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.

Gordons - Live in TAITA, Wellington, July 1984 (final show ever.....apparently).

This is a live recording of the second Gordons line up. It was dropped in my lap a couple of years back by Seigfried the Satanic Rocker and I've been enjoying it ever since. Sounds like a desk recording to me. Possibly desk to four track? Certainly much better quality than most shitty live recordings. There are a few tracks on here that were unreleased so they are un-named thus far. If anyone knows the names, let us know. I don't wanna rant too much about this band. Most of you who arrive here will know who they are. But if you don't.... (don't kill yourself just yet) here's something you should read.
Written by Rob Mayes of Failsafe Records.

GORDONS

I was too young to have seen them live alas. I know people who did see them. All of them pretty much floored by the experience. Some literally blown over in fact. Thankfully the later Gordons incarnation 'Bailter Space' were totally amazing anyway so i got to be floored by that lot on many an occasion. I remember one morning after a Bailter Space gig I was in the kitchen making a cup of tea and my flatmate came in and was gesturing away to me..... her lips were moving but no sound was coming out.... I was like Huh? Then I realized, I couldn't actually hear anything! Fucking deaf.... Took a day or so to come right.....next time i took the earplugs.

I may have been unlucky in seeing the Gordons live but I am lucky to have in my collection, original vinyl LPs of both albums and the future shock 12". I think I paid $25 back in the 80's for the second LP and there's a copy on Discogs listed for over $300 currently. Glad I picked that one up. Rare as hens teeth. Like those early Skeptics LPs (Ponds etc). Gotta love those weird NZ rarities!

Anyway, here's a link. Listen. Be amazed, Don't kill yourself just because you didn't see them live. Ok?

Just reiterating, this is a live recording and not a download of the second LP.

Gordons Live

Thanks to Rob Mayes for info on when & where this was recorded.

Sonic Youth - Live In Christchurch 12.02.93

I open the wooden chest containing all my old cassettes. I know it's in here somewhere. Layer after layer of cassettes are removed to reveal nothing. Maybe i took it out years ago and put it somewhere for safekeeping? No, surely. Finally, on the bottom layer, there she goes..... scrawled along the cassette spine 'Sonic Youth - Live in Christchurch'. The 'Youth against Fascism' tour no less.

I give the tapeheads a good clean with some Isopropyl, set the computer to record & press play. The sound quality is good. A stereo recording in fact. I don't know who recorded this but they did a good job. As i recall, a friend Todd (bassplayer in band Maus) gave me this sometime after the gig. His friend had apparently recorded it & thankfully he'd decided to make me a copy.

Halfway through the tape rip the tape refuses to budge. Oh no..... not now.... not halfway....! 

I take the tape out. Seems to spin easily enough. But there's a loose piece of plastic inside the cassette. Could be an issue. I take it apart carefully. Its not an issue. Back to the tapedeck. I try a different cassette. No movement. Hmmmmm. Crack open the tapedeck lid. The rubber pulleys are not looking so hot and the main drive belt appears to have slipped off somewhat. I give the area a good clean, right the belt & press play again. The wheels turn sweetly. These 70's cassette decks never die (he says nervously).

The day of the gig i was cycling down Manchester St and happened to see Lee Ranaldo, Steve Shelley & entourage walking along. I catch the american accents as i bike past. 

That night The Theatre Royal was packed. Peter Jefferies & the Dead C support. If you were lucky enough to be there as i was, you were in for a treat. A Sonic treat .... a Sonic ice cream with cherries on top......

Sonic Youth didn't disappoint. 

And here it is. For those of you who were there, you'll enjoy reliving the moment.

I love hearing Kim tell the audience off for stage diving. 'You bunch of fucking arseholes!' she yells..... but later she relents. 'Only the girls can stage dive'......... followed by the screams of appreciative 20 somethings from the audience. Actually the screaming didn't stop the entire show. 

Such was our appreciation that they'd finally shown up in our little village.

Enjoy.....

Sonic Youth Live @ the Theatre Royal. Christchurch, NZ. 12.02.93

P.S. the song 'Genetic' is only half there. As it was on the tape. Who knows.... maybe the recorder nicked out for a sly ciggie.

