This was a memorable gig. Tall Dwarfs, 3Ds and Pavement all on the same bill. Who could resist?
I remember rocking up to the pub and there was this weird guy near the entryway handing out bits of apple to those who entered. He didn't look familiar but I figured he was just some local weirdo. No apple for me thanks, I'm here for the Guinness (Warners Hotel Guiness was excellent & I believe at that time, imported from Ireland. Very welcoming in the middle of a Christchurch winter believe me). In the end, the apple giver turned out to be Gary, the drummer from Pavement. Maybe he was feeling fruity? Who knows.... It was the start of what was to be, a very excellent evening of good vibes, too many beers & a lot of fucked up noise. Good choice!
The Tall Dwarfs were up first, then 3Ds. Pavement were top of the bill of course. 'Slanted and Enchanted' had only come out the year before and I'd been giving it a good thrashing. I immediately picked up on the 'Fall' references in their music but they had their own thing going too. Just a heavy nod towards the Mark E Smiths song writing book there....not a bad thing for a Fall fan....They were big fans of NZ music too & the video link above will reveal such ties. Love their youthful enthusiasm!
After I'd recorded the 3Ds set, Chris Knox came up to me and said 'Oh I see you're recording the bands.... but you didn't record us did you?' looking me straight in the eye in a vaguely threatening manner. I quickly replied that I already had all his stuff (not a complete lie) and that was the reason why. He glared at me a few seconds longer and then sauntered off to harass some other poor soul. Phew, got outa jail that time! Tall Dwarfs were great too of course. I was just more interested in capturing the main act.
Again recorded on my trusty Sony walkman, this is relatively raw but there's enough detail in there to keep it interesting. Pavement sound a bit more dynamic I think because the 3Ds were so blitzingly ferocious that my walkman could barely cope with the onslaught. It didn't cope well with the high frequency guitar noise sadly. The 3Ds were really a force to be reckoned with in the early days of their existence. I saw them at Crown Hotel in Dunedin around 1991 it was just fucking insane. White noise.... white heat... you couldn't move in that bar, it was that jam packed full of crazed, wasted fans. If you never experienced that, this will give you some idea of what we endured that night.
Pavement were beyond great. They were just so happy to be there. Drinking on stage and just really relaxing into the south sea island vibes. I left quite a bit of stage dialogue in the final mixes as it really helps generate the feel of the evening. You can tell these guys are having fun. Took me a while to figure out what all the songs are (one of them is a Silver Jews cover) but I still have my old Pavement records to reference and of course youtube helped with the more obscure tunes. Some of them are earlier versions of songs they recorded later too so not quite so recognisable. The last song is from the EP 'Watery Domestic' which Nans from Kate in the Lemon Tree gave me one time. I refused to take it but he insisted! 'Texas never whispers' is probably my favourite Pavement song ever. Sadly the tape runs out on it..... that's the way it goes folks.
In two downloads:
