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Rip It Up, Issue 88, 1 November 1984, Page 42

Russell Brown

“The Axemen, or the new Beatles, as we call them.” (D. Kllgour) Take a cheap, plastic Japanese transistor radio. Assume it has a soul (it has, after all, a serial number). . Take it to the top of a tall building. Turn it on. Drop it off the edge. Your control over it is gone. About halfway down the radio begins to realise it/;/ has no future. Nothing to gain JblMremaining under human bondage. From it bursts a joyful wail that is the noise not

of any radio station, of any programming, but of the radio itself. The sound of plastic and printed circuits and batteries. That is the sound of the Axemen. Maybe. The Axemen: Steve "McCabe" (guitars), Bob "Brannigan" (guitars), Stu Page (drums) and sundry part-time accomplices like saxophonist Arthur Sheep. V: History: Steve (17) has his roots in Christchurch’s Gorillas, who revolutionised cassette releases by putting the tapes inside an LP-size cover, meaning they got noticed

and not just stuck on the wall or under the counter and ignored. He met Dunedinite Bob (similar age), they began playing together and, as 1982 was on the wane, Stu joined the band. Stu does all the great graphics. The Axemen have released five cassette albums of varying quality, all recorded either live or at ‘‘Peterborough Studios” (home). Scene: (As pictured) Steve, Stu and your reporter gathered around table trying to get to the nub of the matter. Also present are HyphenSmythe (caught by the paparazzi at last) and various flatmates. Two people in - the room are drunk. Guess. Are the Axemen a rock ‘n’ roll band?. Steve: "At times. All the elements of rock ‘n’ roll are there." . Stu: ‘‘But it’s also a jazz band, a soul band...” There are some glorious rock ’n’ roll cliches on the Axemen tapes, done Axeman style. But the thing about the Axemen is they’re capable of upsetting people like rock ’n’ roll used to. So they’re a rock ’n’ roll band. Sort of. It’s not that they try to upset people. Quite the opposite. "We just want to get those songs out," explains Steve. "You waste

. too much timet trying to ; sound' ‘horrible.” / . < • Live: Maybe what upsets people about the Axemen is that they don’t sound the way anyone might expect. The last time I saw them they ran the guitars into a cassette player and from there through a graphic equaliser, which was used as an instrument in its own right. The result was a sound that wavered between muddy and tremendously assertive. The Axemen will use old stereos, borrowed speakers and so forth as the mood and opportunity arises. They don’t actually own proper amplifiers. That means they sound different all the time. Bad one night, good the next. People won’t always agree on what constitutes a good night, either. - Songs: Steve and Bob write the songs. They get together and jam/ make up riffs and then put words on top. Their approach to"! lyrics seems similar to that of their music; they play around with , language, use familiar words in unfamiliar ways, have fun. Lots of chaos, too. There is a high turnover of songs don’t expect to hear the same song more than once. But you might. They also have done "cover versions” of songs by Donna

Summer, the Rolling Stones, Bryan Ferry, the Beatles, etc, and, most notoriously, Michael Jackson. Plans: They will eventually go vinyl but they're understandably reluctant to step away from the independence afforded by home recording and cassette release. The next project is a double album called A Scar Is Bom. This, other tapes, posters and T-shirts are available from PO Box 2764, Christchurch. Recordings: They record everything. Concept (1)? Steve: “I guess ... the whole comes out as more than the parts. Concept (2)? ,teve: "If there’s a concept it's inf -pendence within a whole." Concept 'j)? Steve: "Bob and Stu and St ve.” Concern (4)? Steve: "It’s to get across tf, c hurdle 0f... prejudice. People at pre-judging things. If we change il the time people can't pre-judg us. And that's the best way to a\ oid becoming part of the rock 'n' roll machine you were talking about.'