[{"id":211725189271,"handle":"3ds","title":"3Ds","updated_at":"2022-05-16T14:55:10+12:00","body_html":"\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/3Ds_Flying_Nun-3_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598675162\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e3Ds were the biggest ‘third wave’ Flying Nun band, formed by musicians from earlier FN groups. Starting out in Dunedin in 1988, they recorded three albums and several EPs, the best-known being \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/flying-out.myshopify.com\/collections\/the-3ds\/products\/the-3ds-the-venus-trail\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Venus Trail\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e (1993). They achieved worldwide critical and commercial success, and toured extensively overseas from 1992-95.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe 3Ds\u003c\/b\u003e came into being in Dunedin in mid-1988, after the male members all relocated from Auckland in search of cheap rent, booze and 24 hour-a-day rock’n roll. Their arrival swelled the ranks of many bands, including \u003cb\u003eSnapper\u003c\/b\u003e,\u003cb\u003e Chug\u003c\/b\u003e and \u003cb\u003ePlagal Grind\u003c\/b\u003e, but they all became best-known as members of the 3Ds.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAfter initially forming as a trio (hence the name) they were joined in early 1989 by David Mitchell. He introduced a third song-writer and singer, as well as the twin-guitar attack which became the defining feature of the group. Mitchell’s intricate and demented artwork also featured memorably on most of their record covers and posters. Once you’ve seen an entire city sodomised by giant rats, you never forget it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWith the completion of the alchemical transformation from a loose jamming agglomeration to the 3Ds, and the band immediately began their assault on New Zealand’s then-burgeoning underground rock scene. They stood out from the start in their ability to sway both the critics and a broader audience. The 3Ds were a band with something for everyone - a knock-out combination of over-loaded guitars, horror-show imagery and toothsome vocal harmonies. While the Pixies were often cited as a formative influence, it’s more correct to see them as the bastard offspring of Black Sabbath and Fairport Convention. Their point of difference was the unique combination of Celtic lilt with berserk metal fury.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTheir first recordings were delayed by over a year as the band tried twice to secure CreativeNZ funding support, amazingly without success. Their first recordings were a bunch of demos, one of which, \u003ci\u003e‘Meluzina Man’\u003c\/i\u003e became their first release on the 1990 compilation Xpressway Pile-up. The band recorded their Flying Nun debut \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eFish Tales\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e in early 1990, starting a long close association with Dunedin’s Fish St Studios. Their second EP (\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSwarthy Songs for Swabs\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e) and debut album (\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHellzapoppin’\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e) followed over the next two years, the latter spawning the unstoppable single \u003ci\u003eOuter Space\u003c\/i\u003e. After the first record all their sessions were produced by their live engineer of choice, Tex Houston.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first three records saw US release under licence to First Warning, an RCA-affiliate that almost immediately went pants-up, rather negating the crazed wave of critical adulation that greeted their release. The band first toured the US in 1992, followed by an Australian tour with the\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLemonheads\u003c\/strong\u003e. They were among the first New Zealand bands to take advantage of the international connections established in the later 1980s to tour and release records in both the US and the UK.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTheir second album\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Venus Trail\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(1993) has proved to be their classic. This included their best known singles\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eHey Seuss\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eand Beautiful Things. It was released in the US by\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMerge\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(train-spotters please note, the Merge single of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBeautiful Things\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis an entirely different version, sung by Denise), and also in the UK by Flying Nun, once more to a critical response akin to that given to a free cigarette-scramble in a prison yard.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe year 1994 was dominated by a three-month tour to the UK and the US. While in England they recorded a Peel session and were widely lauded by the music press. Their extensive US tour included gigs with the likes of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePavement\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, but proved a gruelling effort. Still, this was pretty heady stuff for a New Zealand band of that era. The following year they recorded the stop-gap \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCaterwauling\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e four song EP and toured Australia as part of the main stage action at the Big Day Out festival. They also scored the NZ supports on the massive Zoo TV tour by U2, typically taking advantage of the opportunity to plunder the headliners’ liquor rider. This led to a handwritten thumbs-up from Bono and the gift of yet further top-shelf liquor in recognition of their contribution at the shows.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eFinally in 1996 the 3Ds managed one more LP, the darkly-morose \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eStrange News From The Angels\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e. This was well-received but contained no singles to match their previous efforts. The band, feeling that the fun had gone out of the experience, announced their split in early 1997. Coaxed from retirement to perform at the 20th anniversary Merge Fest in 2009, they followed this in early 2010 with a series of shows in New Zealand and a UK appearance at All Tomorrows Parties. Future plans are unclear.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eBy Bruce Russell (The Dead C)\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e\u003ciframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ePvmxGA2vqU\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T18:29:03+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"3Ds"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-12T21:56:57+12:00","alt":null,"width":1000,"height":1000,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/hero_thumb_a1307.jpg?v=1598675175"}},{"id":211725320343,"handle":"able-tasmans","title":"Able Tasmans","updated_at":"2022-05-09T17:34:24+12:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Able_Tasmans_Flying_Nun_Records_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598091205\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNamed after the Dutch explorer \u003cstrong\u003eAbel Tasman\u003c\/strong\u003e (who was first European to visit New Zealand in 1642) the band themselves were avid explorers limited only by their imagination. Their songwriting and arrangement crossed lines between baroque and indie-pop integrating field recordings and bringing keyboards to the forefront of their music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Auckland-based group went through a number of line-up and mood changes since they first surfaced in 1984 as a trio whammying things up for the kids on the dancefloor with a very '60s fun organ-bass-drums sound and songs with titles like \"Nelson the Cat?!!\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Nelson\" was one of six songs which appeared on the Ables' 1985 debut EP for \u003cstrong\u003eFlying Nun\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Tired Sun\u003c\/em\u003e. The EP featured the quietly expanding Ables line-up, with the original trio of \u003cstrong\u003eGraeme Humphreys\u003c\/strong\u003e (keybaords and vocals), \u003cstrong\u003eDave Beniston\u003c\/strong\u003e (bass) and \u003cstrong\u003eCraig Baxter\u003c\/strong\u003e (drums) being augmented by \u003cstrong\u003ePeter Keen\u003c\/strong\u003e on vocals and future \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/collections\/headless-chickens\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHeadless Chicken\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eAnthony Nevison\u003c\/strong\u003e, who lent a hand on guitar and vocals.\u003cbr\u003eRecorded with thanks to 'the marvels of modern steam recording' at Auckland's Progressive Studio over Easter, 1985, The Tired Sun was a lively psych-out, admired for its strong singing and punchy upbeat feel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe following year, the \u003cstrong\u003eAble Tasmans\u003c\/strong\u003e released the sparse and eccentric 7\" single \u003cem\u003eBuffalos\u003c\/em\u003e, which was backed with \u003cem\u003eRelapse\u003c\/em\u003e, a song performed by \u003cstrong\u003ePeter Keen's\u003c\/strong\u003e first band, \u003cstrong\u003eRaucous Laughter\u003c\/strong\u003e. The classic organ pop frolic \u003cem\u003eCarolines\u003c\/em\u003e also appeared on the Radio B compilation, \u003cem\u003eOutnumbered By Sheep\u003c\/em\u003e in 1986.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Ables released their first full-length album in 1987, \u003cem\u003eA Cuppa Tea And A Lie Down\u003c\/em\u003e -- which featured an expanded line-up of six people. \u003cstrong\u003eLeslie Jonkers\u003c\/strong\u003e (who was responsible for the front cover art of \u003cem\u003eThe Tired Sun\u003c\/em\u003e and had been writing Ables tunes since the early days without appearing on stage!) was playing organ, and \u003cstrong\u003ePeter Keen\u003c\/strong\u003e was now full-time on vocals and \u003cstrong\u003eGraeme Humphreys\u003c\/strong\u003e playing guitar and singing. \u003cstrong\u003eDave Beniston\u003c\/strong\u003e still played bass but \u003cstrong\u003eStuart Greenway\u003c\/strong\u003e replaced the Australia-bound Craig Baxter on drums. Additional instrumentation was provided by \u003cstrong\u003eJane Leggott\u003c\/strong\u003e (flute) and \u003cstrong\u003eDave Tennent\u003c\/strong\u003e (some guitar). The Ables confused plenty of people by including 23 associates (from studio and live sound engineers to album cover artists and dancers -- the band was now involved with providing music for the Te Kani Kani dance group) in the group photo on the back of the album...\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA Cuppa Tea... remains the \u003cstrong\u003eAble Tasmans\u003c\/strong\u003e most eclectic recording to date. In Melody Maker, the album was described as \"a strange beast indeed... winding, melodic, theatrical, folky, with more than a string of acerbic guitars in its tail... Jaunty tunes, blissful rock-outs, sixties throwbacks with whining violins and catchy cowboy singalongs.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was three years and more line-up changes (naturally) until a new \u003cstrong\u003eAble Tasmans\u003c\/strong\u003e recording appeared on Flying Nun. Released in 1990, Hey Spinner! was a denser album, with tunes that continued the Ables' curious line in lyrical kiwiana -- a trend begun on the previous album, which had built local geography and custom into songs like \"And We Swam the Magic Bay\" and \"Evil Barbeque\". Hey Spinner! matched these with \"Grey Lynn\" and \"Michael Fay\" -- a Dickensian tale where \"It was Christmas day\/When Michael Fay gave all his money away\".\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe band line-up now featured the songwriting core of Humphreys, Jonkers and Keen, with former Verlaine Jane Dodd playing bass and Craig Mason, longtime Ables associate and singer-guitarist in Auckland's Sombretones, on drums. Another new full-time member and longtime associate was Ron Young, adding a curtain of analogue synth nonsense and more vocals to the songs. The Ables' Hey Spinner! sound was rounded out by regular live clarinetist, Donald Nichols, and extra trumpet, cello and violin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe \"baroque folk rock\" (Colin Hogg) of Hey Spinner! gave way to something a little wilder and weirder by the time of the 1992 release, Somebody Ate My Planet. The album, recorded with the same settled line-up as Hey Spinner! at Auckland's Lab Studio with engineer Victor Grbic, sees the Able Tasmans fully extending their sound over eleven songs packed with warm noise and cool ideas. It's the best commie astronomer clever lover environmentally friendly rock you'll enjoy in a good while -- proof that the Able Tasmans have grown to a position where they're comfortable and popular musical adventurers on this planet, even if \"somebody\" is making a mess of their own...\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T18:30:30+12:00","sort_order":"created","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Able Tasmans"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-22T22:12:17+12:00","alt":null,"width":993,"height":992,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Able_Tasmans_Flying_Nun_Records-2.jpg?v=1598091137"}},{"id":211727089815,"handle":"bird-nest-roys","title":"Bird Nest Roys","updated_at":"2022-05-09T17:53:35+12:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Bird_Nest_Roys_Flying_Nun_1024x1024.jpg?v=1604912960\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBorn in the hills west of Auckland, New Zealand the \u003cstrong\u003eBird Nest Roys\u003c\/strong\u003e had a brief but brilliant lifespan. Formed in the mid-1980s the six-piece released one LP, one EP and a 7\" single in the space of four years. Now, we've packaged them up for your listening convenience.