12 Bavs from Mavs

Rip It Up, Issue 60, 1 July 1982, Page 4

12 Bavs from Mavs

Ann Louise Martin

A very Young Midge Marsden first appeared on record playing rhythm guitar with Wellington's Breakaways on their self titled mid sixties - album. Take A . Cruise followed in. 1968. From '6B to 75 Midge worked in radio, and then joined the Country Flyers. Their' material can be found only on compilations, including Crossing the Tracks with Red Mole. "It was a band which misspent its energy," Midge reflects. "It could've been really big, we could have made a record, but we never did.'' / ,. After the Flyers, as a member of the Phil Manning Band, Midge played on Phil. Manning Live, recorded at the Christchurch town hall in 1979. BPEMB -Last year Midge Marsden returned to the studio, with his band the Connection and recorded an album at Mandrill. The new album has just been completed at Harlequin, produced and engineered by Lee Connelly and Steve Kennedy. Again the project has been financed by the band.

The Connection is Midge, bassist John Dodd, guitarist Mike Farrell, Liam Ryan on Keyboards and drummer Ross Burge. "I thought our first album was a smorgasbord,'' Midge says, "with this one we've aimed at a distinctive sound throughout. Obviously our roots are still in blues, but it's not a blues album. I feel quite good about it, I don't think we're selling out. I’ve been able to attempt to sing other things. 'Shooting in the Dark' is a Wayne Mason song, which started with an acoustic guitar and voice, but which has built up to something else entirely. "There's a beautiful soulful ballad which Liam wrote, 'One Wheel in the Sand'. It's about being on the road and leaving your loved ones. "I came very close to my limita-

tions as a vocalist with this song. I don't think I could do much better. Liam is happy with it. For me it's a personal achievement," Midge also considers his own composition 'Hard Town', and the instrumental 'Don't Stand In Corners/Ask That Mountain', written by Ta Rutherford and the band, as significant tracks. 'We'd never played "Hard Town' before. We walked into the studio and had it down in an hour. This huge sound, just what I wanted. 'Ask That Mountain' is also important to me because after I came back from Australia, I discovered a different side to Taranaki, after all those years of living there as a kid, never realising the mountain is a living thing and not just a blob that sits there." The man finds recording a bit of an ordeal. "Suddenly you're confronted with high tech, and the sound of your own voice as clear as a bell in headphones. It's scary, because I don't have the natural ability to walk in there, open my mouth, and get the vocals down in one or two takes." The band will tour to support the album. Meantime expect a single TMever Want to Lose Your LoveVUpright Man' recorded at Mandrill between the two Connection albums. Midge still has a strong taste for touring and you may well ask how he's' managed it all these years

without becoming a disillusioned cynic. "I don't know," he says, "I guess it's just playing, playing to people. The stimulation of being able to give them energy and get it back."