The Clean were an influential first-wave punk band that formed in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1978.
The first line up was Hamish and David Kilgour on drums and guitar respectively and Peter Gutteridge on bass (Peter wrote "Point That Thing Somwhere Else"). After playing with The Clean, Peter reappeared in the Great Unwashed and then The Puddle before forming his own group, the still-active Snapper. In 1979 Peter was replaced on the bass by Robert Scott (later of The Bats).
In 1981 Roger Shepherd, a fan of The Clean, founded the Flying Nun label and recorded their first single, Tally Ho!, for $60 in an 8-track home studio. The single, on Flying Nun (at the time an unknown, self-distributing label), sailed into the New Zealand Top 20, thus setting a precedent of no-compromise chart success for both Flying Nun and The Clean.
After "Tally Ho!", the three Cleans got together with Chris Knox (Tall Dwarfs) and soundman/alternative businessman Doug Hood to record the classic five song Boodle Boodle Boodle EP -- this time on four-track in a hired hall. Boodle Boodle Boodle went Top 5 in the New Zealand charts, and eventually gold, as did its successor, Great Sounds Great, Good Sounds Good, So-so Sounds So-so, Bad Sounds Bad, Rotten Sounds Rotten, an even more varied pack of seven tunes.
By the time the next single, Getting Older emerged in 1983, The Clean were no more. Uncomforable with the demands implicit in their increasing success, The Clean one day just bailed out before it got to be really not fun anymore. Hamish and David began noodling at home with the four track on what became their next project with Peter Gutteridge, The Great Unwashed. Robert picked up a guitar and formed The Bats with his Christchurch flatmates.
An impromptu one-off gig in London in 1989 led to a new live EP, In A Live and then to a brief, casual reformation of The Clean. They polished off a quick world tour and recorded an album of all new tunes in London for Rough Trade records in the UK and Flying Nun back home. Vehicle was was recorded in three days with Alan Moulder (later to record bands such as Swervedriver, Sugar, Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails and My Bloody Valentine). Then Robert went back to The Bats' ongoing career, Hamish left the Clean behind him to stay in New York with his new wife and a new band called The Mad Scene, and David followed on from his latest group Stephen with an acclaimed solo debut album called Here Come The Cars, released in 1992.
The three came together again in Dunedin, March 1994. After two practices, they had written half a new album and two weeks later Modern Rock was recorded (at a community hall in a freezing corner of nowhere called Hoopers Inlet). In 1996 they released Unknown Country, which saw organ and other keyboards adding to the grooves, as The Clean mixed bouncing pop tunes with continued experimentation. In 1997 a Clean Tribute album called God Save The Clean was released featuring international artists such as Guided by Voices, Barbra Manning & Calexico and Pavement, as well as locals contributions ranging from Gray Bartlett to HDU. The Clean released yet another great album in 2001 entitled Getaway and a US tour was interrupted in New York by the 9/11 disaster. In 2002 a double CD of their previously hard-to-find singles, Anthology, was released by Flying Nun in New Zealand and Merge in the US.
Although they released several chart-topping songs in their native country, the Clean are a cult band in the rest of the world. However, their influence is surprisingly far-reaching. They became a staple of college radio in the 1980s. Stephen Malkmus of Pavement cites the Clean as a major influence, and the band's droney 80s output is a direct forerunner of Yo La Tengo. Other bands, such as Camper Van Beethoven have a sound that seems heavily influenced by the Clean.
They toured New Zealand for the first time in five years on the 'Bangers and Mash' tour in March 2007.
George And Queen are a folk/pop duo based in Auckland, New Zealand
In 2001 Neil Newton moved from Auckland to Dunedin to take the Contemporary Music degree at the University Of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. There he met fellow student Immi Paterson when they were put together in the same band, Dr Zaius, for the performance paper. Over the next few years they were both involved in several other musical projects in Dunedin including Four White Kids In A Bentley and Wilson. The pair hit it off in more ways than just musically and in 2003 they married.
In 2004, with a music degree under both of their belts, the couple relocated to Auckland to be closer to the business engine room of music in New Zealand. They brought with them a collection of songs written by them both and decided to record them as a duo. Choosing the songs to record was a diplomatic process with half the songs written by Neil and half by Immi.
Calling themselves George And Queen (after Auckland and Dunedin CBD's main streets), they set about buying all the equipment they needed to record and set up a makeshift studio in their home in central Auckland. Waiting for quieter moments (inbetween neighbours lawn mowing and summer day insect noise) they recorded over the 2006-2007 summer and came out the other side with an album they have called City. Two singles were released from the recordings, Why Don't You? and Didn’t Mean It That Way and the album was released independantly in August 2007 on a label the band set up called Gone Quiet Records.