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWith a knack for off-kilter pop, and a decent hint of chaos the Bird Nest Roys quite literally layered guitars (three out of the six played them), with members of the band going on to play with likes of the \u003cstrong\u003e3Ds\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eSnapper\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eThe Tufnels\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T18:48:34+12:00","sort_order":"created","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Bird Nest Roys"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-25T22:11:40+12:00","alt":null,"width":1000,"height":1000,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/BirdNestRoys_5_grande_a219a4db-caf7-4c5f-8922-0fd274c9cf0f.jpg?v=1598350301"}},{"id":211727286423,"handle":"bressa-creeting-cake","title":"Bressa Creeting Cake","updated_at":"2022-05-16T12:14:13+12:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003eAll too rarely does a musical group come along with all the right bits intact and just enough of the wrong bits there to make you sit up and really take notice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHaving already made serious wobbles in the airwaves over student radio with a string of demo recordings, Bressa Creeting Cake laid it out a couple of months back with the four songs making up their debut Flying Nun release, \"Papa People\". Now stretching their prodigious talents into a full album's worth of tunes, this young band revel in the chance to show us exactly what they're capable of. And that, my friends, is a lot.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRight from the opening calypso swing of \"Palm Singing\", Bressa Creeting Cake kick into the playful pop inventiveness that stands as the album's major mood. The vast array of styles on the album include plenty of psychedelic tinges and a hint of progressive rock, but the band don't get stuck in any one place for long over fifteen songs. And those frivolous moments like \"Rocky Mountain\" (complete with that much-maligned staple of English 80s pop, the Simmons drumkit) are balanced out by more earnest tracks such as \"You \u0026amp;I;\" and \"They Write Words To People Who Are Dead\".\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLyrically, both Ed Cake and Geoff Creeting string words together with no small amount of flair. Whether it be the Hungarian\/ Mongolian hybrid language in \"Zenax\", the imaginative leaps of syntax and imagery in \"Rocky Mountain\" and \"Egyptian Tanker\", or the strange tales told in the likes of \"A Chip That Sells Millions\" or 'An Early Microscope\", the use of words and meaning adds depth to the tunes here.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003eBressa Creeting Cake was heralded as a young band \"brimming with ideas\". Their self-titled 1997 debut album - made up of 15 tracks swinging between psychedelic and progressive rock (including single 'Nervous Wreck') received acclaim, but then the trio went their separate ways. Geoff Maddock (then going by the stage name Geoff Creeting) and Joel Wilton, went on to form pop-folk band Goldenhorse alongside Kirsten Morelle. Ed Cake has released two solo albums and produced for various musicians. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T18:50:00+12:00","sort_order":"created","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Bressa Creeting Cake"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-24T20:49:45+12:00","alt":null,"width":670,"height":671,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Bressa_Creeting_Cake_Flying_Nun.jpg?v=1598258986"}},{"id":211727810711,"handle":"childrens-hour","title":"Children's Hour","updated_at":"2022-05-16T13:41:24+12:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Childrens_Hour_Flying_Nun-2_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598868260\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMore on Children's House coming soon...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pWrMNRe7arg\" height=\"630\" width=\"1120\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" frameborder=\"0\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T18:55:02+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Children's Hour"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-26T21:07:17+12:00","alt":null,"width":1000,"height":1000,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Children_sHourYa_Ya_Ya_FrontCover_1512x_85fb3389-d5f4-47e0-91e4-262ea8967798.jpg?v=1598868356"}},{"id":211727974551,"handle":"chris-knox","title":"Chris Knox","updated_at":"2022-05-09T17:34:24+12:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Chris_Knox_Flying_Nun_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598260692\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI first met Chris Knox in my shop Records Records, where he would come after he had finished his postie run. He would usually denigrate some of the vaunted albums in the Recent Arrivals bin, always with a smile, lovely teeth, and then drift over to the One Dollar Cardboard Box, where, in those incredible days, he was able to buy Pip Proud for just that one dollar. I had tried to sell Pip Proud for more, but nobody wanted it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eChris also worked, variously, at the Cadburys Chocolate Factory and Brian Snell's Hi Fi Shop. He flatted behind Snells, and shop manager Ron Esplin was fond of telling people later on when Chris' musical stature grew, that one morning when Chris didn't turn up for work, he went over there to yank him out of bed, only there was someone else in the bed as well. Ron, with the highly developed Presbyterian moral ethic so common to those of us who live in the south, was shocked. But he liked Chris, he kept him on.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Enemy was put together a year or two later. I knew Chris quite well by then, but didn't go to any of the practices, unlike others in our group, who reported back breathlessly that the songs were amazing. Like a number of others, I was asked to come and try out for the band with my Diplomat copy guitar, but I knew my limitations and said I was busy that night.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Beneficiaries Hall debut confirmed The Enemy had amazing songs. Talk turned quickly to getting them down on tape. I had a good reel to reel, a Revox A-77 (which I later sold to David Kilgour, his song Tape Machine is about that) and a bad microphone, so I hauled the two along to the old Cellar Club in Manse Street to record a gig on Alec Bathgate's birthday. Chris had given me a tape I could use - \"Don't worry about what is on it, just wipe eberything off, they're just really old songs I used to write, they're crap.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNone of us had a sense of history then, not even me, who was older, and should have understood history. So I didn't even play the tape before I erased it with The Enemy at The Cellar Club. This would rank as one of the top ten studpiest things I have ever done in my life.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eUnfortunately the cheap microphone had the final say that night. The band dutifully came up to our house on the following Monday and we listened to the tape through a big Jansen valve amplifier to try and get that raw rough live sound. Everyone got very depressed, tape recorders can be cruel when you have only performed in public a couple of times. But Chris was great all the way through, trying to pull the project up from under the water in much the same way he tried to rescue the Toy Love album years later, singing his heart out. Talk turned to doing covers. Yes please, said Mick. No, never, said Chris.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Enemy took all those good songs into Toy Love and records were finally made, chart positions achieved, and then came Flying Nun. When the label produced a pack of cards on their tenth anniversary with drawings by Chris, he did one of me, calling me The Godfather Of The Dunedin Sound. Wrong. Chris was always that. Everyone deferred to him, hung on his every word and piece of advice, and used his evaluation of their performance as a barometer of where they stood. Most of all, Chris helped so many of them, often reserving his most fulsome praise and material assistance to the ones who were at the bottom of the totem pole, the Pip Proud One Dollar Cardboard Box ones.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI went up to see Chris in Auckland this year, well after his debilitating stroke. I had been told a variety of distressing stories, I didn't know what to expect. But the old Chris was still there, wordless maybe, but the eyes and the smile and the expressive face said so much. As it always did. I had always meant to mention that silly story about him not making it to work that morning at Brian Snells, somehow it had just never come up. Probably because it was silly. It seemed the time now, the moment was ripe for something right off the wall. But Chris was getting tired. I saved it for another time, and used the extra few minutes it would have taken to tell to hug him that much longer.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eChris would have laughed though, he would have really laughed.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T18:56:44+12:00","sort_order":"created","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Chris Knox"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-24T21:18:30+12:00","alt":null,"width":1000,"height":1000,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Chris_Knox_Flying_Nun_Square.jpg?v=1598260710"}},{"id":211728957591,"handle":"dimmer","title":"Dimmer","updated_at":"2022-05-11T13:03:08+12:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Dimmer_Flying_Nun_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598524997\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLanding with the impact of a late-night drive-by, Dimmer's new single is a sonic melting-pot stirred by band-leader and legendary enfant-terrible, Shayne P Carter. Ingredients for Don't Make Me Buy Out Your Silence and two more songs here include some solid rock thunder, a sly groove and an array of noises screaming in from the dark edges. Mr Carter stands in the middle of this first major Dimmer release, directing a storm of different variations on pop-noir from those he unleashed as leader of New Zealand's premier contenders for the world crown, Straitjacket Fits.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStraitjacket Fits offered up some of the most riveting rock music of the last decade. Dimmer has uncovered a new sound that is once more contemporary and compelling. With a combination of the musical equivalent of chloroform and kosh, \"Don't Make Me Buy Out Your Silence\" and the accompanying songs are a first-class knock-out indeed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShayne has only stepped out of the shadows to offer us the briefest glimpses of Dimmer before now. It's two years since he followed the demise of Straitjacket Fits by putting the first Dimmer line-up together in Dunedin and over a year since Dimmer first surfaced on record with the Flying Nun\/Sub Pop 7\" single \"Crystalator\". The band's live appearances in the intervening period featured a string of talented sidekicks and showcased a developing ferocity amidst some righteous trance-rock\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T19:05:42+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Dimmer"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-27T22:22:46+12:00","alt":null,"width":1030,"height":1030,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Dimmer_Flying_Nun_SQUARE.jpg?v=1598523767"}},{"id":211729285271,"handle":"doublehappys","title":"Doublehappys","updated_at":"2021-11-15T09:12:02+13:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Doublehappys_Flying_Nun_600x600.jpg?v=1598954431\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Double Happys first formed sometime in 1983 when former Bored Games vocalist, Shayne Carter, joined forces with The Stones' Wayne Elsey.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThey had a drum machine called Herbie Fuckface, who lived up to his name by subverting most of the duo's efforts onstage and quickly called for human replacement in the form of another old Kaikorai High schoolmate, John Collie.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe trio set about kicking up a storm, touring up north on the famous Looney Tour of 1984 and recording the Double B-side seven inch while they were in Auckland.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEarly in 1985, the band recorded an EP, Cut it Out and in June embarked on a short tour. Towards the end of the tour the band were travelling south from Auckland by train, and Elsey, in high spirits, climbed out of a carriage and was instantly and tragically killed as the train passed under a bridge.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe two remaining members of the band decided not to continue with the name, but later went on to form the Straitjacket Fits.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T19:09:11+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Doublehappys"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-09-01T22:00:50+12:00","alt":null,"width":594,"height":599,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Doublehappys_Flying_Nun.jpg?v=1598954451"}},{"id":211729842327,"handle":"f-in-math","title":"F In Math","updated_at":"2021-11-15T09:12:02+13:00","body_html":"","published_at":"2020-08-09T19:12:54+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"F In Math"}],"published_scope":"global"},{"id":211730006167,"handle":"fetus-productions","title":"Fetus Productions","updated_at":"2022-05-09T17:34:24+12:00","body_html":"","published_at":"2020-08-09T19:14:19+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Fetus Productions"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-09-22T19:40:49+12:00","alt":null,"width":1000,"height":1000,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Fetus_Productions_SQUARE.jpg?v=1600760449"}},{"id":392313798900,"handle":"flying-nun-catalog","title":"Flying Nun Catalog","updated_at":"2022-05-18T09:15:21+12:00","body_html":"The full catalog of Flying Nun Records releases, including many rare and collectable records released on 7' 12\" vinyl, cassette, CD and download. Many of these albums are out of print or no longer available, while others have been re-pressed and can be bought in our record store. If you find one of these going cheap in your local junk shop - snap it up!","published_at":"2021-12-04T16:32:39+13:00","sort_order":"created","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":true,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Flying Nun Catalog"},{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Flying Nun"}],"published_scope":"global"},{"id":211730530455,"handle":"garageland","title":"Garageland","updated_at":"2022-05-02T19:30:06+12:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e \u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Garageland_Flying_Nun-6_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598674582\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAuckland's Garageland made a big splash with their debut record \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCome Back Special\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ein August 1995. The BFM favourites came out with five fresh pop songs that suggested a new wave of musicians were clutching the classic Flying Nun catalogue for inspiration and taking off to the garage to jam.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWith their guitars turned up to warm reverb and tossing off words not just with the lazy abandon so favoured by the modern American underground but in the way that great NZ bands have always mumbled their way through a catchy tune, Garageland were mining a rich musical vein.