Die hard music fans have a deep love of the 7" - rock n roll's most fleet footed messenger. The New Zealand punk explosion and its indie aftermath produced some indispensable examples of the forum's power.
The Great Unwashed – Singles 2 x 7" (Neck of The Woods/ Duane Eddy/ Boat With No Ocean/ Can't Find Water/ Born In The Wrong Time) – (Flying Nun Records) - Number 39 in April 1984
The original Clean with both Kilgour brothers and future Snapper mastermind Peter Gutteridge, the trio that wrote Point That Thing. Live they were an affirmation of The Clean's best moments with their head down acid instrumentals and rich folk rock bent. The best songs here are Gutteridge's Born In The Wrong Time, Boat With No Ocean and Can't Find Water. Though Hamish Kilgour's Duane Eddy got BBC Radio One play, and Neck of the Woods was filmed for video. Singles was later released in 12" format with a different sleeve.
The Chills – Pink Frost/ Purple Girl (Flying Nun Records) - Number 17 in June 1984
If any single song personified Flying Nun Records, it was Pink Frost, with it's subdued tension and fine pop surface. The video had Martin Phillipps walking through a pine forest above storm stung cliffs, the song has that mood too, humming along on a swish Terry Moore bass line.
The Double Happys – Double B Side (The Other's Way/ Anyone Else Would) – (Flying Nun Records) - Number 42 in October 1984
Jeez, Wayne Elsey could cut out some telling lines. He addresses Anyone Else Would to "another lost sheep with a poisoned soul and bloodshot eyes," over a spirited punk inspired riff, and whooping Elsey slide guitar while Shayne Carter contributes the anthemic "meet me…" romp The Other's Way.
Peter Jeffries/Shayne Carter – Randolph's Going Home/ Hooked, Lined and Sunken – (Flying Nun Records) – 1984
This solemn stutter beat tribute to dead Stone/Double Happy Wayne Elsey is one of the finest New Zealand singles ever released. Appropriately it's on Flying Nun Records, the most represented label on this list, and by two of that era's best songwriters/performers, and it's on 4 track – which is the whole era in a nutshell.
The Henchmen – Death Machine/ Bitch Goddess (Cadaver Records) – 1985
Stomping Stooges rock from Aucklanders' Tony Goth (Collins) and Norm Dillinger (Anthony Norman). The topside is a full-on down the highway tribute to James Dean while Bitch Goddess rips off a riff from the MC5's Come Together, and still comes out sounding fresh and vital. Part of a large recorded legacy.
Fetus Productions – Perfect Product EP (Flicker/ Backbeat/ Anthem) – Flying Nun Records – Number 42 in January 1986
The return of Jed Town, Serum and the rest of the Fetus Productions/Fetals live experience was one of the highlights of the mid-1980s. Flicker put them in the singles charts and on music TV. It's a frenetic piece of robotic rhythm and devil vocal.
The Big Fix – Happy Again/ All I'm Saying Is (F Star Records) – 1987
Who'd have picked Gisborne as the scene of a post Flying Nun breakout of groups and records, which was largely un-noticed by the rest of the country. Regionalism, largely a 1960s phenomenon produced localised scenes in the 80s in New Plymouth, Wellington, and in the isolated coastal city of Gisborne. The Big Fix had future Listener journalist Mark Revington on bass and Steve Simpson, graphic artist and would-be 1990s Britpop star in the ranks. Happy Again hums along in a cool pop punk fashion, which would have made the Buzzcocks happy. All I'm Saying Is has a macabre twist in the lyrics and softer guitars, which gradually build to an epic heart-pounding loud guitar pop finish. RIP also – The Wasp Factory whose Steel Blue Skies is a Gisborne power riff anthem, the psycho-bill Flaming Stars, and punk pioneers, the Planets. F Star recording artistes, all.
Birds Nest Roys – Jaffa Boy/ Bus-stop (Flying Nun Records) – 1986
The Roys made up funny names for everything and spoke in their own weird language. This Auckland Nun-Pop group were the ultimate in-crowd band only everyone was their in-crowd. Jaffa Boy kicks off in their patented chunky strum, then singer Little Ross lets loose a plaintive cry: "A little boy with orange lips, and chocolate on his mind," on this, Flying Nun's Yummy Yummy, the best thing this talented group unleashed.