The duo have pulled a bass player and a drummer in to the mix to play the songs live and are currently on tour through New Zealand promoting City.
The Situations are a four piece band from Auckland, New Zealand.
With borrowed gear from the Music Department at their school, Rosehill College, Papakura, Sth Auckland, school chums Brad, Glen, Samuel and Stuart formed a band in 2002, calling themselves Devil Gate Drive.
In 2004, the band released a triple A-side single, Teenage Frustration, which received encouraging reviews and airplay on B-Net stations with a clip for the single Teenage Frustration also receiving airtime on NZ music TV channels C4 and Juice. To support the release, they embarked on a tour of New Zealand, playing 41 show in only 26 days. Following the tour the band changed their name to The Situations, the name we know and love today.
October 2005 saw the band travel to Australia where they played a run of shows in Melbourne. They made such an impression that they were offered the oppurtunity to head back a few months later in 2006 to play support for The White Stripes in Sydney and Melbourne.
Over the course of 2005 and 2006 they released another two singles, 3 Songs by the Situations, and Fashion Girl and late 2006 their first full length album was released in New Zealand. Titled Situations Get The Basics, the album has also been signed up to be released in Europe in August 2007.
They are currently busy recording a new body of work.
Cloudboy are an indie band from Dunedin, New Zealand consisting of three constant members, Demarnia Lloyd, Craig Monk and Johannes Contag
Cloudboy originated in 1995 as a side project of Dunedin electro-pop artists Mink, and recorded a mini-album centered around the eponymous title track Cloudboy, presenting a more intimate, minimalist side of singer Demarnia's talent. A few singles were released in the following years, namely picture disc Little Prince and the Flying Nun released Pet.
The follow-up album was concocted between 1997 and 2001; the band decided to record and produce completely autonomously and wouldn't accept any time/space limits. Down At The End Of The Garden was finished in early 2001 and released on Global Routes.
Live, cloudboy have undergone numerous variations, sometimes with up to eight players on stage, at other times stripped right back to two or three. Almost invariably there has also been a computer, dat-machine or cd-player pumping out some twisted backing beat, sample loops and/or grainalised soundscape. In the last couple of years, cloudboy have branched out to play outside the usual live pop/rock/dance music venues. their live soundtrack performance accompanying the archival films of silent NZ film programme "Shape of the Land" was set in cinemas, art galleries and theatres. Another pinnacle of their very select performance history was their album-release tour featuring not only a jazz rhythm section, violins and flute, but also a chorus of three backing singers, masked and costumed, as well as projected video backdrops including New Zealand Film Archive footage. Another highlight was a show at Auckland's Stardome - the audience held their breath for 1 1/2 hours whilst reclining in their chairs to watch the fake starry skies.
In 2003 Cloudboy travelled to Europe. It took a year to get the troupe together for the long-awaited Europe stint, but by June 03, everybody had assembled in Berlin. This eastern-most city of Western Europe, more relaxed and afforable than most of its counterparts, acted as a base for the tour. Sojourns were made to Scandinavia and the UK, the Czech Republic and much of northern Germany. a trimmed-down version of the 2001/2002 NZ touring line-up, Cloudboy in Europe was a fully "live" affair, by now having fully abandoned the electronic backing tapes of old.
Demarnia Lloyd - Vocals, samples
Craig Monk - Guitar, Violin, Synth (among other instruments)
Johannes Contag - Various stringed and buttoned instruments.
John White - Violin, Backing vocals
Chris O'Connor - drums (2001-2003)
Phil Boniface - Double Bass (2001's Down At The End Of The Garden release tour)
Donna Demente - Vocals, performance art (2001's Down At The End Of The Garden release tour)
Jef T Mitchell - Vocals, performance art (2001's Down At The End Of The Garden release tour)
Andy Cummings - Vocals, performance art (2001's Down At The End Of The Garden release tour)
Twelve Hour Collision was the fourth release (and second EP) from Christchurch based Pine.
Tracks 1 - 7 were recorded in a friends basement in Lyttleton by Brendon Davies-Patrick. The remaining, live, tracks were recorded live whilst on a Backyard and Lounge Rooms tour where they played mostly in peoples living rooms all the way from from Kumeu to Oamaru. They took their friend John Chrisstoffels along who filmed it all on 16mm film. The two video tracks are from this footage
The EP was mixed and mastered by Dale Cotton at his Audioworkshop studio in Dunedin and released in May 2007 on Arch Hill Records.