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn order of appearance, these songs also suggest that\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003e(1) the line \"come back, all is forgiven\" is something worth shouting at the rooftops if you truly believe a former loved one doesn't know what they're missing,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003e(2) Billy Joel is an arsehole,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003e(3) you can't go wrong if you try and write thundering riffs like The Clean.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003e(4) ditto on the riff -- but add some guitar squall for tasty spicing, and\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003e(5) Sonic Youth should maybe lay off the weed and try a pop cigar if they really want to stay young.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe band's released their full-length debut in 1996, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLast Exit to Garageland\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, and broke into the Top Five on the country's charts. The Auckland-based band moved to England in early 1997, but Debbie Silvey chose to stay behind. Once the group settled in, they met guitarist Andrew Claridge, who promptly joined on for several tours that year. \u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe group returned to New Zealand for a tour in early 1998 and the US, but it wasn't till early 1999 that second album \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDo What You Want\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e was recorded and the band relocated home. Repeating their debut's success, it went gold in New Zealand, and was release in the US and picked up by U.K. music publications including Melody Maker and NME.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe band released their third and final album \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eScorpio Righting\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003ein 2002 before calling it a day, however they did re-form for a one-off gig in Auckland in November 2007.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T19:16:26+12:00","sort_order":"created","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Garageland"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-29T16:15:41+12:00","alt":null,"width":1000,"height":1000,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Garageland_Flying_Nun-24_SQUARE.jpg?v=1598674541"}},{"id":211730661527,"handle":"ghost-club","title":"Ghost Club","updated_at":"2021-11-15T09:12:02+13:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Ghost_Club_Flying_nun_600x600.jpg?v=1599471347\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"When I was young, my father locked my brother’s electric guitar in the cupboard, claiming it was an evil toy, so like any enquiring mind would do, I would unlock the cupboard when the house was empty and pluck and strum this forbidden thing. I made all the \"chords\" by playing a bar across the strings with my thumb. No, things haven’t changed much since then.\"\u003c\/i\u003e - \u003cb\u003eDavid Mitchell\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"Piercing eardrums, stabbing at blind eyes and splitting our heads\"\u003c\/i\u003e - \u003cb\u003eFlying Nun\u003c\/b\u003e’s initial reaction to the first album tapes received.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFor most dedicated New Zealand music fans, these fellows need no introduction, but for the uninitiated; David Mitchell has been melting down guitar amps since the 80’s in many seminal New Zealand bands from \u003cb\u003ePlagal Grind\u003c\/b\u003e to the \u003cb\u003eExploding Budgies\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003eGoblin Mix\u003c\/b\u003e and \u003cb\u003eChug\u003c\/b\u003e to the \u003cb\u003e3Ds\u003c\/b\u003e. Denise Roughan is also no stranger, serving us wonderments in \u003cb\u003eLook Blue Go Purple\u003c\/b\u003e and the \u003cb\u003e3Ds with the former \u003c\/b\u003eLondon based Ghost Club rounded off with the equally ear damaging drums of Jim Abbott.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T19:17:32+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Ghost Club"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-09-07T21:36:27+12:00","alt":null,"width":1000,"height":1000,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Ghost_Club_Flying_nun_SQUARE.jpg?v=1599471387"}},{"id":211731185815,"handle":"grayson-gilmour","title":"Grayson Gilmour","updated_at":"2022-01-10T15:21:19+13:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Grayson-Gilmour-I-credit-Holly-Beals_1024x1024.jpg?v=1599471971\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStarting with solo CD-Rs at 16, to forming So So Modern at 20,\u003cbr\u003eand scoring his first feature film at 26, its been a steady evolution.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis solo releases caught the welcoming ears of critics over the years,\u003cbr\u003eand eventually the attention of NZ’s iconic Flying Nun Records,\u003cbr\u003ewho made him the first signing of their 2010 re-launch.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSince composing for film, Grayson has received awards for ‘Best Score’\u003cbr\u003eat the NZ Film Awards for The Most Fun You Can Have Dying,\u003cbr\u003eand ‘Best Original Music’ for Consent at the APRA Silver Scrolls.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo So Modern, after seemingly endless tours around the globe,\u003cbr\u003eachieved an underground cult status for their unique electronic \/\u003cbr\u003epost-punk sound, intense live shows, and ridiculous costumes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile undertaking his Masters in Composition at the NZSM,\u003cbr\u003eGg’s 2014 solo release, Infinite Life! was nominated for\u003cbr\u003e‘Best Alternative Album’ at the NZ Music Awards, and the\u003cbr\u003ecritics choice Taite Music Prize.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHaving released his latest album Otherness to critical acclaim, Gg is\u003cbr\u003ecurrently lecturing at Massey University’s College of Creative Arts \u003cbr\u003ein between film scoring projects and rare live performances.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe width=\"1120\" height=\"720\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/b1aJ_lHVxQw\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T19:21:01+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Grayson Gilmour"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-09-07T21:46:30+12:00","alt":null,"width":1423,"height":1423,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Grayson_Gilmour_Flying_Nun_SQUARE.jpg?v=1599471990"}},{"id":211731447959,"handle":"headless-chickens","title":"Headless Chickens","updated_at":"2022-05-09T17:34:24+12:00","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":211731546263,"handle":"high-dependency-unit","title":"High Dependency Unit","updated_at":"2021-11-15T09:12:03+13:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/HDU_Flying_Nun_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598524839\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Dunedin-based trio of Tristan Dingemans (guitar\/vocals), Neil Phillips (bass) and Dino Karlis (drums) join forces with long-standing sound recorder Dale Cotton and pick up the thread of their muse in five extended songs, drawing each into a taut epic of alternating light and dark.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInvoking all the sound and the fury imaginable in the post-rock idiom, high dependency unit offer up another slab of sonic splendour to rival their two previous epics, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbstinence: Acrimony\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (1995) and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Sum Of The Few\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (1996).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the opening strains of the first track \"Babaya\" the adrenaline is rising until it's like drowning in an ocean of pure sound. Musical tension is coupled with a compelling sense of calm that allows you to just drift in the beauty of noise. The following track \"Fauxtekra\" unleashes the power of hdu live, drum and bass attempting to hold down a guitar hellbent on the deconstruction of all rock axioms.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe slabs of noise subside briefly with the third track, appropriately entitled \"Lull\". The drums relax into a shuffle beat alongside a more introspective guitar line before hdu return to their heavy duty as the apocalyptic journey of \"Dune\" unfolds. Dense and foreboding, the track just relentlessly drives on before its oppressive grind breaks like a wave.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd so to the close where \"Space Is The Place\" winds out to uncover a reverbed soundscape of chilling beauty. In space, it may be that no-one can hear you scream, but with higher hdu make another passionate case for the quality of the dark emotions they express in music and sound. In ten years time, high dependency unit will be a name that resonates with the 'underground' prestige that groups such as the Gordons and Skeptics command today. Live, there's not a band around today that can touch them. This is the sound of the 'dark side' of Flying Nun in full sonic severity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ccenter\u003e\n\u003ci\u003e\"high dependency unit maakt namelijk psychedelica ten voeten uit.\" Rif Raf Musiczine.\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Distorted, dangerous and often devastating, New Zealand band hdu journey headlong into free-form noise and sonic terror.\" Rolling Stone (04\/97)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"hdu's mix of disciplined musical muscle and compelling sense of tension make them simply breathtaking.\" Russell Baillie, NZ Herald\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/center\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T19:23:15+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"High Dependency Unit"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-27T22:23:55+12:00","alt":null,"width":1000,"height":1000,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/HDU_Flying_Nun-SQUARE.jpg?v=1598523836"}},{"id":211731841175,"handle":"jean-paul-sartre-experience","title":"Jean-Paul Sartre Experience","updated_at":"2022-03-12T16:13:56+13:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Jean_Paul_Sartre_Experience_Flying_Nun_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598263261\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhat a party! The 1985 Flying Nun Christmas party in an upstairs “loft” up an alley just off Oxford Terrace where the “strip” can now be found. The Christmas tree was suspended up side down from the ceiling and conveniently fell on a troublesome participant later in the evening, the bath tub was full of drinks, \u003cb\u003eThe Terminals\u003c\/b\u003e played a stomping set, the Dunedin contingent arrived late and so drunk that some could not get out of their cars.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd what a band! The \u003cb\u003eJean-Paul Sartre Experience\u003c\/b\u003e gate crashed our party, played an accomplished and astonishing set of startlingly individualistic material and got them selves signed to Flying Nun Records as a consequence. I was so impressed that I fell into the Avon River at the end of the evening.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSo rock and roll but in many ways the perfect start to a career in music that was to develop and evolve over the eight preceding years. Musically assured and in procession of an unusual strength in that there were three songwriters and none of the songs were like anything anyone had ever heard before.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA stand out self-titled EP was released in 1986 and marked the band as worth watching with the moody idiosyncratic pop masterpieces followed by the intelligent and melodious Love Songs album in 1987. These are slow dreamy psychedelic songs that are strong with happy dynamism and intent that stand out individually as unique and fully formed. Check out the songs and the videos that accompany them for “\u003ci\u003eFlex\u003c\/i\u003e” and “\u003ci\u003eI Like Rain\u003c\/i\u003e” and you’ll get the idea. No other band like them on the planet.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe band followed it’s labels move north to Auckland in 1989 where they recorded \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/shop\/24\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Size Of Food\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e album. This represents a shift in the groups sound. Darker, bleaker and perhaps a little angrier now with the guitars louder fuzzing over the parts where gentle vocal harmonies once dwelt. Still plenty of variety and differentiation between the songs, but this is pop music made with angst-ridden thoughts and menacing modern sounds.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe 1991 single “\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/shop\/22\"\u003e\u003cb\u003ePrecious\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e” release saw the band develop their sound and push it towards a poppier place. They withdrew a little on the pop front but kept much of the sonic attack in their subsequent work which culminated in 1993's album \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/shop\/18\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eBleeding Star\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis, their final album, sees the ideas developed on \u003cb\u003eThe Size Of Food \u003c\/b\u003eand pushes them into a more polished and produced place that sees the sonic ambitions of the band realised and, as always, welded with fine “pop” songs such as “\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/shop\/20\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eInto You\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e”, “\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/shop\/19\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBreathe\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e” and “\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/shop\/23\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eRay of Shine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e”.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBut not pop as in pap. It is simply great song writing sensibilities manifesting themselves clearly and all held together amongst layers of guitars, textured sounds and imaginatively structured drumming.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e- Roger Shepherd, 2010.