The story goes that The Subliminals were formed in Auckland following a chance meeting between Stephen Reay and Brendan Moran, both stopping by BFM’s radio show “Freak the Sheep” for a few beers with host at the time (and later FlyingNun GM), Hat.  At the time Moran, was causing trouble in that hell’s teeth combo The Hasselhoff Experiment.  Reay + Moran jammed together for a short while before Simon MacLaren, an old acquaintance from Christchurch and ex Loves Ugly Children  was asked to join the festivities.  To keep it simple, some egalitarian kraut-guitar-skronk was dished up, and the trio went looking for a suitable bass player.  Hat again provided the contact- flatmate Jared Johanson, who looked after a supermarket by day and created hypnotic, rolling bass-lines by night.

L-R: Steve Reay, Simon MacLaren, Jared Johanson and Brendan Moran

With a solid rhythm section that could play forever when required, Simon and Stephen were free to explore all manner of sonic guitar noodles, taking their structurally-extended (and mostly instrumental) jams down dark alleys, up avenues of light, across the border into Indian territory and eventually beyond to the Outer Limits. They were adept at performing these flights of fancy live, often playing around Auckland City with like-minded bands – HDU, Dimmer, Trans Am – always giving good entertainment for the space cadets among us. Some audience members literally went way out there in connecting with the band, like the gin-infused umbrella lady, but that’s a story for another time.

The Subliminals were long-time fans of Flying Nun artists who had come before them and made great sounds out of difficult and shoddy circumstances. ‘The Crystal Chain’ CDEP was recorded by Dale Cotton, audio wizard, out in a country woolshed in the middle of winter 1999. Yes, the band had to sweep out the shed first, removing all debris and uh, droppings, before they could begin recording. Not a bad finished recording either, full of vim and vigour – the floorboards were definitely bouncing.

This was followed by a full length album entitled ‘United State’ in 2000. The album recordings took place in a remote house in Northland, running on solar power and a generator – this time the recording was handled by Tex Houston, audio wizard, who much like Dale, is another of the long-term/legendary sound engineers who reported for duty on FN artist’s albums. Final mixing of the album took place in the deserted Flying Nun office in Queen St, downtown Auckland – the staff had just finished moving all the furniture out to the new amalgamated Festival Mushroom premises and there was a week still left on the old lease, so the band took advantage of the empty, carpeted rooms to complete their album. Alan Holt, a FN staffer back then, provided theremin sounds on the album during these final tweakings.

Ten years on (at time of writing), the ‘United State’ album sounds fresh, unique and wide open. It also has the feel of a comfortable slipper, because it’s been played countless times in this house and on many long, warm drives through the country in the decade since release. Grant Smithies originally reviewed ‘United State’ in the Sunday Star Times, pronouncing it “...the best local rock album in years”. He subsequently called it “a brisk, exciting, highly addictive record, and a true classic of the Nun canon” in his book ‘Soundtracks: 118 Great New Zealand Albums’. Spot on.

The band never toured a great deal in the few short years they were together. Given the various outside constraints on the band member’s time, whether family, other projects or a working career, The Subliminals were never aiming to be a full-time occupation and when the band finally broke apart, it seemed fairly amicable. Brendan Moran continued playing in The Hasselhoff Experiment and then moved to Wellington; he now attends art school back in Auckland. Simon performed as country-blues artist Dirt and then released a psychedelic-pop solo album as Sleeper’s Union before moving to Dunedin. Stephen now records and performs in dark-folk duo The Haints Of Dean Hall alongside his sister-in-law. He also plays with Jared Johanson in the local Auckland math-rock band Faults.

- Dylan Pellett (former Flying Nun Firewarden), 2010