac collection on vinyl (signed by the band), plus some T-shirts, some post cards, some rare hand screenprinted gig posters from days gone by (framed), access to Electrical Audio 24hrs (free), playing at my wedding, my Mum's 70th birthday and introducing us to your circle of other rock star friends? That sounds fair to me. I will be wearing a suit & holding a briefcase, outside the Corner hotel (you know where it is) next week on tuesday at 3.22pm. Don't be late or the monkey gets it. And as an animal rights spokesperson, I beg you to save that fucking monkey. He's the last of his kind and if he gets it, it's goodbye race of rare monkeys.

Hey do you wanna hear my sound engineer joke? I made it up myself & I'm quite proud of it.

Q: How do you know all sound engineers are child molesters?
A: They like playing with little knobs.

Now come on, that is fucking funny.

Shellac Live in NZ 1993  for the download.....

You won't believe how lucky you are.

The Dead C, Alastair Galbraith, Plagal Grind - Live at the New Zealander Tavern 1988

I raided James Greig's tape box recently and found some pure gold. He made some awesome recordings in the late 80's including this one. This tape was probably the best of the bunch though so I had to get it done quickly... gonna hand you over to James now. He has something to say....... Artwork above courtesy of Lynton. Something to throw on your ipod.....

James:

When I was three years old my grandparents took me to some kind of wildlife park in Africa. They duct-taped me to the back of a lion, which I thought was fuckin' bullshit, because I was hangin' to see some bands instead. I sparked up furiously and forced them to take me to see Dead C. and Plagal Grind at the Subway. It took us a while to get there though as my grandparents chose to travel by pedalo (peddle boat, for you non-Mexicans). I was eighteen when finally I arrived. The gramps left me to it and headed back offshore. Luckily (and incredibly) I'd picked up my trusty SONY walkman to record the event on the way through the Galapagos islands. Miracles do happen.

Although I hate the kind of people who say stuff like 'Oh, I saw them before they were popular!'
I'm gonna say: 'I saw them before they were popular. Fuck you'.
There were only 25 to 30 people in the entire bar.

Alastair Galbraith got things going with a solo set that floored me (well, the whole night did).  At one point, halfway though a song, he yelled out 'Its gone out of tune!'. He tuned that fucking guitar up faster than you could speed-read The Hungry Caterpillar! Carried on the song like nothing had happened, and chugged on through his set with astounding beauty.

Next up: Plagal Grind.
Plagal Grind for this concert were: Alastair Galbraith, Peter Jefferies, Robbie Muir and Jono Lonie.
I missed the first night of this extravaganza (they played two shows....I was still in the pedalo at the time...) when some skinheads managed to nick Jono's effects pedals. An employee of the Subway used some kind of muscle and got them back, but not until the end of the weekend, so he didn't get to use them on the night I showed up on the red carpet. Didn't matter - well, it would have to Jono, I'd imagine - but they played a blinder! Not sure if Jono used someone else's pedals for the night, but Alastair's apologies for not sounding the same, due to the theft, were unrequired. I only saw them about three times over their scant existence (once every twenty years) but Alastair's songs augmented with a band... well, you just have to hear them; I can't describe the intensity, but hopefully Rob's upload refects it.

And then Hell comes along.