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T19:25:21+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Jean-Paul Sartre Experience"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-24T21:54:58+12:00","alt":null,"width":1000,"height":1000,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Jean-Paul_Sartre_Experience_Flying_Nun.jpg?v=1598262899"}},{"id":211732365463,"handle":"look-blue-go-purple","title":"Look Blue Go Purple","updated_at":"2022-05-10T10:30:10+12:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Look_Blue_Go_Purple_Flying_Nun_1024x1024.jpg?v=1604910206\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLook Blue Go Purple\u003c\/strong\u003e were part of Flying Nun’s ‘second wave’ (along with \u003cstrong\u003eDoublehappys\u003c\/strong\u003e,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e Straitjacket Fits\u003c\/strong\u003e and the \u003cstrong\u003eAbel Tasmans\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e). Formed in 1983\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e, they honed their sound\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e in a Dunedin practice room under a \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003erecord\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e shop, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003ewhere they\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e developed a distinctive style \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003ewith\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e layered vocal harmonies, keyboards (and even flute) over trademark Dunedin guitar strum\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e and solid tribal beats\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e. They released three EPs before calling it a day. Though they'd made a conscious call to play with other women, LBGP never labeled themselves as a “feminist” or “girl” band, and grew tired of\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e being\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e endlessly asked about gender in interviews. “G\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eender has nothing to do with it,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e they said.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"335559739\":240}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLook Blue Go Purple\u003c\/strong\u003e comprised Canadian-born bass player, Kathy Bull (now \u003cstrong\u003eFrancisca Griffin\u003c\/strong\u003e) and keyboard player and vocalist, \u003cstrong\u003eNorma O’Malley\u003c\/strong\u003e, who were both in the band Permanent Tourists with Martyn Bull (The Elevators, The Chills). Inspired by British bands such as The Slits and The Raincoats and wanting to play with other women, they drafted guitarists \u003cstrong\u003eDenise Roughan\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eKath Webster\u003c\/strong\u003e, and drummer \u003cstrong\u003eLesley Paris\u003c\/strong\u003e. Whilst the quintet certainly had the distinctive jangly, gently psychedelic, lo-fi Flying Nun sound, the combined vocals of Roughan, Webster and O'Malley found their own striking synthesis that made them stand out from other groups of the time. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-ccp-props=\"{}\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eThey released their debut EP \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eBewitched\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003ein 1985, which \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003ewas \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003erecorded\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e and produced by Terry Moore. It\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e reached \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eNo.21 on \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eNew Zealand’s\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e pop \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003echarts \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eand remained in\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e the Top 50 for eight weeks. Their second EP \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eLBGPEP2\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eclimbed to No.26 in January 1987, propelled\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e by the infectious folk pop of “Cactus Cat”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003estayed in the pop charts for five weeks.\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eTheir third EP\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eThis is This\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003ewas released late 1987 \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003earound the time the band broke\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e up. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eThey played live frequently and toured New Zealand extensively, often with their label mates including\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-ccp-props=\"{}\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eThe Chills, The Bats and Straitjacket Fits.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-ccp-props=\"{}\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eNearly thirty years later, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003esurprised and delighted by the ongoing and renewed interest in the band, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003ethey began the\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e process of compiling the reissues. Pulling\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eeverything \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003etogether \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003ewas\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003echallenging, taking \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003efour years from the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eoriginal \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eseed\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e of the idea to actual fruition.\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eThis was partly due to\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e the nature of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003ethe band’s\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e highly democratic relationship\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e, but\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e also\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003ebecause \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eso much time had\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e passed\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eall five\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003ewomen \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003ewere\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e busy with \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003etheir\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e own\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003elives\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e far, far removed from \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003ethe \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e1980s Dunedin\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e scene.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-ccp-props='{\"335559739\":240}'\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eWhilst selecting the tracks and going through the archives, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003ethe band\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003ehad\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e some\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e quite intense h\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eistory to wade th\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003erough. Despite being a big challenge, it\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e was also \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003ea chance to reflect and reconnect\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e with each other\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e. It was ultima\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003etely a very positive experience as they\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eshared in\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e the nostalgia\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eof listening closely to their songs again. With \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003ethe wisdom of distance they,\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eas a group\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e were able \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eto appreciate the part their music \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003ehad \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eplayed in that\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e particular time and place – \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003eespecially considering the unusual arrangement of being an all-\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003ewomen\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e band\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003ewhich was such a\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-contrast=\"auto\"\u003e rarity in New Zealand’s legendary Dunedin scene.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-ccp-props=\"{}\"\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-ccp-props=\"{}\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XtmlfuEukMs\" height=\"630\" width=\"1120\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" frameborder=\"0\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T19:29:32+12:00","sort_order":"created","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Look Blue Go Purple"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-24T22:16:42+12:00","alt":null,"width":1000,"height":1000,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Look_Blue_Go_Purple.jpg?v=1598264203"}},{"id":211732463767,"handle":"loves-ugly-children","title":"Loves Ugly Children","updated_at":"2022-04-09T23:30:06+12:00","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"}},{"id":397108510964,"handle":"luke-buda","title":"Luke Buda Artist from New Zealand","updated_at":"2022-03-26T15:36:15+13:00","body_html":"\u003cp class=\"p1\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Luke_Buda_1024x1024.jpg?v=1647334903\" alt=\"Luke Buda music artist from New Zealand\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLuke Buda\u003c\/strong\u003e is a music artist from Wellington New Zealand. Buda also plays in the \u003cstrong\u003ePhoenix Foundation \u003c\/strong\u003eband.\u003cstrong\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003eSo far the Luke has released the albums \u003cem\u003eBuda\u003c\/em\u003e (2021) \u003cem\u003eVesuvius\u003c\/em\u003e (2008) and \u003cem\u003eSpecial Surprise\u003c\/em\u003e (2006) on vinyl and cd. Some well known \u003cstrong\u003eLuke Buda\u003c\/strong\u003e songs include \u003cem\u003eHere Comes The Wind\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eCandy\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eCosmic Danse\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eSpecial Surprise\u003c\/em\u003e. Buda currently have a live band which plays shows around New Zealand. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/products\/luke-buda-buda\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLuke Buda\u003c\/strong\u003e self-released \u003cem\u003eBuda\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e on vinyl, but they are an we also feature on the Flying Nun website. \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2022-03-15T21:51:16+13:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":true,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Luke Buda"},{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"The Phoenix Foundation"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2022-03-15T22:01:04+13:00","alt":"Luke Buda Music Artist from New Zealand","width":1240,"height":690,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Luke_Buda.jpg?v=1648261886"}},{"id":211738656919,"handle":"pin-group","title":"Pin Group","updated_at":"2022-05-16T10:57:28+12:00","body_html":"","published_at":"2020-08-09T20:36:51+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Pin Group"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-09T21:04:21+12:00","alt":null,"width":433,"height":433,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/FN002_The_Clean_Tally_Ho_Flying_Nun_3.jpg?v=1600768706"}},{"id":211744489623,"handle":"robert-scott","title":"Robert Scott","updated_at":"2021-11-15T09:12:06+13:00","body_html":"\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Robert_Scott_Flying_Nun_Chris_Reid_1024x1024.jpg?v=1600331178\" alt=\"\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\" data-mce-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Robert_Scott_Flying_Nun_Chris_Reid_1024x1024.jpg?v=1600331178\"\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T21:13:45+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Robert Scott"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-09-17T20:26:32+12:00","alt":null,"width":1000,"height":1000,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Robert_Scott_Flying_Nun_Chris_Reid_1_SQUARE.jpg?v=1600331192"}},{"id":211744948375,"handle":"shocking-pinks","title":"Shocking Pinks","updated_at":"2021-11-15T09:12:06+13:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Shocking_Pinks_middle_walking_cropped_0104_1024x1024.jpg?v=1600331292\" alt=\"\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\" data-mce-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Shocking_Pinks_middle_walking_cropped_0104_1024x1024.jpg?v=1600331292\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AQ1vaXgPvH4\" height=\"720\" width=\"1120\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" frameborder=\"0\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T21:17:44+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Shocking Pinks"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-09-17T20:28:23+12:00","alt":null,"width":1000,"height":1000,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Shocking_Pinks_SQUARE.jpg?v=1600331303"}},{"id":211744981143,"handle":"skeptics","title":"Skeptics","updated_at":"2022-04-09T10:50:12+12:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Skeptics_Flying_Nun_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598868121\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Skeptics were a loud industrial post-punk band from Palmerston North. Originally on Furtive Records, their first release was\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e 1983 EP \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eChowder Over Wisconsin, \u003c\/i\u003ereleased on Flying Nun.