Akira Sunrise was the second LP from Christchurch's Pine.
Self-recorded by the band in a space they found in down-town Christchurch, much of the album had to be recorded between 6am and 9am as they were aurally invaded by a death metal band two doors down, a tone-deaf trumpet beginner next door and the 9 - 5ers of the city businesses below. The recording was mixed and mastered by Dale Cotton at Platform Studios in Auckland and finally released on Arch Hill Records in the summer of 2004.
Longplayer was the first LP from Christchurch's Pine.
Recorded by guitarist Aaron Beehre's brother Ryan Beehre at his studio (Edgesound) in Nelson and mixed by Nick Abbott, the album was released on Arch Hill Records on 12 July 2002.
Speeding was the debut EP from Christchurch based Pine.
Released on 7 March 2001 on Auckland indie label Arch Hill Records.
The Hill Is Alive is the second Arch Hill Records compilation. It was released in September 2003
Gasoline Cowboy is the debut EP of Auckland based three piece Gasoline Cowboy.
Self released in New Zealand in October 2005. Track three, I Hear You Call My Name, was also released in 2003 on the second Arch Hill Records compilation The Hill Is Alive.
The Long Distance Runner EP was the first offering from Fur Patrol as a three piece following the departure of guitarist Steve Wells.
Self produced, The Long Distance Runner was recorded by Jason Young (Love's Ugly Children) at Tom Larkin's The Studios in The City in Melbourne. The EP was released in New Zealand on Auckland based independent label Tardus Music in May 2007.
Collider is the second long player album from Melbourne based Wellington band Fur Patrol.
Recorded in Melbournes Sing Sing Studios Collider was produced by British producer Mark Wallis and engineered by Melbournite Adam Rhodes. Collider was released in New Zealand in 2003 and in Australia in 2004.
Pet was the first long play album by Wellington band Fur Patrol.
Recorded at Marmalade studios in Wellington, Pet was produced by The Six Volts and The Muttonbirds guitarist David Long and engineered by Mike Gibson of Trident Studios. The album was mixed by Sam Gibson (Neil Finn).
Released by Wellington independent label Wishbone Music and distributed in New Zealand and Australia by Warner Music.
Starlifter is a 6 track EP by Melbourne based New Zealand band Fur Patrol. It was the first release of the band.
Recorded by Andrew Downes at Marmalade Studios in Wellington, Starlifter was released on Wellington Independent label Wishbone Music in 1998
Collapsing Cities is a 6 track EP by Auckland based four piece Collapsing Cities.
Recorded by Rachel Wakey (Trans Am) late 2006. Released in New Zealand February 2007
Birchville Cat Motel is the avante garde musical project of Campbell Kneale from Wellington, New Zealand. Although largely unknown in his home country, Kneale has toured throughout Japan, The USA, Europe and Australia. His first vinyl release was Jewelled Wings on the Freedom From label. Many of Kneale's rare and out of print recordings have been reissued recently on a 6cdr collection entitled Chaos Steel Skeletons.
Kneale operates the labels [[[Celebrate Psi Phenomenon]] and Battlecruiser which have issued CDs by artists from New Zealand and overseas, including Matthew Bower (under the name Mirag) and Simon Wickham-Smith with recent releases by Richard Youngs and Alex Neilson and one involving Tony Conrad. Kneale has used Birchville Cat Motel as a vehicle for many collaborations with other musicians, including Lee Ranaldo and Bruce Russell. He also records under the names Black Boned Angel and Ming.
Minuit (pronounced Min-wee) are a three piece live breaks/electronica band consisting of producers Paul Dodge and Ryan Beehre and vocalist Ruth Carr. Originally from Nelson, New Zealand, they are currently one third based in Nelson (Ryan), two thirds (Paul and Ruth) based in Sydney, Australia.
Minuit began life in the mid 90's in Nelson as a regular three piece bass, drums and guitar band (with vocalist Ruth Carr on the drums). In 1997, inspired by Prodigy's new release Fat of the Land and acts like UNKLE and Tricky, guitarist Ryan Beehre bought a sampler and everything turned electric for the trio.
Their first releases were a string of independently released 4 track EP's recorded by the band at Ryans studio in Nelson. The first was the 1998 EP Sonic Experience, followed by Silver in 1999, Luck in 2000 and Except You in 2002.
