ENZ IN GREAT WHITE NORTH

Rip It Up, Issue 60, 1 July 1982, Page 14

ENZ IN GREAT WHITE NORTH

Kerry Doole

5 years 0n...

'A roomful of Canadians is much like a roomful of New Zealanders.' (Tim Finn. Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto. May '82.) To a transplanted kiwi, the bar-room scene borders on the bizarre. Exhausted but ecstatic bodies press against the small stage from which New Zealand's finest launch into an encore comprising such off-the-wall selections as 'To Love Somebody', 'Jamaican Farewell', and a version of 'I Hope I Never' that features a soaring guitar solo from one Mick Ronson. It is party time in Toronto, and the faces of the Enz are split with smiles, for they know they are amongst friends. Canada now clasps Split Enz to its musical bosom as tightly as a grizzly hugs a trespassing tramper. Nowhere else outside Australasia has shown such a taste for the band live and on vinyl. Want some figures? True Colours has gone, wait for it, double platinum in Canada with sales of 200,000, Waiata has gone platinum, and even the belated release of Frenzy last year has seen it notch up the respectable figure of 40,000 copies. A&M Records in Canada are confident that Time and Tide will outsell even True Colours, and its first single here, 'Six Months In A Leaky Boat', is already a certified hit. This current Canadian tour is the most extensive yet with some 20 dates, and such is their disproportionate success here that Split Enz originally planned to forsake the U.S.A. completely. As Eddie Rayner claimed: "there are two ways to tour the States. One is to be like Peter Frampton and do the big grind for 6 years until you make it big. The other is to do a short tour of your key markets. "That is what we've decided to do for two weeks. Originally we weren't going to play there at all unless we had a Top 30 album, so this is a bit of a compromise." Time and Tide is starting to sell well in the States and 'Leaky Boat' is gaining airplay, so the decision to head south from Canada now appears a wise one. The reasons Split Enz are so much more popular in Canada than the U.S.A. are not too difficult to fathom. Radio airplay is one key. As Eddie explains' "Canadian radio stations offer much more space for new bands, while in the States the whole industry is very wary of taking risks because of the recession. We're not getting the AM crossovers you need for a hit, and hit singles are essential there." Band manager Nathan Brenner: 'The whole music scene in Canada is less industry oriented; they are more open to new things." In essence, the answer may simply be that put forward by Lorna Richards of A&M (Canada): "Split Enz are bigger here because Canadians have better taste!"

Perhaps in a throwback to days when the Commonwealth meant something, Canada has a tradition of breaking British and Australasian acts before the U.S.A. Examples range from Supertramp to the Boomtown Rats and XTC, while even MiSex scored Top 10 with their Graffiti Crimes album. Men At Work and Mental As Anything are making inroads now, and this is encouraging Nathan Brenner to consider an Australasian package for a North American Tour. Another chapter in the Split Enz success story here could be entitled 'The Importance of Video', for that has become a major weapon in the fight for chart action in North America. Nathan Brenner: "Video is a definite bonus for us, as the band, and especially Noel, have such strong visual ideas. We have premiered video clips on MTV, a cable outlet with an audience of five million, and soon we'll shoot a special live feature for them."

The Canadian rock media has also played its part in promoting awareness of the band, for Split Enz have garnered a more favourable coverage here than 95% of foreign bands. Examples: "There isn't a more completely talented band in rock right now." Peter Goddard, Toronto Star, 1982. "Split Enz came across as amiable, danceable, and perfectly delightful." Alan Niester, Globe and Mail. "Time and Tide has the kind of startling brilliance only rarely encountered outside the best literature." Greg Quill, Music Express. One of the most fascinating aspects of Split Enz's Canadian success is the diversity of the crowd they attract. The audience at its Toronto shows ranged from professional types in their thirties to pre-teenyboppers there to dance in the aisles and whistle at Neil. Reports of semi-hysteria from screaming girls have been received, but Eddie Rayner has a few reservations about this kind of reaction: "We do see all the young girls getting hysterical and a few of them fainting. Perhaps we appear as father figures to them. I feel that old, but Neil does look very young and cute. Unfortunately it does put off older people who I'd feel more comfortable with."

In Montreal in 1976, I noticed that the only Canadians to pick up on the Split Enz of the Mental Notes era were the more intellectually inclined fans of groups like Roxy Music and Genesis. The increasing accessibility of the 1982 model Split Enz is reflected in the varied composition of their present audience.

On this tour, Split Enz have been supported by one of the more promising young Canadian bands, the PayolaS. The presence of Mick Ronson on keyboards for them may have pulled in a few extra diehard Bowie and Hunter fans, but the tour's success has undoubtedly come down to our kiwi boys making good. The biggest crowd to date has been 10,000, but, "we try and play the large theatres, rather than those big stadiums where you can't communicate with the audience," says Eddie. Conducting such a cross-country tour from an Australasian base means fighting the 'tyranny of distance', to use Nathan Brenner's phrase. Few bands in North America make big bucks on touring, and as well as Split Enz are doing, they are just 'getting closer and closer to break-even point. If we were a U.S.A. band we'd make SBO,OOO or $90,000 profit on the tour', says Brenner. Another index of Split Enz's current drawing power is the fact that their latest visit to Toronto sparked off a dispute between rival local promoters. The original promoters of their date here had their noses and bank balances put out of joint when they were overlooked for an extra gig in favour of the large Concert Promotions International group. A C.P.I. spokesman was very tight-lipped about any financial details, but reiterated their "commitment to breaking the group here." The touring life that is allegedly so destructive certainly does not seem too painful for Split Enz. "We don't get into much of that 'life on the road' stuff; we take what we do too seriously," says Eddie, sighing contentedly in his tasteful hotel suite as the masseuse does her obviously skilled stuff on his sore shoulder. Travel has had a strong effect on Split Enz's lyrical concerns, especially on Time and Tide. For Eddie Rayner, "this is our strongest album lyrically, that's for sure. Ninety-five percent of the old songs were about love and relationships etc, but now we're more outspoken, and our ideas are a lot more global. We have seen so much more, plus the world is changing rapidly. This is the first time I've really got something out of our lyrics, and Tim is certainly feeling prouder of them now." "Waiata was not a great album; it had a lot of flaws. I go by first impressions, and I have a gut feeling that Time & Tide is our best album. (Co-producer) Hugh Padgham was like a sixth member of the band. He is very strong on engineering, while most of the artistic production decisions were taken by the band."

While Time dr Tide includes a number of potentially successful singles, the band denies any advance planning to this end. "We felt no pressure in regards to sales and hit singles," claims Eddie. "We had no preconceptions at all, but after the last two albums were pretty poppy we wanted some more 'real' music. We went into the studio with just a bunch of ideas, and worked a lot with these in there."

1982 sees Split Enz complete the first 10 year cycle of their career, and it remains a possibility that they'll still be our musical ambassadors in 1992. "Longevity is the key to success for me," maintains Eddie. "Ninety percent of these bands making it big are here today and gone tomorrow." Such a criterion of worth is a mite suspect, for it would rate surviving turkeys such as REO Speedwagon and Styx above short-lived innovators like the Sex Pistols and Joy Division, but we let that one slide unchallenged. "Split Enz will definitely diversify. It won't be just this album/ tour cycle for the next ten years. We would like to do a film and we already have guaranteed backing. We just need a good script." (Eddie Rayner) Whether the next 10 years sees the tide of their commercial fortunes ebb or flow, Split Enz have already won themselves a warm place in the heart of this Great White North. Let us hope that for kiwi rock in North America, this represents not the end but the beginning.