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBand members included \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDavid D'Ath\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eNick Roughan\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eJohn Halverson\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eDon White\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eRobin Gauld\u003c\/strong\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey released the albums \u003cstrong\u003ePond\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eIII\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eAmagam\u003c\/strong\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 2014 the documentary \u003cem\u003eSheen of Gold, \u003c\/em\u003edirected by \u003cstrong\u003eSimon Ogston\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e was \u003c\/em\u003ereleased. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMore on Skeptics coming soon...\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T21:18:03+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Skeptics"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-31T22:02:22+12:00","alt":null,"width":1000,"height":1000,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Skeptics_Flying_Nun_SQUARE.jpg?v=1598868143"}},{"id":211745046679,"handle":"snapper","title":"Snapper","updated_at":"2022-04-09T23:30:06+12:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Snapper_Flying_Nun_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598869186\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSnapper's\u003c\/strong\u003e music has been criminally under-represented on record -- since their first self-titled EP release in 1989, they have released the album \u003cstrong\u003eShotgun Blossom\u003c\/strong\u003e (1992), a seven inch single \u003cstrong\u003eGentle Hour\u003c\/strong\u003e (1993) and \u003cstrong\u003eADM\u003c\/strong\u003e (1996). The hypnotic attack of every Snapper release has been greeted with acclaim, receiving rave reviews in the UK, US and NZ press and gaining a loyal following (including the likes of Stereolab and the Jesus and Mary Chain).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePeter Gutteridge\u003c\/strong\u003e was a co-founder of \u003cstrong\u003eThe Clean\u003c\/strong\u003e he live-in-1979 tracks on the long-deleted \u003ci\u003eOdditties 2\u003c\/i\u003e cassette – including the first recording of \u003cem\u003ePoint That Thing Somewhere Else.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAlan Haig\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003ePeter Gutteridge\u003c\/strong\u003e played together in the original line-up of \u003cstrong\u003eThe Chills\u003c\/strong\u003e, but after hearing Gutteridge's tapes, Alan and Peter then started playing together again in 1986, recording songs on the 4-track, Haig metronomically replicating the drum machine with his live, motorik rhythms. \u003cstrong\u003eDominic Stones\u003c\/strong\u003e moved from Auckland to Dunedin and joined \u003cstrong\u003eThe 3ds\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eSnapper\u003c\/strong\u003e. \u003cstrong\u003eChristine Voice\u003c\/strong\u003e joined them and suddenly they were \u003cstrong\u003eSnapper\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIn 2013, \u003cstrong\u003eFlying Nun\u003c\/strong\u003e re-released the self-titled Snapper EP on vinyl. This EP includes \u003c\/span\u003ethe bands best known track \u003cem\u003eBuddy\u003c\/em\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSadly, in 2014 Peter passed away. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T21:18:27+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Snapper"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-31T22:19:56+12:00","alt":null,"width":1000,"height":1000,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Snapper_Flying_Nun_SQUARE.jpg?v=1598869196"}},{"id":211745079447,"handle":"sneaky-feelings","title":"Sneaky Feelings","updated_at":"2022-04-30T15:49:17+12:00","body_html":"\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"Sneaky Feelings Dunedin Sound band from New Zealand.\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Sneaky_Feelings_Flying_Nun-4_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598524692\" style=\"float: none;\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSneaky Feelings\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e were the poppiest Nun band, preferring poise to noise. They didn't set out to be cool; they set out to make great, hummable records with thoughtful lyrics. Their main musical influences were the Beatles, the Beach Boys, soul music, Fairport Convention, The Brill Building songwriters of the 60s for a start). They formed at Otago University in Dunedin in 1980, where they were all students, and debuted with the Chills in November of that year, mixing original material with covers like Hey Joe played slow like Jimi Hendrix. The line-up eventually settled as a four-piece. David Pine and Matthew Bannister were the guitarists and main songwriters; drummer Martin Durrant also contributed the odd tune. Kat Tyrie played bass.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn November 1981 the group played their first out-of-town gig with the Verlaines at the Gladstone Hotel in Christchurch. Roger Shepherd saw one of the gigs and asked both bands to participate in the \u003cb\u003e\"Dunedin Double\" EP \u003c\/b\u003ewith the Chills and the Stones. Three songs; \"Pity's Sake\", \"There's a Chance\" and \"Backroom\" were recorded in a Christchurch bedroom in early 1982. The band weren't happy with the recordings, or with their next single \u003cb\u003eBe My Friend \/ Amnesia\u003c\/b\u003e, which was made during the band's first trip to Auckland in late 82.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe following year, however, they recorded their debut LP \u003cb\u003eSend You\u003c\/b\u003e at Mascot Studios in Auckland (as were all their subsequent recordings, with a couple of exceptions). The 16 track studio gave the band the sound they'd been looking for, and the album established the band as a major force in NZ music. It was recorded and mixed in four days and cost about $2000. Much of the bass on the album is actually played on a synthesiser, as Kat had a nerve problem in her arm that prevented her from playing bass with her customary vigour.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1984, Kat left the band and was replaced by John Kelcher of Christchurch. The album came out to good reviews, and the band found themselves in demand. They recorded the single\u003cb\u003eHusband House b\/w \"Strange and Conflicting Feelings . . .\"\u003c\/b\u003e and \u003cb\u003eMajor Barbara\u003c\/b\u003e. This came out in 1985 and reached number 17 in the NZ singles charts. It featured cello and horn overdubs and was the group's most complex and accomplished project to date. Another single \u003cb\u003eBetter Than Before b\/w Wouldn't Cry, Here's to the Other Six\u003c\/b\u003e (recorded at Strawberry Sound, Dunedin) came out in 1986. Wouldn't Cry was notable for being the first \"proper\" song David ever wrote!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe LP \u003cb\u003eSentimental Education\u003c\/b\u003e came out in 1987. It eschewed loud guitars in favour of a more varied musical palette. A single \u003cb\u003e\"Coming True\/Wasted Time\"\u003c\/b\u003e was also released. By this time the band were living in Auckland, except for Martin, who was still in Dunedin, finishing his English Ph D. This tension eventually led to a break-up. In August to October 1987 the Sneakies toured the UK , Netherlands and Germany.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1988, they recorded their final LP \u003cb\u003eHard Love Stories\u003c\/b\u003e and toured Europe again, using Ross Burge (now Mutton Birds drummer) in place of Martin, who was unable to come due to work commitments in Wellington.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter the tour, there was a general consensus that members would go their separate ways. David went back to Dunedin to study law, and played in a band called Death Ray Cafe, who recorded for Pagan Records. Matthew stayed in Auckland, where he formed a new band, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/19990218091542\/http:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/archive\/dribblingdarts.html\"\u003eDribbling Darts of Love\u003c\/a\u003e, who recorded for Flying Nun. John went back to Christchurch, where he made solo tapes for Failsafe Records and recorded with a group called Creeley. Martin stayed in Wellington, working as a civil servant.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/okYMUMEYQVo\" height=\"720\" width=\"1120\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" frameborder=\"0\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T21:18:46+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Sneaky Feelings"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-27T22:24:35+12:00","alt":"Sneaky Feelings Dunedin Sound band from New Zealand. ","width":1000,"height":1000,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Sneaky_Feelings_Flying_Nun-3_SQUARE.jpg?v=1651290090"}},{"id":211745112215,"handle":"solid-gold-hell","title":"Solid Gold Hell","updated_at":"2021-11-15T09:12:06+13:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Solid_Gold_Hell_-_credit_1024x1024.jpg?v=1600330605\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \"... \u003cem\u003ean atom bomb drop of a surprise. The seriously twisted neo-blues of Solid Gold Hell keeps fabulously bad company with Nick Cave, Killdozer, the Beasts of Bourbon and the Jesus Lizard, but they carve up their bastard-heavy songs into great meaty chunks and then make them swing like a dinosaur's dick. Singer Glen Campbell (no, honestly!) is a pin-up of impossibly mean, disaffected cool, cocking his cigarette thus, growling from his very bowels and making his trombone squeal like a stuck pig. Solid Gold Hell, like, rock\u003c\/em\u003e.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMelody Maker, May 1996 \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell it ain't pop music, never was meant to be. Solid Gold Hell are pure southern gothic, and their new mini-album The Blood \u0026amp; The Pity is a baroque trip to one scary musical nether region that befits the band's name. Like their live shows, it's a combination of travelling medicine and old-time bare-knuckle boxing show: a sound that threatens to take on all-comers and sell you something for your soul.... In the four years since this band crawled out of an unholy alliance between Flying Nun's SPUD and JPS Experience, Solid Gold Hell have taken on a string of challengers to the mantle of most out-there and fully rocking live group Auckland has to offer. They've also left former Sunday Star record reviewer Colin Hogg disgusted with their album Swingin' Hot Murder and taken the show on a couple of trips round the provinces and once over the Tasman to do battle with like-minded noise merchants like Kim Salmon \u0026amp; the Surrealists. \u2028\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor those of us who have been watching (and our numbers are growing) Solid Gold Hell's music offers up one powerful revelation after another these days. Their live shows are a mixture of skewed musical precision and pure pathos - for every moment of sheer rocking exhilaration as rhythm section Gary Sullivan and Colleen Brennan duel with guitar maestro Matthew Heine, there's the sight and sound of singer Glen Lorne Campbell growling out a lungful of death-rattle over the mic. And the show finale, with Glen on trombone and Gary drumming with one hand and holding his trumpet in the other, while Colleen and Matthew play heads-down string-torture, is the kind of showbiz that sells snake oil to indians.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u2028The Blood and the Pity hits the same way. Musically, Solid Gold Hell have never given us anything as good as \"The Country Sow\", a song that swings out like the arm of a punchdrunk Joe Louis. There's never been anything as hard-out as \"Heavenly Badness\" or riffery as dynamic as the mini-album's title track or \"My Father Before Me\" from this lot before either. \u2028\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLyrically, The Blood and the Pity stares up wild-eyed from the gutter, a string of characters hurling abuse at passersby and themselves. Take the protagonist in \"Motel Hell\" - \"Did I kick yer dog and did I hate yer dress\/I've got nobody to talk to and nobody to torment\/So I just sway on my rocking chair\". Moaned, screamed, and sometimes sung, these words evoke the kind of desperation that completes the dark world of Solid Gold hHell's music. \u2028This is music to put a little fear in your soul. And as the lady said, it also rocks. Beware.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T21:19:21+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Solid Gold Hell"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-09-17T20:16:57+12:00","alt":null,"width":1000,"height":1000,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/IMG_20200828_0003_SQUARE.jpg?v=1600330618"}},{"id":211745472663,"handle":"straitjacket-fits","title":"Straitjacket Fits","updated_at":"2022-05-11T14:10:02+12:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThey had smouldering good looks, real star power and most importantly, their guitars rang with more than their rightful share of apocalyptic riffs blessed by Satan himself, or the Lord Jehovah, maybe. Who knows, but they were that good.\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eThey nearly conquered the world, but it all ended in tears. \u003cb\u003eStraitjacket Fits\u003c\/b\u003e left us with three achingly great albums and some of the best songs in NZ rock history, and that should be enough.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIf there was a typical “Flying Nun” band in the mid-‘80s, Straitjacket Fits were its antithesis. Short of star power and brooding good looks (unless you counted Graeme Downes’ handsome bookishness or Martin Phillipps’ round-faced cuteness), the label’s good shepherd (haw-haw) must have blanched (or maybe just smiled) at the cool cache ‘the Fits’ instantly brought to the label.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMind you, hindsight is often just poor memory, and maybe at the beginning they just seemed like another bunch of dour Dunedin youths with black jerseys and pudding bowl haircuts.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn fact, \u003cb\u003eBored Games\u003c\/b\u003e (and later \u003cb\u003eThe Double Happys\u003c\/b\u003e) had two potential rock stars in their ranks, Shayne Carter and Wayne Elsey, but that came to a messy, tragic end, and after a suitable period of mourning, we were warned of Carter’s impending greatness by the apocalyptic one-off with Peter Jefferies, ‘Randolph’s Going Home’.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI find ‘She Speeds’ hard to listen to now, so coiled and intense and perfect and instantly gob-smackingly memorable that it’s branded permanently in my psyche; but when it was released in ‘86 it seemed like there had never been a song like it, and there probably isn’t. Blessed with a bridge that rang with the Byrds-like harmonies of former \u003cb\u003eOrange\u003c\/b\u003e man Andrew Brough, the song’s ultimate genius was in its contrast with the roller coaster “here we go again” momentum of the chorus and its unforgettable Carter guitar lines.