pressed flowers & new roses

Rip It Up, Issue 68, 1 March 1983, Page 14

pressed flowers & new roses

Allen Meek

BALLON D'ESSAI Mark Rastrick vocals. Lyndon Fraser guitar Stephen Mclntyre bass/guitar Mathew Campbell bass/guitar Scott Wilkinson drums The message is that the former enfants terribles of Christchurch music have grown up. Formed in February 1981 when at secondary school the band are moving away from origins that owed a little to Public Image. Fraser and Campbell are new additions. A four song EP appeared last May and a new EP will appear shortly, accompanied perhaps by a comic to match. MH CHANCE John Markie vocals/guitars Desmond Brice bass Jeffrey Carey drums The Chance are a good argument for the theory that Christchurch has a mixed pool of musicians entering in and out of seemingly endless . permutations. ■Members have previously been in Vacuum, War Poets, Hey Clint, Hard Sums and the Volkswagens. With the Chance comes an insistence on some form of permanence and a dedication to pop and tunes. A six track EP is threatened on Flying Nun whilst plans beyond that are few. MH MAINLY SPANIARDS Richard James vocals, guitar Nick Strong bass Tony Green drums Such is the very usage of the term pop in this day and age that

it tends to make the band uneasy and shy away from the term. More recently their onstage sound has tended to be rougher, belying earlier accusations of preciousness. Experiments with a second guitarist [ were abandoned. Green is a recent| acquisition replacing initial drummer David Swift. MH THEY WERE EXPENDABLE Jay Clarkson vocals, guitar Nick Strong bass Donna Sheen vocals Dave Toland drums They Were Expendable have been a working unit since last October. . Clarkson and Toland were previously in the Playthings, Nick Strong is also a member of Mainly Spaniards, and Sheen presently being assimilated into the band, came from Thanks, to Llamas. Be warned against Playthings comparisons/expectations. ' ' . MH YEN Tony Peak guitar/bass/percussion Michael Daley drums/percussion Marianne Bull more percussion Lindsay Davis trumpet/bass/percussion Michael Jeffris bass/percussion Yen are still at rehearsal stage and will not appear in public until April. Yen is today's name in the same way that influences ("jazz, .I-punk"; beat, funk") are still being identified. Michael Higgins THE WORLD Although the World includes two ex members of the Builders, . Allen Meek on guitar and Malcolm Grant on drums, it is more an attempt to bring some fresh people into the Christchurch music scene which is becoming incestuous and ■] stale. Andrea Cocks on violin, Bridgit Mulchay on bass and Charles Heywood the vocalist are all comparitive strangers to pub performance. The material is new and almost completely original.