I CAN, on the other hand, at least TRY to describe Dead C. that night. One word: Fuck.
And I don't mean sex; I mean it in the sweary way..
As much as I'm looking forward to Bob's uploads with this shit, my memory of this night is still insanely present. Much like a when you're a kid and you remember the first time your parents bought you your first island for Christmas.
A band that have NEVER given a shit about what you think of them, they've swayed between 'songs' and pure improvisation for their 30 year tenure. The first time I saw them was at the Old Star in Addington, supporting Bailter Space (I was smuggled in by older types). Bruce Russell had taken me under his wing when I was 16, stuffing vinyl into covers and making coffee at Flying Nun Records after school. Having said that, Dead C scared the shit out of me that night. Bruce's version of 'The Wheel' was harrowing, to say the...but I digress.....
At the Subway they were slightly less nightmare-ish, and certainly more funny, possibly due to the banter between 'songs'. Out of the few people who were present that night there were a few divisive shout outs, but they were (hopefully) yelled in jest. For example, when they finished 'Bad Politics' someone yelled out 'Ah, bullshit!!' Bruce's answer: 'Bitchen', I believe is the expression.'
I still can't really describe Dead C. to anybody, and that's their fault, to be perfectly Francis with you. You'll just have to listen to what Bob's put up on his blog. So I'll address the banter between 'songs'.
Michael: 'This next song is called "Fire".'
Bruce: ' Which is what we'd like to use on the bastards who stole Jono's fuckin' foot pedals last night.'
Audience: 'Gaffaw!'
After another 'song', Dead C style: Bruce: 'From one head-long pop song to another'
Audience: 'More gaffaw than before!'
Before their closing 'song', a version of T Rex's 'Childen of the Revolution' (and I mean a cover version in the loosest possible way):
Alastair: ( from the audience) ' Where's the party?!'
Bruce: (on stage) 'I'd rather have a cup of tea.'
Alastair: 'Well I'd rather have a party, so where is it?!'
It's a great recording. No skill or talent on my part, outside of buying a good recording machine and punching the record button.
Dead C. change all the time, and this recording is just a slice of their life, but it was a very important one for me (slightly reflected in the Into The Void Documentary); you don't need to to 'learn' how to play an instrument, ya just need to plug it in and go for it. If you want to be Eric Clapton, fine. You won't see me at any of your shows though. But I'd still welcome you around for a cup of tea. Unless you're a dick.
By the way: Don't ever write Dead C. without the full stop. Your period could come on when you least expect it.....

James Greig. Dec 2015.

Divided into three downloads:
1. Dead C.
2. Plagal Grind.
3. Alastair Galbraith.

Sferic Experiment - Bunny Liver

Now here's something you should really start screaming over. The first Sferic Experiment release on Expressway. A cassette only release which has not less than twenty tracks under its belt. Seven or eight tracks are from the CD entitled 'Eight Miles' (which was put out by Drunken Fish Records) but possibly even some of those are different versions as the lengths seem vastly different on some.
I actually managed to meet everybody (all seven of them) involved in this project over the years but it was Greg Cairns the drummer who I met first and who turned me on to numerous projects of his from late 80's Dunedin that were simply outrageously cool and which you couldn't help but get overly enthusiastic about.
I prefer this tape to the CD release. It's looser and more anarchic. Perhaps more sombre and melancholic.... and with a larger dose of subterranean violence and hard partying attributes thrown into the soup for added flavour. Violins, Violas, Organs, Flutes, Guitars, French horns and Drums clash in improvised madness, battling to be heard over each other at times but then suddenly lapsing into something apparently rehearsed. From the more straight ahead rock anthem of 'Ultra violet / Gordon is happy' to the unfathomably twisted 'Funeral march' the Sferics' broad stylistic prose is astonishing to newcomers.
I'm sure I've been told the history of this band years ago but memory has faded and I remember.... fuck all to be honest. Just wish I'd seen them perform but alas, never happened. I shall endeavour to extract historical facts and update this page as time goes on. I'm sure some former member will take time out to throw some light on the how's and why's of this ensemble.
Before you start thinking I might have posted something I have no right to post, I did manage to get permission from Bruce Russell, Chris Heazlewood and Greg Cairns. I'm sure the rest of the band won't mind too much (Hi Steve! Wherever you are.....).

Get it here.

Puddle Poster

And here's a poster I just found inside my Live at the Teddy Bear Club LP as I was getting it out for a spin. Don't think I went to it but somehow I scored myself a poster. Was probably the day before the gig I recorded by the looks.