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRock journalism talks too much about success and industry, and we’ve all heard those sob stories about \u003cb\u003eStraitjacket Fits\u003c\/b\u003e and how they nearly made it overseas, but how it all went horribly wrong. None of that matters now, because we’ve got the music, and their albums are full of coruscating, surging genius. This is guitar-based rock music the way it is supposed to sound; informed by history, meaning every word and every gesture, surging with hormones, genuine and real but unconcerned with that boring word “authenticity”. \u003cb\u003eStraitjacket Fits\u003c\/b\u003e were all about the imperative to burst through to the sublime, breaking on through to a different place (and Shayne would hate me for saying this, but they remind me of the Doors in that way. I know, I know, Carter is a much less pretentious shaman than Jim Morrison, but…)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSince ‘the Fits’, Shayne has gone on to \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/artist\/31\/show_group\" style=\"font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'San Francisco', 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em;\"\u003eDimmer\u003c\/a\u003e, and this sentiment goes against general opinion, but I think his songs are even better these days; now he really gets inside them, knows how to examine them, work his way back out from the song like a happy munching worm in an apple. And he still writes guitar riffs that come straight from Satan, or Jehovah, or wherever.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eStraitjacket Fits\u003c\/strong\u003e, then. A couple of classic albums, \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/flyingout.co.nz\/products\/straitjacket-fits-hail\"\u003e\u003ci\u003e'\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHail'\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/a\u003eand '\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/shop\/38\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eMelt\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cb\u003e'\u003c\/b\u003e, combining Carter’s burning grooves with Brough’s harmonic splendour; one last without Brough ('\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/shop\/35\"\u003eBlow\u003c\/a\u003e') that at the time seemed too dark, too monochromatic. Listen to it now, as I did the other day, and it’s stupendous; rich, and less dated than all that grunge stuff that was so hip at the time. But back to 'Hail': what a record, with their utterly cool version of Laughing Len Cohen’s ‘\u003ci\u003eSo Long, Marianne’\u003c\/i\u003e and, on the CD, their first EP, \u003cb\u003eLife In One Chord\u003c\/b\u003e, added for good measure. But \u003cb\u003eMelt\u003c\/b\u003e is generally considered their best work, despite somewhat dated production, and contains key songs like ‘\u003ci\u003eBad Note For A Heart’\u003c\/i\u003e and Brough’s ‘\u003ci\u003eDown In Splendour\u003c\/i\u003e’.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAt its core, \u003cstrong\u003eStraitjacket Fits\u003c\/strong\u003e were Shayne Carter with able accomplices (did I mention their powerhouse rhythm section of drummer \u003cstrong\u003eJohn Collie\u003c\/strong\u003e and bassist \u003cstrong\u003eDavid Wood\u003c\/strong\u003e?), but in the end, it was all about Carter’s brooding intent, and those malevolent riffs that have a sense of otherness that few “normal” rock groups could ever muster. They rock(ed).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003eGARY STEEL\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ci\u003eGary Steel is a freelance writer, and Music Editor of \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.witchdoctor.co.nz\/\"\u003e\u003ci\u003ewww.witchdoctor.co.nz\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ci\u003e He has been spreading his rancid opinions on NZ music since 1978. He has no plans to stop any time soon.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T21:23:53+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Straitjacket Fits"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-09-22T21:49:41+12:00","alt":"Straitjacket Fits Band from New Zealand","width":1000,"height":1000,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/IMG_20200822_0018_SQUARE.jpg?v=1651291078"}},{"id":211745996951,"handle":"tall-dwarfs","title":"Tall Dwarfs","updated_at":"2022-05-14T14:09:34+12:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Tall_Dwarfs_Flying_Nun_1024x1024.jpg?v=1604909974\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cstrong\u003eTall Dwarfs\u003c\/strong\u003e are a partnership between New Zealand home recording pioneers \u003cstrong\u003eChris Knox\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eAlec Bathgate\u003c\/strong\u003e. A duo, who have been making music together since 1977, first in New Zealand's early punk band, \u003cstrong\u003eThe Enemy\u003c\/strong\u003e, followed by \u003cstrong\u003eToy Love\u003c\/strong\u003e. In 1981 Chris and Alec returned as the Tall Dwarfs, they purchased a four track, and over the next 30 plus years would release wonderfully demented records and go on to influence bands such as \u003cstrong\u003ePavement\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eYo La Tengo\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eNeutral Milk Hotel\u003c\/strong\u003e and countless more.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMore on Tall Dwarfs coming soon...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4DfJc0Une5g\" height=\"630\" width=\"1120\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" frameborder=\"0\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T21:27:31+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Tall Dwarfs"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-25T21:21:33+12:00","alt":null,"width":600,"height":600,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Tall_Dwarfs_square.jpg?v=1604910631"}},{"id":211726762135,"handle":"the-bats","title":"The Bats","updated_at":"2022-05-16T16:40:03+12:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/The_Bats_Flying_Nun_2_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598092491\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSpanning the last 38 years,\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eBats\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ehave clocked ten incredible albums; each one seeing the band evolve with new material from the prolific songwriting hand of\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eRobert\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eScott\u003c\/strong\u003e. Add to that tally the extra singles, b-sides, EPs, compilations and tribute songs they’ve recorded, creating a succinct setlist is a nearly impossible task.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe Bats\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003emust hold a record in New Zealand (perhaps the whole world, once The Rolling Stones throw in the towel) as a band that has survived with the same line-up for 38 years. No split ups, no reforming for nostalgia’s sake.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSo far, half the band have spots in The New Zealand Music Hall Of Fame, vocalist\/ guitarist\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eRobert\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eScott\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eClean\u003c\/strong\u003e) and bassist\/producer\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003ePaul\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eKean\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eToy\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eLove\u003c\/strong\u003e), and it’s only a matter of time before lead guitarist\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eKaye\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWoodward\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eand drummer\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eMalcolm\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eGrant\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003efind themselves in there too. The four-piece has created twisted wistful folk, psychedelic rock, bouncy twee pop, and everything in between, but whatever the genre, their sound is always distinctively, unmistakably\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eBats\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/The_Bats_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598868606\" alt=\"\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe width=\"1120\" height=\"720\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xC4SX4c50Ig\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T18:45:04+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"The Bats"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-22T22:30:21+12:00","alt":null,"width":1000,"height":1002,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/The_Bats_Flying_Nun.jpg?v=1598092222"}},{"id":211727843479,"handle":"the-chills","title":"The Chills","updated_at":"2022-05-18T11:35:47+12:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/The_Chills_Flying_Nun-3_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598867199\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhere \u003cstrong\u003eThe Chills\u003c\/strong\u003e are concerned, there’s no simple summary of who, what and why. Perhaps only ‘when’, and even then the last 30 years seem to blur. This is testament to the physical persistence of Chills founder and centrifugal force \u003cstrong\u003eMartin Phillipps\u003c\/strong\u003e, but also his kaleidoscopic, obsessive and idiosyncratic nature. For no other \u003cstrong\u003eFlying Nun\u003c\/strong\u003e associate had such gumption to reach out overseas, nor was beset by both simple and turbulent twists of fate. Which meant no one could keep up with Phillipps’ wayward path - hence The Chills’ now infamously documented personnel changes (there are over 20 line-ups to peruse if you choose).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pjW3MT8D9RY\" height=\"630\" width=\"1120\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" frameborder=\"0\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAt least the music remains, and here there is much more certainty. The Chills were exemplars of the so-called Dunedin Sound – an often moist and melancholy, simultaneously dark and breezy amalgam of Western garage-pop roots but invested with an otherworldly aura, as if those overseas influences had indeed seeped in upside down. But only Phillipps was this quixotic, bridging folk and bubblegum, Bowie and Syd Barrett, with feverish shivers and childlike whimsy. (No one else would have dared wear pixie boots with no irony, only joy.). If music has a psycho-geographical bent, then it’s the air, waves and light of the Otago peninsular, and the spaciousness and remoteness of NZ itself, that glows and thrums through his songs.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/The_Chills_Flying_Nun-1_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598867261\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T18:55:26+12:00","sort_order":"created-desc","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"The Chills"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-24T18:47:43+12:00","alt":null,"width":874,"height":877,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/The_Chills_Flying_Nun.jpg?v=1598251664"}},{"id":211728040087,"handle":"the-clean","title":"The Clean","updated_at":"2022-05-18T11:36:05+12:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/The_Clean_Flying_Nun_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598257731\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhat can be said about \u003cstrong\u003eThe Clean\u003c\/strong\u003e? In 1978, they were the seeds of New Zealand punk and the reason for the founding of \u003cstrong\u003eFlying Nun\u003c\/strong\u003e, one of the greatest record labels that ever existed. They carved out a big sandbox for everyone to play in, and their influence resonated not only in New Zealand but around the world. Not only do bands like Yo La Tengo, Guided By Voices, Sonic Youth, Pavement, and their ilk owe a debt to The Clean, but many of today's young upstarts such as Times New Viking, Eat Skull, and a band from China called Carsick Cars have the Dunedin godfathers deeply etched into their DNA.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI've personally witnessed four or five waves of rediscovery of \u003cstrong\u003eThe Clean\u003c\/strong\u003e in the years since I first heard them in 1986, and the stuff just continues to educate. Homestead's US issue of Compilation in the late '80s and Merge's double-disc Anthology from 2002 both laid out a complete rulebook, and a pretty in-depth one at that. Nevertheless, if someone else compiles them again in 2015, it's going to resonate just as strongly. Simply put, the music of the brothers \u003cstrong\u003eKilgour\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eBob Scott\u003c\/strong\u003e holds up pretty damn well in 2009 for anyone checking them out for the first or 5,000th time.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ciframe width=\"1120\" height=\"630\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7tf1wzg4rdE\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhat's the sound? It's completely theirs but draws on everything from the psychedelic paste of Barrett\/early Floyd to vintage Velvets propulsiveness to almost everything else under the sun. In the case of the live staple \"Point That Thing Somewhere Else,\" here is a song that levitates any room in a way that makes you swear the band just stepped out of Conny Plank's studio in Germany with all the bulldozing power of Hawkwind. Their jubilance at times (the organ-laced \"Tally Ho,\" \"Beatnik,\" \"Whatever I Do\") makes the Banana Splits sound like Bauhaus while simultaneously exhibiting dark undercurrents, making Bauhaus sound like the Banana Splits.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThey created both full studio sound and lo-fi recordings before, during, and after the various waves of the 4-track revolution, making both recording modes work with no loss of the band's identity. As far as other influences, you can hear Arthur Lee, Shirley Collins, and the Rolling Stones, among others, but it's never a kind of forced appropriation; while some bands seem to say, \"Look at my record collection,\" in the case of The Clean, it's organic, seamless, and inimitable. Though hardly as prolific as The Fall, another maverick group of originality, The Clean have endured for almost as long while maintaining a completely unique, quality stamp that's often replicated but never quite mastered by anyone but themselves. They're also one of the best (and sometimes loudest) live bands I've had the pleasure of seeing.