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Rip It Up, Issue 81, 1 April 1984, Page 4

Soul music’s man of passion is dead, a victim of the violence he so despised. Marvin Gaye was shot at his parents’ home in central Los Angeles on April Ist, and later died of his injuries. It was the eve of his 45th birthday. His father, 71-year-old Marvin Snr, has been charged with murder. Police allege the two had a furious argument over arrangements for the birthday party. Gaye, a minister’s son, came to prominence in the 1960 s with solo hits including ‘Stubborn Kind of Fellow’and ‘Can I Get A Witness’. He also had a Inumber of duet hits with female singers, such as Tammi Terrell and Kim WeStonngißMH At the end of the 60s he was named top R&B singer by Cashbox, mainly on the strength of ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ his remake of a song originally done by Gladys Knight and the Pips. In 1971, Gaye surprised the music industry by switching his attention to global matters, releasing the stunning What’s Going On. It was the first time a pop performer had made such an overtly political statement, a lament on war and prejudice. That having been said, Gaye returned to human relationships two years later with Let’s Get It On, an album which epitomises human sexuality. This was Gaye at his most sensual, an LP packed with magical singing, and songs that ached in their intensity. The next 10 years were

something of an artistic and personal wilderness for Gaye, with severe financial strains, plus the breakup of his marriage to Anna Gordy. The latter crisis was dissected rather bitterly on the 1978 release Here, My Dear. Gaye finally split from Motown in 1982, switching to CBS and hoping for a fresh start. Last year, it came, dramatically. A number one world-wide smash, and if Grammy Award. ‘Sexual Healing’ utilised an absurdly infectious synthesised rdiscobeat, and Gaye the lover, was back with a vengeance: Baby, I got sick this morning I need some loving ... Pin subsequent interviews, Gaye spoke candidly of the pain he'd been through, and which still dogged him. His marriage and his family relationships left him in a state of semi-permanent aH jj sorrow. Wryly, he admitted that in sorrow he found some of his greatest inspiration. The tragic circumstances of his death somehow seem ironically inevitable. A man of peace and love, who never seemed to get enough of either. Duncan Campbell

In an industry geared for the palatable and clean, certain bands have problems Christchurch's ECF are one of those bands.

Right from their debut gig, where they were hauled off stage after a couple of songs at a 3ZMsponsored outdoor concert, ECF and authority have had a strained relationship. Individual brushes with the gendarmes aside, they've somehow developed a reputation

which has made hiring halls and the like difficult at times. And then there was the fuss over what the initials in their name stood for. "People can do what they like but we're not going to change what we’re doing,” says guitarist/bassist Shayne. What about the name?

"Basically, it’s there for people to take what they want from Itflfl The name you're thinking of, the one that caused all of the fuss, ’ never came from us. It came from a 3ZM promoter.” Probably the main reason for prejudice against the band has been its predominantly hard core punk audience? Do you consider J yourselves a punk band? "No," says singer Chris. “We never,used to know what to call our music but now we’ve got a namefor] it undisciplined jazz." “We experiment with different • tunings and that sort of thing, just to try and find our own sound," explains Shayne. “We’re really only now, after a year, starting to find that sound."

Does it disappoint you, then, that you mainly only attract punks? “Yeah," says Chris. “But in the paper in Christchurch that came out as us saying we didn’t want punks to come at all. So for a

while no one came. Our music's for all sorts of people."

ECF are in the midst of their first tour. It’s a casual affair few gigs have been booked in advance and they “found” their soundman Klaus in Palmerston North on their way up to Auckland. “Our van only does 40 miles per hour but we’re in no great hurry. We want to enjoy ourselves.” Russell Brown

“We’ve got this problem in Christchurch. Almost all the bands and audiences there fit into little cliques we don't, so we tend to attract the people who aren’t into a certain image.” The band is YFC, the speaker is bassist/singer Johnny Ogilvie: “We're not part of the punk set and we're not one of the Velvet

Underground-influenced bands. I

Jonny: No, I’m not hungover I always look like this in the mornings.

quite like that. I think there are only four or so real independent bands in Christchurch include the Haemogoblins and the White Boys in that." YFC have a six-track EP entitled Between Two Thieves out soon on Hit Singles Records. They went with the label after its boss John Doe heard their tape on Auckland’s Campus Radio and was moved to make enquiries. The recording was done mainly live at Progressive Studios. In case you didn’t realise, YFC stands for Youth For Christ. Their adoption of the name has driven genuine Christians into a frenzy, with lan Grant of The Herd

threatening legal action and, no doubt, divine retribution unless the name is changed. There have also been episodes of poster defacement and even threats of action against a pub manager if he let the band play. “I didn’t think they’d be so humourless about it," he says. “All the fuss was quite unexpected but I find it quite amusing.”

The name was born when drummer Michael Daly was evicted from his Chester St flat after the Youth For Christ organisation bought the block to turn it into their base for the city. In an effort to soothe the organisation the band always tries to refer to itself as simply YFC. Young Farmers’ Club? RB