THE NEIGHBOURS

Rip It Up, Issue 69, 1 April 1983, Page 3

THE NEIGHBOURS

Murray Cammick

WATCHING WESTERNS TO MAKING MOVIES

It was easy. If I wanted to interview the Neighbours over Easter,-1 could meet up with them just north of Auckland at Waimamaku. * Strange place for a band with two singles behind them, a new 6 track album out, a video epic on Radio With Pictures this month. But this band is big in Ruatoria. Slippin' and Slidin' through the Waipoua Forest. After trying motoring sideways in the loose metal I slowed down, reaching my destination at dusk. The Neighbours have soundchecked and Sam is bemoaning the fact that this valley doesn't have a motel, so there's no telly to watch to wile away the hours. When the Economic Wizards performed the Cadets' Stranded in the Jungle' later in the night it seemed a very appropriate cover. It's dark outside. No street lights what do you do when you wanna have an accident? With the kitchen crowded we wander out to the van to have a chat, talk about the Neighbours. Why tour Northland? \ "Well, for one thing, because we make money here," Sam grins. "It's easier to come here than to go to New Plymouth." "Also, we just like to cover most of the country," Trudi adds. "We're constantly looking for other venues as well as pubs." . "We're a New Zealand band. At the moment we can't afford to go anywhere else so it's a matter of not being a band or putting up with what there is to play here and try and develop that," Sam says. Is it still hard to earn a living on the NZ circuit? "It depends what you call a reasonable living," says Rick. "We make more than a lot of bands do, that's for sure. But it's not enough." As musicians, how do you feel about being involved in an entrepreneurial role, just to perform your music? Rick: "Any creative worker is going to have to do that. A painter is going to have to sell his own stuff and deal with gallery owners and writers have to deal with publishers and so on. Creative work's hard work and you have to fend for yourself as well as you can. Some artists, of course, have a real flair for business and just do incredibly well at it." "It does get in the way, obvious-

ly," Sam continues. "We're independent and we do a lot ourselves. We'd rather be working on new material but we haven't found anyone who can do it better." Though the Neighbours have three vocalists, somehow Trudi steals the show, assisted by her Svelt .wardrobe and innate "first into battle" (first dead) leadership quality. Rick Bryant's fine R&B bands have been well known in recent years, but when did the leading lady get interested in soul music? "About nine or 10. I grew up the youngest of five, the whole family was into music. And that was the music that was played in British radio. I got into soul, reggae, R&B. "Tamla Motown and Stax were very big, the Four Tops, Wilson Pickett was on the radio all the time, the Supremes, Martha Reeves. Reggae too when I came here, most people had never heard of reggae. "When I was at school, I can remember Otis Redding dying and kids turning up in black armbands." The Neighbours are one of the few NZ bands to reflect the sentiment of getting dressed up for a night out: Something Special. (It slipped, Kool's LP title). Can pink feathers get in the way of the "soul" of the music? "No way," says Rick. "We coulc go out and play the same stuff naked and it would still sound the same." . "We dress up for our own benefit, as well as for the audience," Sam continues. "Dressing up is fun," says Rick. So are NZ bands too sloppy about dress? "I think people should wear what they like," Sam says. Rick agrees: "We're into wearing stupid clothes. That's alright;" /. "I'm into wearing wonderful clothes!" Trudi chimes in. . Her colourful clothes are made for her by friends Di and Kerry of Svelt fashions. '. "I can't sew a thing," she admits. "But the way I- wear them's my own creation!" The Neighbours latest project is a three song "silent movie with music", filmed on the West Coast, home of cameraman Alan Bollinger and the Blackball Hilton, the hotel they stayed at while shooting under the direction of Gaylene

Preston. The band members, particularly Rick, had wanted to do some sort of film and had all been working on ideas. "And some people we knew had told us we should do a video with Gaylene Preston.. We didn't know: her,". Sam explains. -‘•.ji'.C ■ One night Gaylene left her cardigan behind at a Neighbours gig,' came back to retrieve it, met the band and the film was born. While the band recorded the soundtrack, she organised a film crew and swung a 'QEII Arts Council grant to help cover-costs. But that grant would have gone nowhere near covering the estimated costs for the week of $42,000. The film was made possible only, by the donation of, services by a host of film people. "We had this amazing crew of people who came and worked because they liked the Neighbours," Sam explains. 'The Neighbours have courted movie crews, though, by going to where they're isolated ' doing a film for weeks and we truck off there arid play them gigs. And it comes back, they made a movie for us." The band finished the exercise something over S2OOO out .of profit, but it appears that even this will be recouped through payments from TVNZ. But was it wise to put so much time, energy and money into the film, a side issue to the music, surely? "I think if you're going to do anything it's worth doing it really well and that means time and energy," Trudi says. / "It's been one of the highlights of my whole career," says Sam. They're enthusiastic to repeat the experience and are already planning another film. ' The band's new album is selffinanced, six tracks recorded at Harlequin with producer lan Morris and engineer Steve Kennedy. It's different from 'Watching Westerns'. Does it reflect a specific side of the Neighbours? "The criterion was that all the songs were recently written and also that there was nothing clearly out of place," says Rick. No one is impressed-with my .mention of a love songs category or Brill Building (sixties New York writers) pop. "If you take First Love' it's not a love story at all-. It's quite a highly individualised situation," Rick points out. "It's a soap opera,", says Chris Green, who has popped in for a moment. If Sam doesn't aspire •to a specific "pop" sound, he does see his writing as changing: "Now that we've'done some recording I have started to write songs like ’'First Love' for example - - with recording in mind. Some of the others we've recorded were actually written as live songs, like.'Don't. Stop'. Blit I think it's hard for me to analyse my songwriting.'' When talking of ultimates in production sound Sam came up with Norman Whitfield's 'Papa Was A Rolling Stone' and Toots' 'Sweet 'n' Dandy'. Two extremes Detroit hi-tech and Jamaican few-track. That leaves things open. ■' By the way, you don't have to live in the sticks to be one of the Neighbours' fave audiences. Trudi and Sam's favourite places to play include Kaikohe, Wellington (where dat?), Gisborne and the place I pass four hours after Waimamaku (at sam) the Gluepot.