The Puddle - Live at Warners Hotel, Christchurch 03.10.93

Here's a recording of The Puddle I made on my Sony walkman back in the early 90's. After a bit of a scrub up it hasn't come up too badly if I may say so myself. Often with my attempts using it there was just too much distortion on the recording to be of much use but thankfully this Puddle one was salvageable.
I saw these guys play three or four times in the early 90's and count myself very lucky indeed. First time was at a venue upstairs in high st called 'The new atlantis market' (not to be confused with the 'old' atlantis market which was in cathedral square for many years) and they pretty much blew my head off with their crazy brand of loose knit, awkward, brilliant, bordering on falling over (but never quite falling) songs.
This video of  'Thursday' is relevant as it was made around the same time I made this recording and hence the lineup should be the same. Thursday's not included in this bunch of songs though.
I do know a little of the history of these guys but why bother writing about it when someone else has beaten me to it and has done a much better job than I ever could.
Read up & listen.....

Click on this link for Puddle info.

and here's the download link for the live gig.

Thanks to Lynton and George Henderson for the song titles!

01. Interstellar Gothic
02. Psych thing
03. Terminator 2
04. Southern man
05. Season of the wolf
06. Lucky all the time
07. Everything alright
08. Political sluts
09. South dunedin hood
10. Contact rock
11. Into the moon
12. Monogamy

And Lynton made a cover for your i-pod too....! Lucky scamps.

The Gaps - Shooting the Gap

You want hardcore NZ punk? You got it dork.
The Gaps bring you 'Shooting the Gap'. A fabulously bad ass piece of NZ underground hardcore hailing from the wrong side of the tracks in Christchurch.
I saw these guys play live a few times and they were great. I think they were so named 'The Gaps' because most of them had some of their front teeth missing. Unlike most suburban punk kids today, these blokes didn't sit around polishing their doc martens at their mum's place. They probably wore them into the ground by having to run from the police after robbing people's houses.....!
Funny thing is, I haven't listened to this tape in over 20 years but every now and then, songs like 'I'm a Mongol' pop into my head and I find myself wandering around Melbourne chanting 'I'm a Mongol,  I'm a Mongol'....etc. Lets face it, these guys have some catchy tunes and lyrics... they stick in your head like a crowbar.
Actually there is a lyric sheet with this tape which I should probably attach somehow in the download as there's some great lyrical content on these tracks. Here's a good example:

Stupid little girl on TV
Imitation flavour, that's me
Bubble gum songs, painted eyes
We agree, she must die
She must die, she must die.....

That song's called 'Kill Kylie'. And it's about your favourite Neighbours star come pop star.
Hilarious.

I spent a weekend drinking out on Banks peninsula at some party with a few of these guys once. I thought I was a bit of a heavy drinker but by about 3am when I was passing out, these guys were just warming up. A bunch of hard boozing dudes......
I remember they entered a band competition once and I think they won because their fans nicked the voting forms off peoples tables and voted on their behalf. Dedicated fans. And why not? They deserved to win. These guys remind me of the fabulous 'Mindfuckers' (who I have to say are my favorite NZ punk band ever to date) who I think share a similar sensibility. Drunken angry punk doom with a good sense of humour and that has not a care in the world.....barely recorded to tape before the studio blows up and the band miraculously escapes with the master tape without paying the engineer....  and probably raiding the fridge on the way out to grab any stray alcohol.
That, my friends, is The Gaps. The guys you don't invite to the party.

A cassette-only release. From around 1990.

And here it is.....