The Wild Poppies – Stare at the Sun/ Where is Wellington? (Poppie Records) – 1987
The Wild Poppies have released three essential to own records, an album, Heroine, Out Of Time, an EP on an English label Jericho Records, and this stunning single. Stare At The Sun would have a sparkle into any chart, beautifully sung over a neat 1960s kissed rhythm guitar and delicate peal of lead, it's the best song from a group who released nary a dud. The Wild Poppies, based around the songwriting nucleus of Andrew Young and Andrew Carter, reappeared in Oxford, England in the late 1980s, then disappeared. Their current whereabouts are unknown.
The Dead C – Sun Stabbed EP (Bad Politics Baby/ Angel/ Crazy I Know) - (Xpressway Records) – 1988
One of those Dead C records that surpasses the 'idea' with actual recorded evidence that said idea was more than a stoned jam. Crazy I Know and Angel glide along on that messy Dead C space noise attack and into the heart, while Bad Politics Baby is the song every garage (noise) band recorded in practice but threw out in the light of day. In all, a big F you to the convention of the time, and long overdue.
The Straitjacket Fits – Hail/ So Long Marianne (Flying Nun Records) – Number 20 in January 1989
The Leonard Cohen tune gets a sprinkle of Carter/Brough pop magic dust. Hail is Carter bombast and linear guitar dynamics – Carter trademarks - on one of his better originals.
Chris Knox – Not Given Lightly/ The Face of Fashion/ Love Song (pt 1) (Flying Nun Records) – 1989
This is what Knox does well – melding his progressive views to that wonderful voice and his uncanny pop ear. Knox's political ramblings are all very well, but when I want someone to articulate the dilemmas of a modern relationship, I reach for this wonderful song.
The Bats – Smoking Her Wings/ Mastery (Flying Nun Records) – 1990
The Bats had a problem. A major one. They knew it. The people who bought their records knew it. It's a lack of variety in their tunes and a bland image. You can only stretch three folky chords so far. That said, I love this single, the best of the Bats in two songs, hummable slightly eerie folk rock with catchy pop hooks.
Peter Jeffries/Robbie Muir – Catapult/ Fate Of The Human Carbine (Xpressway Records) – 1990
A real thinking walking anthem and Jeffries second great stutter beat song after Randolph's Going Home. Here, he is ably assisted by Rip, and Plagal Grind, bassist Robbie Muir. Fate Of The Human Carbine was later covered by US singer Cat Power. This is the best single on Xpressway.
Headless Chickens - Cruise Control/ I'm Talking To You - Flying Nun Records - Number six in August 1991
In every soap opera with a large teenage cast there is a band. In Home And Away the band played Cruise Control. The Chickens' ozzie hit. Not bad for a bunch of Birthday party loving Auckland degenerates.
Olla – Septic Hagfish EP (Septic Hagfish/ Ditch/ Don't Fall Too Hard/ Olla Putrido (Facilis Est Descendus Averni) - (Flying Nun Records) – 1991
Annoying, disturbing and sometimes instrumental surf music – Septic Hagfish is the best realization of Chris Hazelwood in an avant noise rock group (as opposed to solo). Backing him up are ex-LBGP drummer Lesley Paris and ex-Sferic Experiment guitarist Shaun O'Reilly.
Bailter Space – The Aim/ We Know (Clawfist Records) – 1992
The Aim, No Label, state Bailter Space, the phoenix that rose from the ashes of the Gordons, and in a testament to their originality very few labels have stuck to this long lived Christchurch now New York based trio. The Aim leaves no doubts where the group stand musically with its gigantic swelling riff and stroppy pulsing bass and drums, topped off by Alister Parker's menacing part spoken, part sung vocal. Released as part of a two single deal on English label Clawfist amid raves from the usually cloth eared British music press.
The 3Ds – Outer Space/ Baby's On Fire (Flying Nun Records) – 1992
"I lost my face... in outer space," screams one D, David Saunders, as the instrument that loosened said face chops out the hardest riff on a potential chart singles for eons. That being courtesy former Exploding Budgie/Goblin Mix guitarist David Mitchell. Just to prove the point, they chop out an evil version of Eno's Baby's On Fire, helped along by bass player Denise Roughan's best vocal so far.
The 3Ds - Beautiful Things/ Summer Stone (Flying Nun Records) – Number 49 in September 1993
The 3Ds follow up (just) made the charts here, and scored an American release on Merge Records. It's a deceptively simple lilting Gaelic melody with a slow folk strum that takes a few listens to bury itself in your cranium, but be assured it does.
The Renderers – A Million Lights/ Primitive Country (Merge Records) – 1993
Primitive country indeed. Mary Rose Crook's aching cowgirl quaver sits mournfully a top a primal howl of country riff courtesy hubby Brian Crook. It's a marriage made in hell on a lonely back road. How did they get here from the distortion rock of their mid-80s outfit, Max Block?