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e- \u003cstrong\u003eBrian Turner\u003c\/strong\u003e, New York\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/The_Clean_Flying_Nun_-2_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598867702\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T18:58:18+12:00","sort_order":"created-desc","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"The Clean"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-24T20:29:16+12:00","alt":null,"width":1334,"height":1333,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/The_Clean_Flying_Nun.jpg?v=1598257756"}},{"id":211728728215,"handle":"the-dead-c","title":"The Dead C","updated_at":"2022-05-16T13:36:39+12:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/The_Dead_C_Flying_Nun_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598674854\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003eTHE DEAD C \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003e- JON DALE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJanuary 1987 was an auspicious month in the history of New Zealand music, for it gave birth to \u003cb\u003eThe Dead C\u003c\/b\u003e, parented by a likely triumvirate of punk rock endeavour, DIY culture, and warehouse living. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe then-Dunedin based trio of Bruce Russell (guitar, electronics), Michael Morley (guitar, electronics) and Robbie Yeats (drums, electronics) had prior form within the Flying Nun milieu – Yeats as drummer with \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/artist\/12\/show_group\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Verlaines\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e, Morley as leader of \u003cb\u003eThe Weeds\u003c\/b\u003e and \u003cb\u003eWreck Small Speakers On Expensive Stereos\u003c\/b\u003e, and Russell as helper\/correspondent at FN headquarters. Yet, while their music, a detourned version of rock sometimes called noise-rock or free-rock, drew from the well of inspiration offered by their Flying Nun predecessors, The Dead C pushed further, farther, for far longer. (Imagine Patti Smith’s “Radio Ethiopia\/Abyssinia” extended out into eternity, while huffing on fumes from Donald Miller’s guitar amp.)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eReleasing their first two albums, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/shop\/99\"\u003e'DR503'\u003c\/a\u003e and '\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/shop\/98\"\u003eEusa Kills' \u003c\/a\u003eon Flying Nun, with various cassettes and LPs appearing alongside – some of the cassettes released via Russell’s Xpressway and Morley’s Precious Metal imprints – these early recordings best document their uneasy alliance with the rock beast. Morley’s songs are repeatedly flayed by Russell’s untutored guitar noise, and Yeats’s drums regularly seem to be leading the songs, usually off the edge of a cliff. This period reaches its peak with 1992’s 'Harsh ‘70s Reality', a double album whose concept is as ungraspable as the four sides of vinyl are elemental, hallucinogenic. Still considered their finest hour by many, it’s the point at which they broke through and beyond the confines of the song, and many of their next batch of albums, 'The Operation Of The Sonne', 'Repent', '\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/shop\/97\"\u003eThe White House' \u003c\/a\u003eanon, essayed an uneasy, unravelled form of improvised rockist grunt that undid itself as it poured forth from the members’ fingertips.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWith the group a divisive presence in their homeland, they found greater favour overseas, and indeed they have shacked up with a number of American labels (\u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.siltbreeze.com\/\"\u003eSiltbreeze\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.badabingrecords.com\/\"\u003eBa Da Bing!\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.forcedexposure.com\/\"\u003eForced Exposure\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.subpop.com\/\"\u003eSub Pop\u003c\/a\u003e), earned the patronage of \u003cb\u003eSonic Youth\u003c\/b\u003e and \u003cb\u003eLou Reed\u003c\/b\u003e, and inspired a cabal of international noise and rock artists who channel, extend, or sometimes just outright rip off The Dead C’s disobedient take on rock music. Their closest peers are (or have been), perhaps, Keiji Haino’s now-defunct \u003cb\u003eFushitsusha\u003c\/b\u003e, the USA’s \u003cb\u003eCharalambides\u003c\/b\u003e, or England’s \u003cb\u003eSkullflower\u003c\/b\u003e – all groups whose tangential relationship to the formal concerns of rock, combined with a reverence toward the genre at its most ‘out’, has them posted on an aesthetic precipice whereby their music sounds like the simultaneous destruction and re-construction of its basic building blocks.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn the later part of the ‘90s, and a good portion of the ‘00s (please, don’t call them the noughties), The Dead C lifted their anchor and sailed free of structure, essaying some of the most elevated dawn raids on modern electronic improvisation – that they did this with low-cost kit that often sounded like it was standing on the verge of falling apart suggests alchemical processes, magic in the air. When they did return to songs – “Trust” on \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/shop\/91\"\u003eThe Damned\u003c\/a\u003e, most of '\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/shop\/101\"\u003eSecret Earth'\u003c\/a\u003e, or a hilarious appearance on New Zealand music television show Ground Zero, where their rendition of “Sky” terrified the early twenties dunderhead co-hosts – they hit with renewed force, as though the song was well overdue to be desacralized.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAll this, and more – Russell has also run two labels, Xpressway and Corpus Hermeticum, records solo, is the key conceptualist of \u003cb\u003eA Handful Of Dust\u003c\/b\u003e, a free-improvising duo with Alastair Galbraith which is also a sometime trio with Peter Stapleton, and is a noted writer and polemicist, contributing to music magazine \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.thewire.co.uk\/\"\u003eThe Wire\u003c\/a\u003e, and recently publishing a book of essays, Left-Handed Blows. Morley, one of New Zealand’s most significant contemporary artists, also records solo as Gate, and has recently been found on record with Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo. Yeats has done time behind the kit for The Renderers and Trash, among others, including an astonishing turn on Mary Rose Crook \u0026amp; The Renderers’ Ghosts Of Our Vegas Lives. In recent years, The Dead C have toured America, been invited to perform at the All Tomorrows Parties, Le Weekend and What Is Music festivals, and overseen a series of vinyl reissues of earlier titles – including, finally, the re-appearance of their very first cassette, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/shop\/100\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Dead See Perform Max Harris\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e. About time!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOne of the song titles on their 2007 album, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/shop\/102\"\u003e'Future Artists'\u003c\/a\u003e, has The Dead C as “The AMM Of Punk Rock”, which is a fair enough call. English ‘laminar’ improvising outfit AMM have spent the last forty-five years liberating free music from its orthodoxies, suggesting ways forward for players locked in entente cordiale in real time. The Dead C do something very similar with punk rock. And yet, the title they should claim, as is their right, is even simpler, yet just as true – the greatest rock group of the Southern Hemisphere.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003e- JON DALE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ci\u003eJon Dale writes about music and culture for Uncut, Dusted, Signal To Noise, Resident Advisor and more. He is researching DIY aesthetics, English post-punk and Industrial music for a PhD at the University Of Adelaide. Previous work includes teaching at the University of Adelaide and University of South Australia; guest curation for Adelaide's Mercury Cinema; research into body\/performance art, experimental film, conceptual art, and critical theory; running record labels, making music, self-publishing, writing for The Wire, Australian Book Review, etc.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003eTHE DEAD C ARE FROM OUTER SPACE? - ALAN HOLT\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMy first reaction when Roger asked me to write something on the \u003cb\u003eDead C\u003c\/b\u003e was to ask if it would be ok if it was fiction - I was envisioning some kind of Sci-Fi horror involving time travel, silver robots, semi-translucent winged monsters and maybe a fairy princess.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRoger said ‘of course’ (I hadn’t mentioned the robots etc…) On reflection it occurred to me that this idea was borderline dumbass and the results would not really contribute much to the casual fan’s (or anyone’s for that matter) understanding of the band, even though it would have been fun for me re-imagining the band as a cadre of cosmic post-apocalyptic multidimensional freedom fighters – which, I guess, in away, they kind of are anyway.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMy first Dead C purchase was their second album '\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/shop\/98\"\u003eEusa Kills'\u003c\/a\u003e. I am not sure why I bought it. It may have been from hearing Bad Politics on student radio, or it may have been from reading an advert in RipItUp comparing them to Peru Ubu and early Black Flag. Perhaps it was the cover with the back cover text about the sacred chickens…\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRegardless, at that time, they were not real popular with my peers; only one of my friends had a copy of \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/shop\/99\"\u003e'DR503'\u003c\/a\u003e and she did not like it, saying it was unnecessarily difficult listening and intentionally annoying – this coming from a Pussy Galore fan, go figure… Any way I remember getting the record home putting it on the stereo and for some reason my first thought was ‘not this is annoying semi-formless crap’ at all but a resounding “YES!”.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMy purchase of the record came soon after purchasing, and having my mind blown by, Daniel Johnson’s album 'Hi, How Are You?' One of the qualities that linked the two albums together was a similar creative philosophy of making music with whatever instruments and recording devices were on hand regardless of said instruments or devices being considered ‘professional’. Daniel recorded on a cheap cassette deck and for one song sang over a scratchy instrumental record. The Dead C used Michael’s cassette 4-Track, cheap microphones, battered guitars\/drums\/CD players… whatever they had sitting around… to get the job done. In a time when everyone in Auckland, New Zealand was using the ‘best’ band gear they could buy, racking up huge bills at expensive studios and waiting until I dunno they were discovered and someone really important could come on the scene and make their decisions for them, the Dead C demonstrated to those who would listen that there was another way, that actually, there were no rules.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNo instrument or sound-making device is off limits for the band. ‘Cheesy’ synths, antiquated shareware apps, culturally inappropriate Playstation games and tacky kids toys have all been used to make music that subverts, surpasses and recontextualizes the ‘low class’ status of it’s origination. Also – for a bunch of guys who make ear-splitting noises for fun they actually all have incredibly fine-tuned ‘musical’ ears. One of the genius aspects of the Dead C is that they do not just play their instruments; they also play their amplifiers, their cables, the room they are playing in and ultimately the recording gear itself. The mark of a great band is that no matter what instruments they play or how they choose to play them they always sound like themselves.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Yeah they sound like a bloody racket!” I can hear you yell outside my second story window. Yes that’s true, but when they make this racket they sound like absolutely nobody else. This is a good thing. See most bands who make a racket sound like each other, they sound generic, but when the Dead C fire all their guns at once and explode into spaces they \u003ci\u003ealways\u003c\/i\u003e sound like The Dead C…\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003e- ALAN HOLT -\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eThe Ex-Flying Nun Guy\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T19:04:15+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"The Dead C"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-29T16:21:07+12:00","alt":null,"width":997,"height":997,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/The_Dead_C_Flying_Nun-SQUARE.jpg?v=1598674867"}},{"id":211731054743,"handle":"the-gordons","title":"The Gordons","updated_at":"2022-03-14T19:54:45+13:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/The_Gordons_Flying_Nun_1024x1024.jpg?v=1600762570\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Gordons\u003c\/strong\u003e were New Zealand band from Christchurch, formed in 1980. The group\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003ewere known for their loud, intense, and post-punk sound. \u003cstrong\u003eThe Gordons\u003c\/strong\u003e members were \u003cstrong\u003eJohn Halvorsen\u003c\/strong\u003e (bass, guitar, vocals), \u003cstrong\u003eAlister Parker\u003c\/strong\u003e (guitar, bass, vocals) and \u003cstrong\u003eBrent McLachlan\u003c\/strong\u003e (drums). \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe original version of the band lasted for two years, reforming in 1984 with \u003cstrong\u003eVince Pinker\u003c\/strong\u003e taking over from \u003cstrong\u003eAlister Parker\u003c\/strong\u003e. Parker went on to form \u003cstrong\u003eNelsh Bailter Space\u003c\/strong\u003e in 1986 which later became \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingnun.co.nz\/collections\/bailter-space\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBailter Space\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e, which featured the original line up from \u003cstrong\u003eThe Gordons. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Gordons\u003c\/strong\u003e released the \u003cem\u003eFuture Shock\u003c\/em\u003e EP (1980), \u003cem\u003eThe Gordons\u003c\/em\u003e (1981) and V\u003cem\u003eolume 2\u003c\/em\u003e (1984)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg data-mce-fragment=\"1\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Gordons_Bio_1024x1024.jpg?v=1600330733\" data-mce-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Gordons_Bio_1024x1024.jpg?v=1600330733\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DjDcULWE1HY\" height=\"630\" width=\"1120\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" frameborder=\"0\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T19:20:02+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"The Gordons"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-09-22T20:16:26+12:00","alt":null,"width":1333,"height":1333,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/The_Gordons_Flying_Nun_SQUARE.jpg?v=1600762587"}},{"id":211731218583,"handle":"the-great-unwashed","title":"The Great Unwashed","updated_at":"2022-05-11T13:03:56+12:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/The_Great_Unwashed_Flying_Nun-3_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598674942\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTHE GREAT UNWASHED have an important place in Flying Nun's heritage -- a band that, over two very different records, created their own musical space with some swinging psych-pop that still sounds fresh and enjoyable today, over ten years since it was made.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCollection is a CD and tape release that combines the two records made by the Great Unwashed into a single package, fully annotated with their story told in liner notes by Dunedin rock writer, Richard Langston.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe first two-thirds of the Collection contain the album Clean Out Of Our Minds. Recorded at home in Christchurch by Hamish and David Kilgour in early 1983, just after they had disbanded their first band, The Clean, the album's eccentric low-key swing makes it -- as Richard Langston says -- \"the ideal soundtrack to a lazy afternoon.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe electricity is snapped on in the last third of the Collection, however, in the form of Singles. These five songs were recorded at the end of a manic 25 date national tour in January, 1984, by the second line-up of the band in which Hamish and David had been joined by Peter Gutteridge, who they'd played with in the original 1979 line-up of The Clean. The swing is still there, but you can hear the menace particularly in \"Duane Eddy\" and the closer,\"Boat With No Ocean\".\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Great Unwashed split after adding another member in Christchurch (nothing was recorded by the group's final line-up featuring former Pin Group member, Ross Humphries). All three members of the band have continued to play -- David for a while in Stephen and now with a solo career; Hamish the reunited Clean with David and Robert Scott, and with a new band in New York, Mad Scene; and Peter in Snapper. The Great Unwashed represent a link in the chain that takes them all from their musical beginnings with The Clean to the music they each make today. Collection also just happens to still sound pretty bloody great.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DPZb-UjwydM\" height=\"630\" width=\"1120\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" frameborder=\"0\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T19:21:24+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"The Great Unwashed"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-29T16:22:34+12:00","alt":null,"width":1262,"height":1260,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/The_Great_Unwashed_Flying_Nun-SQUARE.jpg?v=1598674955"}},{"id":211737477271,"handle":"the-mint-chicks","title":"The Mint Chicks","updated_at":"2022-05-16T11:05:14+12:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/the_mint_chicks_gaffer1G_1024x1024.jpg?v=1600331075\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFirst meeting in high school and forming in 2001 to play a string of house parties, \u003cb\u003eThe Mint Chicks\u003c\/b\u003e decimated many packed, sweaty living rooms for years before being signed by New Zealand record label \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/flyingout.co.nz\/collections\/flying-nun-records\"\u003eFlying Nun\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe band went on to release three EPs and three albums and became known for mixing cool pop hooks and structures with modern noise rock, experimental and punk rock music.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T20:28:16+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"The Mint Chicks"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-09-17T20:24:45+12:00","alt":null,"width":1000,"height":1000,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/The_Mint_Chicks_Grey_Sky.jpg?v=1600331086"}},{"id":211738591383,"handle":"the-phoenix-foundation","title":"The Phoenix Foundation","updated_at":"2022-03-15T22:05:00+13:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn the words of \u003cb\u003eThe Phoenix Foundation\u003c\/b\u003e themselves.....\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"We are a band called The Phoenix Foundation. We spewed forth in the heady days leading up to the Y2K global crisis.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ci\u003eWe’ve since released some albums, EP’s and composed sound tracks for two feature films: Eagle Vs Shark \u0026amp; Boy. We have achieved all of this without ever resorting to witch craft or flagrant skullduggery....\"\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HiLWIStImLY\" height=\"720\" width=\"1120\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" frameborder=\"0\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T20:35:43+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"The Phoenix Foundation"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-09-21T18:58:43+12:00","alt":null,"width":1000,"height":1000,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Phoenix_Foundation_Flying_Nun.jpg?v=1600671524"}},{"id":211745407127,"handle":"the-stones","title":"The Stones","updated_at":"2022-05-16T13:37:27+12:00","body_html":"\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/The_Stones_Flying_Nun-2_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598869314\" alt=\"\"\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T21:22:24+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"The Stones"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-31T22:22:05+12:00","alt":null,"width":1225,"height":1230,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/The_Stones_Flying_Nun_SQUARE.jpg?v=1598869325"}},{"id":211745702039,"handle":"the-subliminals","title":"The Subliminals","updated_at":"2022-04-12T21:03:10+12:00","body_html":"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eSubliminals\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e were a natural product of Flying Nun in the second half of the 1990's. Three of the band members had been in or were currently in other Flying Nun bands while the other grew up in Dunedin under the umbrella of Flying Nun. As with many bands connected with labels like Flying Nun, the band formed within a network of like-minded people who were connected in some manner and were part of an extended community.\u003c\/span\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-09T21:25:21+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"The Subliminals"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-09-17T20:14:57+12:00","alt":null,"width":1000,"height":1000,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/IMG_20200818_0002.jpg?v=1600330498"}},{"id":214162440343,"handle":"the-verlaines","title":"The Verlaines","updated_at":"2022-05-11T21:56:17+12:00","body_html":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/files\/Verlains_Flying_Nun_1024x1024.jpg?v=1598349723\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Verlaines were formed (in any sort of meaningful way) in 1981 by a young Dunedin student Graeme Downes. First appearing on the now infamous Dunedin Double EP, which launched the career of several Flying Nun bands. Since then, the band, named after French poet Paul Verlaine, have released nine albums, countless singles and an EP while gathering fans around the world with songs that combine classical composition, romanticism and pop.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAfter a series of singles and an EP, the band released their first full-length album \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHallelujah - All the Way Home\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e in 1985. Just like their early releases, at the heart of these songs were tales of drunkards and romantics all punctuated by guitar blasts and instrumental flourishes. It was the perfect debut for a band that would continue on for over 30-years to a career, filled with constantly building intensity, all the while refusing to stick to one pitch or tone. Even the more straightforward songs can’t help but take unexpected turns, and it is no wonder that tracks such as \u003ci\u003e“The Ballad of Harry Noryb”\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003e“Phil Too?”\u003c\/i\u003e rapidly became highlights of any Verlaines’ show.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBy 1987, the band was ready for album number two, and for many the resulting\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e Bird Dog\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e is considered to be their finest work. It features both some of the bands’ most uplifting and introspective work. Built around mournful ballads and explosive guitar strumming, the album is unforgettable and unmistakably the Verlaines. Yet, despite its complexity, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBird Dog \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003esounds effortless and is a testament to the band’s craftsmanship and Graeme Downes’ sophisticated song writing abilities.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn between the two albums, the band and Flying Nun decided to release a compilation of their early singles and EPs. First released in 1987, and reissued in 1993 with bonus tracks, it opens with the irrepressible \u003ci\u003e‘Death and the Maiden’\u003c\/i\u003e, a song that for many is archetypal of the group’s deft ability to capture a pop hook. The album also features their first two tracks, \u003ci\u003e‘Angela’\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003e‘Crisis After Crisis’\u003c\/i\u003e, recorded on Chris Knox’s infamous four track and released on the \u003cb\u003eDunedin Double EP\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e.\u003c\/i\u003e It was a showcase of the unstoppable song writing skills of vocalist\/guitarist Graeme Downes. From the single \u003ci\u003e‘Doomsday’\u003c\/i\u003e through to their perfect love song \u003ci\u003e‘Joed Out’\u003c\/i\u003e, it had all the elegant and often magnificently moody elements of the Verlaines.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e For their third release, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSome Disenchanted Evening\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, Graeme Downes and co. decided to take a more traditional rock approach to song writing. The result was eleven tracks, stripped-back to reveal the gossamer beauty that underlies the band - - and one that could be bitterly sardonic at times. By this stage, the Verlaines were developing an international following, as their intricate pop songs caught the ear of college radio listeners and other fans around the world. Eventually leading to the release of \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eReady To Fly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e (1991) and \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWay Out Where\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e (1993) on US label Slash. Having gone through multiple line-ups over the years, the band then went on an extended hiatus, before Downes gathered together the troops for 1997’s \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eOver The Moon\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e. However it was not till 2003 that they released another record on Flying Nun, with their career retrospective \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eYou’re Too Obscure For Me\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, which was followed up a few years later by \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePot Boiler \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e(2007). Which proved, that after over three decades of making music, Downes maintains the innate ability to mould sophisticated pop and swinging melodies.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDespite all the changes, and with songwriter and guitarist Graeme Downes (now the senior lecturer of contemporary rock music at the University of Otago in Dunedin) still at the helm, the band continues to regularly record with new album \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eUntimely Meditations\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e out now.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/P96cFKd4irY\" height=\"730\" width=\"1120\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" frameborder=\"0\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2020-08-21T17:51:36+12:00","sort_order":"created","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"The Verlaines"}],"published_scope":"global","image":{"created_at":"2020-08-25T21:55:33+12:00","alt":null,"width":1327,"height":1331,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0450\/3165\/3527\/collections\/Verlaines_Flying_Nun_Square.jpg?v=1598349333"}},{"id":211746554007,"handle":"various","title":"Various","updated_at":"2022-05-14T13:37:49+12:00","body_html":"","published_at":"2020-08-09T21:30:58+12:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Various"}],"published_scope":"global"},{"id":262153961623,"handle":"various-1","title":"Various","updated_at":"2022-05-14T13:37:49+12:00","body_html":"","published_at":"2021-03-18T22:15:56+13:00","sort_order":"best-selling","template_suffix":"","disjunctive":false,"rules":[{"column":"tag","relation":"equals","condition":"Various"}],"published_scope":"global"}]
["2011","3ds","Able Tasmans","Bird Nest Roys","Bressa Creeting Cake","CD","Children's Hour","Chris Knox","Dimmer","Doublehappys","F in Math","Fetus Productions","Flying Nun","Garageland","Ghost Club","Grayson Gilmour","Headless Chickens","High Dependency Unit","Jean-Paul Sartre Experience","Look Blue Go Purple","Loves Ugly Children","Peter Jefferies","Pin Group","Robert Scott","Shayne Carter","Shocking Pinks","Skeptics","Snapper","Sneaky Feelings","Solid Gold Hell","Straitjacket Fits","Tall Dwarfs","The Bats","The Chills","The Clean","The Dead C","The Gordons","The Great Unwashed","The Mint Chicks","The Phoenix Foundation","The Stones","The Subliminals","The Verlaines","Various","Vinyl"]
FN517 Various - Tally Ho! Flying Nun's Greatest Bits (2011)
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This set collects material that falls under the broad category of 'Pop music' as well as that which pushed boundaries and did not sit comfortably within the popular market. At the same time, the two discs overlap a great deal, and together they showcase an important and creatively powerful artistic output that remains relevant today. It's 30 years of Flying Nun's very own greatest bits.