Animalypse - Struggles In Deafbridge

So here's the second tape I dug out from these guys. A mix of Live and Studio stuff from '88 mostly by the looks. Inside info includes this statement: 'this cassette chronicles Animalypse from its conception as a three piece up to and including the earlier performances with Day Boy'.
Beautifully crafted wacky, strung out Dunedin pop, smacking of the Clean / Great Unwashed on speed (or the wrong speed if you think in turntable terms) in this instance. I would say 3Ds too but interestingly they pre-date 3Ds first release by two years. There's probably more of a leaning towards the Expressway sound overall & I can hear Sferic Experiments' crazed anti-pop sensibilities in there I'm certain of it....although a lot more structured than that ensemble. Being from that incestuous Dunedin scene, it's hard to know who's distilling who anyway. Sferics were around at pretty much the same time and shared at least one band member I know of. Still, Animalypse are a highly original band that should avoid too many comparisons (it's just easier for hack writers like myself and gives the newcomers references.....and you gold diggers should just be grateful for their existence... they light up our crummy lives). It's a shame some label didn't lock these guys in a studio for a weekend and put out a nice slab of grubbily produced lolly on a small run of vinyl, so all us old timers could have copies. Sux. At least we have these tapes to keep us happy. Also includes a version of the David Lynch song 'Heaven', which would be the first 'rock' version of this I would ever have heard. There was a wave of bands (including the Pixies who sort of made it famous...) who did that early 90's, but then you already know that don't you. And, as with the last tape, there's supposed to be 13 songs but there are actually 14 on here. Who knows what the last track is... or whether the tracks are in order? Frankly, who cares? Just listen and be shocked at what you missed and how these kids blow away the rock monkey crowd these days.

Again, ripped with minimal intervention. Only volume balanced for an even listen....don't complain if it's not exactly right. Or my big sister will beat you senseless.

Get it here.

Animalypse - Aliva Neurotica

And so back to the tape box..... This little beauty shoulda been ripped & chucked on this blog long ago as it's been sitting on the shelf staring at me for over a year now. Finally, sitting around twiddling my thumbs today I realised its time had come.
Recorded live in Dunedin (yes, a Dunedin band....) in late 1989 at various locations including the Nerve Centre, The Empire and The University. Slightly rough round the edges raw recordings but interestingly everything's in the mix to some degree and therefore it doesn't lack any power because of low-fi tactics. I utterly thrashed this tape when Greg (drummer) gave it to me in 1990 so I'm surprised at how well it played. Greg moved up to Christchurch & got us into all this crazed Dunedin shit. We were very naive to it all so lapped this stuff up like a cat goes for the spilt cream on the kitchen floor.
Mostly originals played here but the cover of Fiction Romance (Buzzcocks) is great & shows how blistering these guys must have been live.
I did see Animalypse play live in Lyttleton (I think it was at the Harbourlight venue?) years after this release with a different line up which was still good but not as brutally manic as this stuff.
There's another cassette of theirs I have buried deep in the tape box that I have to dig out too so hopefully will get around to that soon. You should thank your lucky stars.....
Animalypse on this occasion were > Bryan Spittle ( Guitar), Jeff Mitchell (Guitar, Vocals), Greg Cairns (Drums), Alan Thomasson (Bass).
I've just realised the last song is actually two songs, which means there are 12 songs on the cassette, not 11 as suggested on the cover. Hmmmmmm..... god knows.......

Ripped to digital files with minimum intervention.

Aliva Neurotica (Here)

Kate in the lemon tree - Fifty years of shark

Well, finally I have a copy in my hot little hand.

Courtesy of Chris Tait himself (he even bothered to post it all the way from China!). Was so chuffed to get this. It's a brilliant piece of work. These guys ooze talent.... i mean, how is it that this stuff not well known? This is a question I ask myself while queuing at the supermarket, or getting my haircut, or simply sitting in a traffic jam (where I spend most of my weekends).

Lovingly recorded by Nick Abbott at York and Fish St studios, it kicks arse in the sound department too. These kids worked hard for their art & luckily they landed a decent recording to back it up.

