SPLIT ENZ SEE RED

Rip It Up, Issue 17, 1 November 1978, Page 10

SPLIT ENZ SEE RED

John Malloy

The English don’t like Australians or New Zealanders much as a rule. They don’t like the French, the Arabs, the Pakistanis or the West Indians either, but that is beside the point. They will tell you that we have no ‘culture’ and when they do there are few words you can say. Two of the most effective are Split Enz. The Enz have been out of (visible) action lately, having split with Chrysalis, and then with their management. Chrysalis apparently wanted a single, the Enz wanted to do another album, and the upshot was divorce, with Chrysalis writing off their investment in the band. Unhappy with the Australian end of their management, the band then broke with them, only to re-sign with their English manager, John Hopkins, after a brief flirtation with a new manager, who proved lacking in the commitment department. All of which means a lot of rehearsing and very little playing, a frustrating situation which, the band say, has given them a lot of extra drive and aggression. As well as rehearsing, they have put that energy into writing (they currently have 30 new songs) and recording. They have found a friend at Ringo’s Startling Studios in Ascot, and they have been able to record there whenever it has been empty. Now they are back with their manager, they have a set of UK concerts lined up, about 25 shows in all, mainly audiences of about 1000, taking place in October. They plan to record an album in LA in November, possibly with producer Mallery Earl (who has previously produced Sly Stone, among others) and they have several record companies interested, among them Virgin, Warners, and a newer UK label, Automatic, run by Nick Mobbs (infamous for

signing the Pistols to EMI). As for the antipodes, a single, “I See Red”, is planned for release with a video clip, and they plan about 10 dates in NZ in March or April 1979 as part of an Australasian tour. I asked Tim Finn how he thought the band fitted in with the current UK scene.

"I think we’ve always been out on a limb to a certain extent. We don’t see ourselves as part of any new wave movement, if such a movement exists. It’s certainly helped more than hindered though, in a sense that there’s an emphasis on new things that there wasn’t say, five years ago. When we first hit England, punk was just starting and there was a desperate need for the public to be reassured that rock ’n’ roll still had some life in its veins. Hence the return to a very basic, raw rock with an awful lot of energy. Also bands with strong images and bands that work well on video are grabbing a lot of attention, and that’s our forte, the visual side of things.

“I like some of the new bands. I like the Boomtown Rats a lot. They’re perhaps the more pop end of a new wave. I also like Devo. They are the other side of the coin from us. They have technological and industrial implications, whereas we are probably the more romantic side of things.” Split Enz then, don’t seem to have been affected by the bleak outlook of some of the new bands? “Oh, we’re optimistic, although we were never solely one thing or another. We’ve always got some songs about sadness, and some that are really up. There’s also that tragicomic thing we’ve always covered.

I mentioned that the band seems to have lost its Gothic touch of old. “In the very early days we were that way inclined I guess. We just

changed. We lived in Auckland then and that’s very different from living in London. Phil changed as much as I did in that respect. You won’t find him writing any more songs like "Under the Wheel”, or “Stranger than Fiction". The songs reflect your way of life.” Tim is optimistic and ambitious as ever, and the management hassles seem to have left him undeterred. “It’s made us more aggressive in some ways. We’ve been waiting a long time to break through in England. There seem to have been bands breaking through that haven’t taken as long and it tends to make you think, well, let’s hurry up and do it.

“You have to take note of what’s happening around you, business wise, and try to get the best deal you can. A lot of musicians hate the way things are so controlled by businessmen but there is no way around that. You’ve got to go through it all and just wait until the record companies start running to you. “We've always been totally ambitious in Split Enz. We re writing the music, we're deciding what happens on stage but we’re still going through the hassle of signing contracts and not getting such a good deal, knowing that in three or four years time we will be. I listened to the Enz’ new demo material. There is no doubt that exposure to the British scene, where bands hit the stage in top gear, and seldom change down throughout, has given them an edge to their playing. At the same time the songs are distinctive, characteristically witty and weird. The Enz have the talent and the drive. Whether they can crack the peculiar English market remains to be seen.