[{"id":268276400279,"handle":"flying-nun-vinyl","title":"Flying Nun and Related Vinyl","updated_at":"2021-11-30T09:51:28+13:00","body_html":"","published_at":"2021-06-03T19:09:24+12:00","sort_order":"created-desc","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Flying Nun"},{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Vinyl"}],"published_scope":"global"},{"id":211731447959,"handle":"headless-chickens","title":"Headless Chickens","updated_at":"2021-11-29T08:32:40+13:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Headless_Chickens_Flying_Nun_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598674768\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThey were an “alternative, underground band using hi-tech instruments in a low tech way”, controversial winners of the Rheineck Rock Award, the Flying Nun act that came closest to dance music (giving the label its only number one) and, throughout, a vehicle for the singular vision and dark humour of Chris Matthews.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn the beginning – the early 80s - Matthews and Johnny Pierce were half of the uncompromising attack of \u003cb\u003eChildren’s Hour\u003c\/b\u003e (along with Grant Fell and Bevan Sweeny) and occasional contributors to the Jefferies brothers project, \u003cb\u003eThis Kind of Punishment\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn 1985 the pair roped in the more electronically inclined Michael Lawry to form the International Headless Chickens for a one-off performance at the ‘Nitpickers Picnic’. Shortening their name, they released a self titled EP in mid-1986. Their use of samplers, synthesisers and drum machines combined with a claustrophobic sound and Chris Matthews’ dark, often bleak, lyrics quickly set them apart from most of their contemporaries.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn August 1986, Johnny Pierce tragically took his own life and the band stalled – but Matthews and Lawry picked up the pieces again, adding \u003cb\u003eChildren’s Hour\u003c\/b\u003e band mate Grant Fell on bass and flamboyant former \u003cb\u003eBird Nest Roy\u003c\/b\u003e Rupert E Taylor as a vocalist.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn December 1987 the \u003cb\u003eHeadless Chickens\u003c\/b\u003e won the second Rheineck Rock award and hilarity ensued. The inaugural winners, South Auckland funksters Ardijah, had – to the satisfaction of the “industry” – parlayed their win into radio play and chart hits. Awarding the prize to such an unrepentantly alternative outfit created an outcry best summed up in a Metro article alleging a “severe lack of judgement” and bizarrely suggesting that, as an alternative band, the Chickens played “music which you can’t actually listen to”. \u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSomehow, the firmament held together and the band recorded their debut album. \u003cb\u003eThe Children’s Hour\u003c\/b\u003e reunion was completed with Bevan Sweeney brought in to add a more human element to the rhythms.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eReleased in mid-1988, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e‘Stunt Clown’\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e underlined the gaping chasm between established industry and alternative scene – nothing here would follow Ardijah to Top 40 radio rotates; and it amplified unresolved tensions on the other side of the tracks – where such heavy use of emulators and drum programmes sat badly with some.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn its own terms, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e‘Stunt Clown’\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e was a stunning achievement with a huge sweep encompassing everything from the dark driving guitars and rhythms of \u003ci\u003e‘Expecting To Fly’\u003c\/i\u003e, the self referential \u003ci\u003e‘Do The Headless Chicken’\u003c\/i\u003e and the snarling \u003ci\u003e‘Donka’\u003c\/i\u003e to the lighter touch of \u003ci\u003e‘Soul Catcher’ \u003c\/i\u003eand the tenderness of \u003ci\u003e‘Fish Song’\u003c\/i\u003e – with cello, violin and piano accordion thrown in for good measure. The critics were impressed; the detractors probably still didn’t understood.\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003eHEADLESS CHICKENS - \u003ci\u003eDONKA\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe first of innumerable trips to Australia followed in late 1988; and Anthony Nevison joined in early 1989. The new line-up recorded \u003ci\u003e‘Gaskrankinstation’\u003c\/i\u003e – a relentless Matthews number about a gas station attendant with only his job to give meaning to an otherwise bleak and empty life. A Chickens and Flying Nun classic, it was accompanied by a memorable video starring Chris Mathews and directed by Grant Fell.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Headless_Chickens_Flying_Nun-2_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598867782\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T19:22:43+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Headless Chickens"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-29T16:19:46+12:00","alt":null,"width":1054,"height":1054,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Headless_Chickens_Flying_Nun_SQUARE.jpg?v=1598674786"}},{"id":211732463767,"handle":"loves-ugly-children","title":"Loves Ugly Children","updated_at":"2021-11-15T09:12:04+13:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Loves_Ugly_Children_Flying_Nun_1024x1024.jpg?v=1599474289\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrom the raw power end of the New Zealand music spectrum, Loves Ugly Children come crashing the party with a new album in hand. And while they've been steadily building a reputation as a band with a unique brand of rock'n'punk sensibilities on previous album Cakehole and the outstanding Suck EP, Showered In Gold delivers Loves Ugly Children to the kids in full glorious, action-packed effect. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe trio of Simon Ugly (guitar), Floss (bass) and Jason Young (drums) unleash their best set of songs here and, with the aid of producer Matthew Heine, they display the ability to shape Showered In Gold into something special.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe record buzzes with the passion and feeling that has made them a thundering (and very loud!) fixture on the NZ live circuit and taken Loves Ugly Children overseas to impress Australians and citizens of the UK.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd what's more, Simon Ugly writes with those timeless rock'n'roll themes of Bad Girls (\"Voodoo\" and \"Motorbike\" Girls respectively) Bad Behaviour (\"Six Pack\", \"Junk Food\") and Bad Attitude (\"Don't Need A Reason\" alright).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLoves Ugly Children kick down the garage door with opener \"Coming For You\", a hot-wired trash epic that sets the tone with destination to your heart scrawled on its belly. From there, the first half of the album is unrelenting good fun as the band delights in playing up to that trashy rock'n'roll vibe in \"Six Pack\", \"Pump It Baby\", those two great Bad Girl tunes and \"Junk Food\". It's a glorious mix of the heads- down thrash of Cakehole with the post-grunge swagger first recorded on the \"Suck\" EP. All in all, this half of Showered In Gold is the most explosively listenable 20 minutes of adrenalin-charged rock to appear so far this year.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Suck\" itself is an energetic high-point of the second half of Showered In Gold, but the songs surrounding it alter the mood somewhat. \"You Don't Hate Me\" is as musically fragile as this lot get, but that's over-turned immediately by the unsettling heavy metal riffery of \"Seven\" and the brilliant \"Don't Need A Reason\", a lost oasis of slide guitar action courtesy of producer Matthew Heine. \"It's In My Blood\" closes the album, lurching from Able Tasman Graeme Humphreys' drunken organ into one of those Biblical epics that Simon Ugly just can't keep himself from writing (this is the man who penned \"Jesus Christ Satan\" for a previous b-side!).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the greatest traditions in the fine art of rock'n'roll exists through those bands labelled as \"punk\" ever since the Stooges and Velvet Underground laid waste to the groovy-isms of sixties rock. But those bands and the ones that followed -- from the Ramones to today's Loves Ugly Children -- looked to create the most exciting music possible out of the so-called 'primitive' tools of the rock'n'roll trade, mostly by fuelling it with speed and desperately screaming something of your own.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn making this album, all shiny and showered in gold, Loves Ugly Children have pointedly screamed something of their own alright and like all good innovative traditionalists (!) they've kept true to the style. Love it to bits.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T19:29:53+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Loves Ugly Children"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-09-07T22:25:27+12:00","alt":null,"width":1000,"height":1000,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Loves_Ugly_Children_Flying_Nun_SQUARE.jpg?v=1599474328"}}]