As a general reference, fans of Slint, Shellac, Ween, Crazy carnival rides (not a band reference) and early Pavement will go gaga over this stuff. But it goes a lot deeper than that. They had their own thing going. I think it's very hard to find a band where all the people involved seem to have the same agenda. An agenda which somehow makes the band into something bigger than the sum of the parts. Some collective instinct that outsiders find hard to grasp. I knew them all & hung out with them on numerous occasions. It was almost like they spoke a different language. And don't forget these guys were really young when they did this. Some of them still practically teenagers.

Can I call this stuff 'Carnivalesque'? There's something in here that reminds me of being a scared kid at the fair. But then someone buys me some Candyfloss and I'm happy again. But then I have to get on the ghost train and that's no good at all......it all just goes to hell... the man with the chainsaw & leather mask leers at me in the dark. And the track goes up and down, round the corner & it's into the darkness again....there's no end in sight so you'd better buckle up bucko.....
Its a comedy but it's a pretty black one. And that's what makes it so good.


Here's a previous post I put up which will give you a little more background on these characters.

Please see discogs listing for further info: HERE

& Listen: HERE

Hoover - Sucks you up.

This is our Hoover. The Piranha. Sucks like a leech. A veritable supersucker. A K-mart Goodie for less than $100 bucks. Still sucking after 4 years! Now that's a bargain.

'Hoover' were also a Christchurch band back in the 90's.

Although they didn't suck.

They were fucking good.

Featuring Mick Bell from 'Hiding from Stan' on vocals, Mark from Salmonella Dub on guitar,Tony Hallum on bass & Ian Salek on drums. Or was that Isaac on drums? Is that the same person?
I was sure it was a guy I knew called Isaac. However.... hooverever.......hooforever.... etc

These guys weren't around for that long but they did manage a recording (this) which Mick gave me a copy of one time. One song appeared on Failsafe's 'Good Things' compilation from this bunch of tunes. 'Mikes room of the Banal'. The rest of it was never released as far as i know. I think I saw them twice. Definately at the old Star & Garter hotel (under another name possibly by then) in the mid 90's. Vividly recall that one. Was really heavy!

They had a great Tonal range this band. Screeching guitars & an uber-heavy bottom end with Mick somewhere in the middle, maniacal & menacing in the mid-range. Evil!

Mick used to help me with my car a lot. I would try to be the backyard mechanic but I didn't really know what I was doing. Mick always had good advice but would usually say something like,
'What the fuck are you doing!'...... ha ha. He could rebuild car engines at the drop of a hat.

Without further blabbing, here's a slab of sound for ya. Four songs that don't suck!

Hoover Mp3 Download.

SuperBlack

Here's some Demos recorded by 'SuperBlack' which was another project of Tribal Thunders which I recorded some vocal tracks for. Every now and then he'd email me a track he'd done and I would dub some vocals over the top & email it back to him. I think this was around 2009-10. I dug these tracks out a while ago & they sounded pretty fresh to me. Sorta noisey kraut shoegaze pop......
Give it a taste man. It could be your new lollipop. 

Here's a link:

SuperBlack

Rob Buick - Triumph

Here's a CD double pack I've put together recently. It's a reissue of the 'Strange Conversation' and 'Black dash Light' albums (which have been posted on this blog previously so I'm not going to bother uploading the files. They're still available for download).
This edition has been remastered so it's been beefed up a tad but the music is all the same otherwise. Hard copies of the previous releases would be difficult to track down so if you want a hard copy of the real thing, this is the go.
If anyone wants a copy, drop me a line as I have a box of them sitting here. Quite a nice little handmade tri-fold cardboard CD pack complete with printed Cd's. Cost would be $15.00 aus dollars.... but if I know you it could be..... less... or free.... depending on how much I like you.... ;)
Here's a discogs link for more details / track listing etc.

Cool Cassette Covers from China

                                       

Choiceness raw material? 

They must have visited New Zealand at some point to have picked up on the slang.

Choice tape eh?

Only $2.50 from 'Shop Addiction'. My local $2 shop.