The Garbage and the Flowers – Catnip/ Carousal (Twisted Village Records) – 1993
Sound-wise, this wired Wellington combo could easily have come out of downtown New York, plicking out the soundtrack to an art-fag Andy Warhol scene. Carousal is singer Helen Johnstone doing a haunted Nico trance-vocal while making Cale-like on the screeching viola. This was released on the Twisted Village label from Cambridge, Massacusetts, home of Harvard. The single came as a surprise, and few sold in New Zealand - the band was little seen here, just a handful of live shows (cue Catnip) in Wellington, although members have been active since.
Snapper – Vader/ Gentle Hour (Flying Nun Records) – 1993
No one was quite ready for Snapper when they barreled into the alt/pop/ dance consciousness in 1988 with the hard distortion overload and strangely muted dance beats of the Snapper EP. The dreamy hypnotic pop gold moments of the Great Unwashed double 7" and Shotgun Blossum.
The Pin Group – Coat/ Hurricane Fighter Plane (Siltbreeze Records) - 1994
A remake of Coat from the Coat/Jim single on Flying Nun Records, that made number 38 on the Top 40 for the unknown Pin Group in November 1981. It proved Coat was a great song previously clocked by murky production. Even better is a version of Red Crayola's Hurricane Fighter Plane, a Pin Group live staple revisited here to devastating effect.
Sticky Filth – Def Thru Misadventure (Smile/ Vodka, The Devil and Me/ Dead Girls) – Ima Hitt Records – 1995
You don't automatically get any respect for being a provincial group in New Zealand. You earn it the hard way, playing where you can, raking up the bucks for trips out of town, saving for, and finding good places to record, putting the record out. Sticky Filth have been doing it for over twenty years, during which they've toured Australia twice, New Zealand a handful of times, and released world class metallic punk. Here on their second single, they get it just right, all romping head-down punk on Smile and Vodka, The Devil and Me, gruff spot-on vocal from bassist Craig Radford, and diamond hard punk guitar. Dead Girls has all that and a sombre piano outro with suitably solemn Radford vocal.
Jakob - Amase/ Her New Haircut - Crawlspace Records - 2000
Surf music for star surfers. This doesn't so much rock as roll. Endlessly.
- originally published in Mysterex3 - May 2004
The Great Unwashed – Singles 2 x 7" (Neck of The Woods/ Duane Eddy/ Boat With No Ocean/ Can't Find Water/ Born In The Wrong Time) – (Flying Nun Records) - Number 39 in April 1984
The original Clean with both Kilgour brothers and future Snapper mastermind Peter Gutteridge, the trio that wrote Point That Thing. Live they were an affirmation of The Clean's best moments with their head down acid instrumentals and rich folk rock bent. The best songs here are Gutteridge's Born In The Wrong Time, Boat With No Ocean and Can't Find Water. Though Hamish Kilgour's Duane Eddy got BBC Radio One play, and Neck of the Woods was filmed for video. Singles was later released in 12" format with a different sleeve.
The Chills – Pink Frost/ Purple Girl (Flying Nun Records) - Number 17 in June 1984
If any single song personified Flying Nun Records, it was Pink Frost, with it's subdued tension and fine pop surface. The video had Martin Phillipps walking through a pine forest above storm stung cliffs, the song has that mood too, humming along on a swish Terry Moore bass line.
The Double Happys – Double B Side (The Other's Way/ Anyone Else Would) – (Flying Nun Records) - Number 42 in October 1984
Jeez, Wayne Elsey could cut out some telling lines. He addresses Anyone Else Would to "another lost sheep with a poisoned soul and bloodshot eyes," over a spirited punk inspired riff, and whooping Elsey slide guitar while Shayne Carter contributes the anthemic "meet me…" romp The Other's Way.
Peter Jeffries/Shayne Carter – Randolph's Going Home/ Hooked, Lined and Sunken – (Flying Nun Records) – 1984
This solemn stutter beat tribute to dead Stone/Double Happy Wayne Elsey is one of the finest New Zealand singles ever released. Appropriately it's on Flying Nun Records, the most represented label on this list, and by two of that era's best songwriters/performers, and it's on 4 track – which is the whole era in a nutshell.
The Henchmen – Death Machine/ Bitch Goddess (Cadaver Records) – 1985
Stomping Stooges rock from Aucklanders' Tony Goth (Collins) and Norm Dillinger (Anthony Norman). The topside is a full-on down the highway tribute to James Dean while Bitch Goddess rips off a riff from the MC5's Come Together, and still comes out sounding fresh and vital. Part of a large recorded legacy.