Black Panthers LP

While we're on the subject of The Panthers, try this sucker on for size. Our one and only album.
Recorded in 1999 by Rob Mayes at The National Grid studio back in Christchurch, NZ.
There's not that many copies in circulation so hopefully this download will mean it makes it to a few more ears around the globe. 200 copies on black vinyl exist. Some cd's floating around. Thankfully on the day of the recording everything came together and everyone played really well and behaved themselves. Rob did a great job of handling all the controls...
Tis a bitchin peice of rock if you ask me. But then i'm obviously a biased customer (having been in the band and all). You kids can make up your own minds.
Maybe some monks in tibet will download it and start a cult dedicated to Panther worship.......executing other monks who refuse their doctrine......
That would be cool.

Black Panthers LP download. MP3@320kbs

Or you could buy a copy here...

Black Panthers on Discogs

Black Panthers 'Classified Material'

Here's some live & rehearsal Black Panther recordings for all you sicko's out there that enjoy this kinda stuff.
 
The first two songs 'Tell you mama' and 'Peel my banana' were recorded live at the old 'Jetset Lounge' in chch with Lynton on drums. One of our last live performances i think. 'Peel my banana' is the only song outa this lot that was ever recorded in a studio and released.

'Pinky red' was an un-realised number. Never really came to fruition. Still, main riff's pretty good.

'Jailbait' was originally entitled 'Date rape' but after more than one complaint we changed the name. Never had a completed structure for this song but played it live a few times anyway.

'Livin' one foot down' is actually Ben (drummer) singing. Matt played drums and hollered too. Just a jam we had that had some potential.

'The cowboy song' is Vaughn (bass) singing. Again an unfinished song with potential but the guts of it was there. Kinda sleazy..... if we'd done another album it would have been stuff like this. Porn rock or something.

'Real cool time' is indeed a Stooges cover. How predictable (talk about wearing your influences on your sleeve.....). We played this live & off the cuff at a party before we ever rehearsed it. Hilarious. Some people loved it........and some hated it (of course).

How dare we destroy such a classic......

Have fun with it.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/2nuih4iqa026e84/Black%20Panthers%20Classified%20Material.zip

Mothgods studio recordings

Here's a few studio recordings by The Mothgods. Our only studio efforts actually.

Two different band line-ups recording two different sessions.

V1: Bob, Pete, Darryl (Tracks 1-3).
V2: Bob, Tim, Paul (Tracks 4, 5).

Recorded at Nightshift studios, Chch by Arnie between 1993-96.

The way i hear this stuff now is that it's a bit 'naive' really. Recorded before we finally got into the swing of things and then failed to do anymore decent recordings. Lack of money probably the main reason for that. Some of the later Mothgods songs appear on my 'Strange conversation' CD. Notably 'Come back simon', 'Clouds' and the 'Without eyes' number (which was an instrumental in the Gods). They were recorded post band breakup but i still managed to rope the lads in to play a few tracks. Most likely i enticed them with promises of free homebrew....or lunch. All said and done, i prefer the rough as guts ' Live in the lounge' stuff over this because it's more fun. But then, this is still worthy of an archive...

One time before a gig, Pete, Darryl and myself had a cracker car accident after pulling out of a bottle store and running into an oncoming Commodore. Both cars were right-offs. Luckily no-one was injured but we were in shock for a while. We were sitting around on the footpath and people from local businesses were bringing us cups of tea. Then the cops showed up and we discovered our driver didn't have a license and it wasn't his car but his girlfriends. The cops were not impressed (neither was the girlfriend).

Originally released as a cassette (pictured).

Here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/vxe9el29rs84mk6/Mothgods_Studio_Mp3.zip

Kate in the lemon tree

Here's something i've been meaning to post for a while now. Some fabulous 'Kate in the lemon tree'.
I went to a party with Tim (mothgod's drummer) sometime in the mid-nineties and was feeling very cynical until this band started playing. I couldn't believe my ears! Great songs, great playing......really fucking wild stuff.
I discovered a while later that they lived down the road from me in Cambridge Tce (literally a stone throw). The whole band (five of them) lived there and they'd created a pretty serious band house for themselves.
The lounge was basically a rehearsal space if i remember rightly.