In 2003, Minuit emerged with their debut album The 88, released by indie label Tardus Music. The B-net picked up tracks The Boy with the Aubergine Hair, Menace and Except You and the video's became C4 TV high rotates. The 88 was licensed by Australian label Inertia, who released the record in Australia in August 2004. Minuit toured Australia in July and October of that year in support of the release.
Notching up near 7000 sales and climbing, Minuit then released their GUNS EP in 2004, a limited run that sold out in the first week. This won them ‘Best Electronic Release’ at the b-net music awards 2005, on top of a nomination for ‘Breakthrough Artist’ at the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards.
In 2005, Minuit busied themselves writing the follow-up second album, The Guards Themselves. Mixed by Ryan and mastered by Emily Lazar (The Prodigy) at The Lodge in New York City, the album was released in February 2006. In October/November of that year, Minuit traveled to Europe for an 8 date tour through Finland, UK and Germany.
January 2007 the single Fuji from The Guards Themselves was released on 12" vinyl in the UK and New Zealand, featuring remixes of the original album version. In April the band headed to Australia once more for a run of shows.
Pine are a three piece band from Christchurch, New Zealand.
Formed in 1998 by Stephen McCarthy (vocals and snare drum) and Aaron Beehre (bass and guitar), Pine's first emergence included a couple of four track EPs and gigs in the upper South Island. Their main centre debut was in 1998 as support for Parka Brown at the Globe café in Christchurch. It saw them snapped up by local b-Net station, RDU, for a live-to-air gig on the breakfast show the very next week.
Aaron's wife Hannah came into the band a year later, bringing her keyboard and melodica skills to the band's already popular sound. Make Way For The King and Speeding became high-rotate b-Net tracks, which the band included on their Speeding EP released in 2001 on new Auckland label Arch Hill Records. They were one of the first bands to be picked up by the label.
2001 saw Pine head into the studio to record their debut LP LongPlayer. The album was recorded by Aaron's brother, Ryan Beehre (one third of Nelson's Minuit) at his Nelson studio, Edgesound and mixed by Nick Abbott (who is also responsible for records by Pluto, Goldenhorse and Meterman) in Auckland. LongPlayer was released in 2002 and yielded the singles (and some videos) for Make Way for the King, Beaten Again, Cried All Night and Days on End, all of which received considerable airing on B-net and ChannelZ radio, as well as C4 and Juice TV.
In the northern summer of 2003 Pine headed to London and New York to play five shows – including Summerstage in Central Park and the infamous CBGBs.
Pine then set to recording album number two. Akira Sunrise was self-recorded by the band in a space they found in down-town Christchurch. Much of the album had to be recorded between 6am and 9am as they were aurally invaded by a death metal band two doors down, a tone-deaf trumpet beginner next door and the 9 - 5ers of the city businesses below. The recording was mixed and mastered by Dale Cotton (HDU, Conray, Sleepers Union, Mestar and others) Platform Studios in Auckland and finally released in the summer of 2004.
In 2006 Pine embarked on a Backyard and Lounge Rooms tour where they played mostly in peoples living rooms all the way from from Kumeu to Oamaru. They took their friend John Chrisstoffels along who filmed it all on 16mm film. Some of this footage, along with a few live tracks recorded on the tour, were included on Pines next release - the EP Twelve Hour Collision. The studio tracks were recorded in a friends basement in Lyttleton by Brendon Davies-Patrick. The EP was mixed and mastered once more by Dale Cotton at his Audioworkshop studio in Dunedin and released in May 2007.
Die!Die!Die! is a three-piece band from New Zealand. They cite NZ bands The Clean, The Gordons and The Skeptics as major influences, along with international bands Minor Threat, Joy Division and Sonic Youth,
Die!Die!Die! formed in September 2003 around the core of Andrew Wilson (guitars/voclas) and Michael Prain (drums). The two had been in bands since high school days in Dunedin. Under the moniker Carriage H they won the 2001 Rockquest 'best live act' award before becoming Rawer. Andrew and Michael relocated to Auckland in 2003 and upon taking on bass player Kane Goulter (ex-Xanadu) they became Die!Die!Die!. After some initial success with two extensive tours of New Zealand, the band split.
In early 2004, Andrew was arguing with new friend Henry Oliver (a bass player) over which band was more important – Black Flag or Minor Threat – their initial dislike for each other spawned a guitar and bass powerhouse. Michael was invited to join them and Die!Die!Die! were back with a new line up. That year saw them in the studio with Nick Roughan (The Skeptics) and their debut, self titled, EP was released in March 2005.