Fetus Productions – Perfect Product EP (Flicker/ Backbeat/ Anthem) – Flying Nun Records – Number 42 in January 1986
The return of Jed Town, Serum and the rest of the Fetus Productions/Fetals live experience was one of the highlights of the mid-1980s. Flicker put them in the singles charts and on music TV. It's a frenetic piece of robotic rhythm and devil vocal.
The Big Fix – Happy Again/ All I'm Saying Is (F Star Records) – 1987
Who'd have picked Gisborne as the scene of a post Flying Nun breakout of groups and records, which was largely un-noticed by the rest of the country. Regionalism, largely a 1960s phenomenon produced localised scenes in the 80s in New Plymouth, Wellington, and in the isolated coastal city of Gisborne. The Big Fix had future Listener journalist Mark Revington on bass and Steve Simpson, graphic artist and would-be 1990s Britpop star in the ranks. Happy Again hums along in a cool pop punk fashion, which would have made the Buzzcocks happy. All I'm Saying Is has a macabre twist in the lyrics and softer guitars, which gradually build to an epic heart-pounding loud guitar pop finish. RIP also – The Wasp Factory whose Steel Blue Skies is a Gisborne power riff anthem, the psycho-bill Flaming Stars, and punk pioneers, the Planets. F Star recording artistes, all.
Birds Nest Roys – Jaffa Boy/ Bus-stop (Flying Nun Records) – 1986
The Roys made up funny names for everything and spoke in their own weird language. This Auckland Nun-Pop group were the ultimate in-crowd band only everyone was their in-crowd. Jaffa Boy kicks off in their patented chunky strum, then singer Little Ross lets loose a plaintive cry: "A little boy with orange lips, and chocolate on his mind," on this, Flying Nun's Yummy Yummy, the best thing this talented group unleashed.
The Wild Poppies – Stare at the Sun/ Where is Wellington? (Poppie Records) – 1987
The Wild Poppies have released three essential to own records, an album, Heroine, Out Of Time, an EP on an English label Jericho Records, and this stunning single. Stare At The Sun would have a sparkle into any chart, beautifully sung over a neat 1960s kissed rhythm guitar and delicate peal of lead, it's the best song from a group who released nary a dud. The Wild Poppies, based around the songwriting nucleus of Andrew Young and Andrew Carter, reappeared in Oxford, England in the late 1980s, then disappeared. Their current whereabouts are unknown.
The Dead C – Sun Stabbed EP (Bad Politics Baby/ Angel/ Crazy I Know) - (Xpressway Records) – 1988
One of those Dead C records that surpasses the 'idea' with actual recorded evidence that said idea was more than a stoned jam. Crazy I Know and Angel glide along on that messy Dead C space noise attack and into the heart, while Bad Politics Baby is the song every garage (noise) band recorded in practice but threw out in the light of day. In all, a big F you to the convention of the time, and long overdue.
The Straitjacket Fits – Hail/ So Long Marianne (Flying Nun Records) – Number 20 in January 1989
The Leonard Cohen tune gets a sprinkle of Carter/Brough pop magic dust. Hail is Carter bombast and linear guitar dynamics – Carter trademarks - on one of his better originals.
Chris Knox – Not Given Lightly/ The Face of Fashion/ Love Song (pt 1) (Flying Nun Records) – 1989
This is what Knox does well – melding his progressive views to that wonderful voice and his uncanny pop ear. Knox's political ramblings are all very well, but when I want someone to articulate the dilemmas of a modern relationship, I reach for this wonderful song.
The Bats – Smoking Her Wings/ Mastery (Flying Nun Records) – 1990
The Bats had a problem. A major one. They knew it. The people who bought their records knew it. It's a lack of variety in their tunes and a bland image. You can only stretch three folky chords so far. That said, I love this single, the best of the Bats in two songs, hummable slightly eerie folk rock with catchy pop hooks.
Peter Jeffries/Robbie Muir – Catapult/ Fate Of The Human Carbine (Xpressway Records) – 1990
A real thinking walking anthem and Jeffries second great stutter beat song after Randolph's Going Home. Here, he is ably assisted by Rip, and Plagal Grind, bassist Robbie Muir. Fate Of The Human Carbine was later covered by US singer Cat Power. This is the best single on Xpressway.