I've been trying for the last few hours (in vain) to find a birthday card they made me once. I was going to post it on this blog. On the front they'd drawn a wineglass and written 'Happy Birthday Rob', inside it said, 'From the 'How do you do club'. They'd (Chris and Pete i think....) knocked on my door and got me outa bed at about 8am on a freezing sunday morning to give me some cold, burnt toast on a plate and the card.
It wasn't my birthday.

Other strange events were to follow. These guys were up to mischief.....
Another night at about 3am (and again, freezing) we were woken by these guys chasing each other, waist deep in the Avon river across the road (after screaming their lungs out in a sing-along under the bridge).  
Then there were the occasional street antics. Pete and Simon were busking in the city one night late on a friday. Both playing snares and hi hats and jammin some wild stuff. My buddy ALC5 and i were heading to the pub and ran into them. People were trying to give them money which they were adverse to, so then either Pete or Simon would stop playing, pick up the money and throw it back at them.
Art, not money.... thanks. Love it.
Then there was the party we had where one of them drank spilt beer off the kitchen lino....
the list goes on....could write a book really.

The first two songs on this download are from a tape Simon gave me years ago (titles unknown, also ripped as they were on the tape. Don't blame me if there's an intro missing...!).
The rest comes from a CD i have which is NOT the album they released '50 Years of Shark' but contains some of it i believe.
Pete, Simon, Chris, Ian and Hamish (Nans) were 'Kate in the lemon tree'.
Jump in the deep end and give this a listen....highly recommend it.

Hope they don't knock on my door at 8am with some cold burnt toast.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/w2wdt4smz6971xr/Kate_in_the_lemon_tree_Mp3.zip

Jammin with the ALC5

Rob (left), Al (right) in the garden at Matai st, 1991.

Here's a couple of tunes knocked out by myself and my old buddy Al.

I jammed with Al quite a bit during the 90's. We also had a band for a while which we didn't really have a name for. That band consisted of me and Al on guitars, me on vox and a drum machine. We played a few gigs here and there (mostly supporting the black panthers i think) but sadly there's no actual recordings made of that project. I thought i had a live set in the tapebox somewhere but as yet i ain't come across it.

Al was also the secret 5th member of the black panthers and played keyboards on a couple of tunes during live performances. Namely on our cover of Deep purples 'child in time'. Ha. That was so much fun to play. Especially with Matt and Vaughn trying to reach those outrageously high vocal notes. Again sadly, no recording of that exists that i know of. But then, as my grandmother used to say: 'What you never see, you never miss'. I think she was bang on the nail with that one.

Now that Al is no longer with us i value any recordings that we made together that much more.

Hope you can find some value in it too.

Photo is of me and Al in the yard at Matai st. With a glass of homemade plonk i believe.

There's two tunes here...... enjoy.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/1a7rb1082e8i37e

Steve and Rob - One afternoon

 

Here's a little gem....

An afternoon of hangin out with my friend Steve ( Reay ). 

Steve came over to my house and decided we were doing an album. That afternoon.
We had no songs, had not rehearsed, and frankly i thought the idea was a bit..... ambitious.
Steve was convincing however and soon enough we had 14 songs and a 25 minute album!
All recorded hastily on my Sony mono walkman for a real low-fi sound.

Unlike the Rob and Stefan demos (where we'd actually rehearsed) these are right off the cuff tunes never attempted or even thought of before or after. 

We used to make a lot of home-brew me and Steve. It got quite competitive over who could make the strongest shit. Steve ended up being the winner with his 11% home-brewed lager. After drinking large amounts of that one night i barely made it home (i lived about 200 meters away). 

Stagger stagger....... fall fall....... thankfully i didn't fall in the river,

Check it out. two guys, two guitars. Acoustic madness.

Recorded around 1995? Somewhere in that ballpark anyways. 

Here's the download link:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/0ggg1vs1pe63v4u