Untitled

Rip It Up, Issue 11, 1 May 1978, Page 4

Wellington is warming up a little on the music side of things for May some good new local groups are popping up like Panama, a five piece band with a lady singer doing some tasty country/rock/blues stuff. Really strong, clean vocals and a good tight sound. Red Rose have resur-

faced with two members from their old lineup and they are excellent playing the late-night spot at Slack Alice’s ... quite a change of style, right away from the disco stuff they were playing before, and getting into some great rock numbers. Guitarist/vocalist Colin Bayley is one of the most talented musicians around and their act is incredibly slick and energetic. Redeye have finished their residency at Slack’s and have returned to the Cabin and Greg Christiansen has-been playing there for the past few weeks. The Wellington leg of the NZUSA Hello Sailor tour went off well, after bookings looking grim right til the last minute. Spatz opened the Opera House show. Wellington hot shot actor Mike Wilson was an interesting addition to the lineup and contrary to popular opinion, he wasn’t just a backrpojection of Tony Backhouse that'll teach you to leave your spatula at home. Spatz left this bleak city the week after the Sailor gig and are sure to do good things in Auckland. Rough Justice are flitting between Auckland and Wellington these days, playing the Windsor, Gluepot and Island of Real til 6th May, then back to the Cricketers Arms til 2.6 th May. They’re a good band, getting better all the time, and drawing good crowds too. Changes in the Rockinghorse stable, drummer Jim Lawrie has left and gone to Auckland, and Steve Garden has replaced

him. They are playing one week (May 10-13) at the Wellington Show, plus three weeks with Red Mole’s new Cabaret at Ziggy’s (May 4-21). Rockinghorse are getting a lot of local exposure, being 2ZM’s Group of the Month for May. 2ZM record 6 tracks from a local artist or band, and over 4 weeks play the tracks as part of their format. The feature starts with a 30 minute programme of music and interviews on the 1 st of the month. Quite a few Wellington bands and songwriters are getting material into the Entertainers Sharon O’Neill has a superb number "Luck On Your Table”; Rockinghorse have "Never In a Million Years", written by Wayne Mason; Coast to Coast are performing an Ally McQuillan/Gavin Peacock number, and the Rodger Fox Big Band are appearing in the new artist section. The Big Band have just finished recording some tracks to be played on 2YC’s jazz show, and they're looking towards another album of mostly original material, to be recorded in June. They have another Opera House concert coming up later this month. Annie Whittle will be recording out at EMI studios soon, under the direction of Dave Fraser. Dave has been over in Australia for the past few weeks recording with Malcolm McCallum. Annie will be doing some Sharon O’Neill original songs on the album. Lynne Attwood