Headless Chickens - Cruise Control/ I'm Talking To You - Flying Nun Records - Number six in August 1991
In every soap opera with a large teenage cast there is a band. In Home And Away the band played Cruise Control. The Chickens' ozzie hit. Not bad for a bunch of Birthday party loving Auckland degenerates.
Olla – Septic Hagfish EP (Septic Hagfish/ Ditch/ Don't Fall Too Hard/ Olla Putrido (Facilis Est Descendus Averni) - (Flying Nun Records) – 1991
Annoying, disturbing and sometimes instrumental surf music – Septic Hagfish is the best realization of Chris Hazelwood in an avant noise rock group (as opposed to solo). Backing him up are ex-LBGP drummer Lesley Paris and ex-Sferic Experiment guitarist Shaun O'Reilly.
Bailter Space – The Aim/ We Know (Clawfist Records) – 1992
The Aim, No Label, state Bailter Space, the phoenix that rose from the ashes of the Gordons, and in a testament to their originality very few labels have stuck to this long lived Christchurch now New York based trio. The Aim leaves no doubts where the group stand musically with its gigantic swelling riff and stroppy pulsing bass and drums, topped off by Alister Parker's menacing part spoken, part sung vocal. Released as part of a two single deal on English label Clawfist amid raves from the usually cloth eared British music press.
The 3Ds – Outer Space/ Baby's On Fire (Flying Nun Records) – 1992
"I lost my face... in outer space," screams one D, David Saunders, as the instrument that loosened said face chops out the hardest riff on a potential chart singles for eons. That being courtesy former Exploding Budgie/Goblin Mix guitarist David Mitchell. Just to prove the point, they chop out an evil version of Eno's Baby's On Fire, helped along by bass player Denise Roughan's best vocal so far.
The 3Ds - Beautiful Things/ Summer Stone (Flying Nun Records) – Number 49 in September 1993
The 3Ds follow up (just) made the charts here, and scored an American release on Merge Records. It's a deceptively simple lilting Gaelic melody with a slow folk strum that takes a few listens to bury itself in your cranium, but be assured it does.
The Renderers – A Million Lights/ Primitive Country (Merge Records) – 1993
Primitive country indeed. Mary Rose Crook's aching cowgirl quaver sits mournfully a top a primal howl of country riff courtesy hubby Brian Crook. It's a marriage made in hell on a lonely back road. How did they get here from the distortion rock of their mid-80s outfit, Max Block?
The Garbage and the Flowers – Catnip/ Carousal (Twisted Village Records) – 1993
Sound-wise, this wired Wellington combo could easily have come out of downtown New York, plicking out the soundtrack to an art-fag Andy Warhol scene. Carousal is singer Helen Johnstone doing a haunted Nico trance-vocal while making Cale-like on the screeching viola. This was released on the Twisted Village label from Cambridge, Massacusetts, home of Harvard. The single came as a surprise, and few sold in New Zealand - the band was little seen here, just a handful of live shows (cue Catnip) in Wellington, although members have been active since.
Snapper – Vader/ Gentle Hour (Flying Nun Records) – 1993
No one was quite ready for Snapper when they barreled into the alt/pop/ dance consciousness in 1988 with the hard distortion overload and strangely muted dance beats of the Snapper EP. The dreamy hypnotic pop gold moments of the Great Unwashed double 7" and Shotgun Blossum.
The Pin Group – Coat/ Hurricane Fighter Plane (Siltbreeze Records) - 1994
A remake of Coat from the Coat/Jim single on Flying Nun Records, that made number 38 on the Top 40 for the unknown Pin Group in November 1981. It proved Coat was a great song previously clocked by murky production. Even better is a version of Red Crayola's Hurricane Fighter Plane, a Pin Group live staple revisited here to devastating effect.
Sticky Filth – Def Thru Misadventure (Smile/ Vodka, The Devil and Me/ Dead Girls) – Ima Hitt Records – 1995
You don't automatically get any respect for being a provincial group in New Zealand. You earn it the hard way, playing where you can, raking up the bucks for trips out of town, saving for, and finding good places to record, putting the record out. Sticky Filth have been doing it for over twenty years, during which they've toured Australia twice, New Zealand a handful of times, and released world class metallic punk. Here on their second single, they get it just right, all romping head-down punk on Smile and Vodka, The Devil and Me, gruff spot-on vocal from bassist Craig Radford, and diamond hard punk guitar. Dead Girls has all that and a sombre piano outro with suitably solemn Radford vocal.
Jakob - Amase/ Her New Haircut - Crawlspace Records - 2000
Surf music for star surfers. This doesn't so much rock as roll. Endlessly.
- originally published in Mysterex3 - May 2004