April 2005 saw Die!Die!Die! head to Electrical Audio studios, Chicago where they recorded their debut album with the legendary Steve Albini (Big Black, Rapeman, Shellac). The album was mastered in Abbey Road studios in London and released in September 2005.
The band decided to base themselves back in Dunedin but found themselves touring overseas for a good part of 2006, playing gigs in Australia, the US, UK, and continental Europe. During this time, they had another bass player change, with Lachlan Anderson (from Brisbane, Australia) taking control of the bottom end. In August 2006 they recorded and mixed live, in one evening, a four track EP with Kevin McMahon, sound engineer for The Walkmen, in a barn in upstate New York where The Walkmen's studio is housed. The EP, titled Locust Weeks was released in November 2006.
In 2007 Die!Die!Die! teamed up with local band HDU to release a double A side 7 inch vinyl.
A new album is in the works.
2005 - die!die!die! - EP - Capital Recordings
2005 - die!die!die! - LP - OK!Relax/Inertia Distribution/Capital Recordings
2006 - Locust Weeks - EP - Etch N Sketch/Inertia Distribution
2007 - Split 7" vinyl (w/-HDU) - Double A side 7", Shoot The Freak Records
Current Members
Past Members
Batrider is a band from Wellington, NZ. Currently living in Melbourne, Australia
Batrider was originally Sarah Chadwick on vocals/guitar, Julia Rouse on guitar, Tara Wilcox on drums and Toby Morris on bass.
Sarah and Tara played together in a band, Teen Town Ace, while at Hamilton Girls High School. Julia, who attended the same school, had a band called Vixen.
The three of them moved to Wellington and met Toby, who was working as an illustrator with Chopperchick Comics, when Sarah and Julia moved into a flat with him.
In 2005 the band released their debut full length album They Said You're Hideous. The same year, they made the decision to relocate to Melbourne. A release for They Said You're Hideous was secured through Remote Control Records in Australia in March 2006 and in Oct 2006 they released an EP called Take Me Back (out in New Zealand Jan 2007 through Arch Hill Records).
Over The Atlantic are a band from Wellington, New Zealand
Over the Atlantic was created by Nik Brinkman (formerly of Wellington band Ejector) and Bevan Smith (aka Signer and Aspen), who came together through shared involvement in an A LOW HUM compilation; Smith mastering the record and Brinkman submitting a track under the Over the Atlantic name.
They decided to make an album together which resulted in their debut album Junica, released in 2006 on Involve Records and in the USA on "Carpark Records". It is an album that references producers such as Tchad Blake, Peter Gabriel, Kevin Shields and Brian Wilson. Nik also talks a lot about Madonna.
In 2006, they recruited bass player Jules Desmond of Letterbox Lambs and D-Super fame and drummer Constantine Karlis from HDU to complete their live ensemble.
In October 2006 Nik and Bevan travelled as a two piece to North America to embark on a 22 date tour of USA and Canada with Baltimore's "Beach House" where they were described as Death Cab from Down Under' caught over the mid-Atlantic in a hot air balloon.
They are currently in the process of recording album number 2 in Wellington and hope to have it completed by July.
Motocade are a band from Auckland, New Zealand.
Motocade was formed in 2003 by Eden Mulholland (guitar/vocals), Will Mulholland (drums), Scott Sutherland (bass) and Geordie McCallum (guitar/keys).
In 2005, Motocade recorded with Dale Cotton (HDU, Dimmer, The Subliminals, Cloudboy, Sola Rosa, Die!Die!Die!). The result was their debut, self-titled EP Motocade, self-released in 2006.
In February 2007 they released the EP Into The Fall. The video for the single My Friends received high rotation on music channels Juice TV and C4
Collapsing Cities is a four piece band from Auckland, New Zealand.
Collapsing Cities formed in 2006. Their first gigs were opening for Disasteradio and Kill Surf City on an A Low Hum tour through New Zealand in May 2006. Their first, self titled, EP was recorded by Rachel Wakey (Trans Am) late 2006 and released in February 2007. The singles off the EP, Elixir Always and No Plans, quickly became favourites on BNet radio stations around New Zealand.
In March 2007 the band tracked their debut album with Dale Cotton (HDU, Dimmer, Conray) at the helm.
Stephen Parry - Bass, keys
Tim van Dammen - Drums
James Brennan - Guitar
Steve Mathieson - Vocals, Guitar
All you gotta do is get hi in these threads