Rumours

Rip It Up, Issue 88, 1 November 1984, Page 2

Rumours

UK & USA Jimmy Page makes his postZeppelin debut with The Firm. Lineup is completed by Paul Rodgers (vocals, ex Bad Company, Free), Chris Slade (drummer, ex Heep, David Gilmour) and Tony Franklyn (bass, ex Roy Harper). Debut LP nearly completed ... exiled Clash guitarist Mick Jones has a new group called Real Westway David Bowie has been asked to play the part of Peter Pan in the Royal Shakespeare Company's Christmas panto ... Bono of U2 has been asked to write the sleeve notes for new Bob Dylan LP He joined Dylan on stage at the croaky one’s Dublin concert recently ... New Order in the studio laying down tracks for a new LP ... Aretha Franklin to play blues singer Mahalia Jackson in new film Sing Mahalia, Sing... drummer Andy Anderson has left the Cure world tour after the last Japanese date and has been replaced for the USA by Vince Ely. ex Psychedelic Furs. Reasons for leaving unspecified... blues singer Alberta Hunter died recently in New York, aged 89 years ... Elvis Costello has been repeating his solo concerts, this time in England and again with T-Bone Burnett... Laurie Anderson has just released a five-LP recording of a performance in November last year entitled New York Live She is also sticking with plans to play in the USSR as part of Performance Artists For Disarmament ... the Who's last LP is called, surprise, The Who's Last It was recorded on the band’s last US tour and features four sides of live greatest hits... General Public have found themselves as support on the UK Queen tour... Spandau Ballet and Culture Club are competing to see who can book the most concerts at London’s Wembley Stadium. Currently they’re both tied on six each ... and residents of Thurles,

from whence the family of Boy George, the O’Dowds, sprang, have extended an invitation to the Boy [to come back and visit with a traditional Irish air by the 1 Saints I*and] 1 *and] Scholars called 'IOO,OOO Wel- [ comes 1 For'Boy George’ ... Bauhaus’ Pete Murphy and Japan’s I Mick Kam are now calling themselves 1 Dali’s Car (title pinched from Captain Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica LP) and have new single called ’The Judgement] Is The Mirror’... Sky Saxon is back! j ■The one-time Seeds singer is now calling himself Sky Sunlight Saxon and has an album of stuff recorded over the last seven years called Masters Of Psychedelia... Wreckless Eric has returned as Eric Goulden and has a band palled 1 Captains Of J Industry ... John Lydon j has shifted to the desert in Southern California with his girlfriend ... reportedly a new Dexys album coming up soon, even though there are still lineup] problems ... Jimi couldn't make it { but his dad Al Hendrix was guest of honour at the recent UK Jimi Hendrix convention ... old Johnny Thunders is still up and running j and [ touring the UK with Hanoi Rocks ... police have been raiding and [closing down London pirate] stations, including the highly popular soul stations JFM and Horizon. Albums: Big Country Steeltown, Cocteau Twins Treasure the Fall

The Wonderful and Frightening World Of .., Eurythmics 1984 Soundtrack, Art Of Noise Who's Afraid 0f... Julian Lennon Valotte Frank Zappa Them Or Us, Billy Bragg Brewing Up Gregory Isaacs Live At the Academy London Melle Mel and the Furious Five Work Party, XTC The Big Express, Visage Beat Boy, This Mortal Coil Itll End In Tears, Marc Almond Vermin In Ermine Singles: Redskins ’Keep On Keeping On’ (produced by Nick Lowe!), Style Council ‘Shout It To The Top; Shriekback ‘Mercy Dash; ABC ‘How To Be A Millionaire’, Gang Of Four ‘ls It Love’, Sylvester ‘Rock the Box; North With lower Record Tax, all record companies dropped the wholesale price of LPs by $1 the day after the Budget but some retailers will keep their prices the same, citing higher freight costs to be covered. It will be a matter of "aggressive discounters” becoming more active on a wider range of records, according to industry sources. The halving of the tax from 40 to 20 per cent will make it easier for companies (particularly indies) to cushion the blow of upcoming production cost rises. Paul Agar of Marginal Era has moved to Melbourne for an indefinite period to further his songwriting career. The rest of the band may play the Split Enz support tour already booked with former Grammar Boy Simon Alexander on vocals and will then re-emerge under a new name and with a new singer ... expect a double live album from the Split Enz farewell tour... Dance Exponents will stay in the country (they returned for the Music Awards) and forthwith base themselves here and not in Melbourne. They say it will be more financially viable to live here and play outside the country when necessary than it would to stay across the Tasman. New Mockers guitarist is Brett Adams formerly of Venue faves the Bellboys ... the Venue is to close (see story in this issue)... the 1984 Apra Silver Scroll Award for songwriting has gone to Hammond Gamble ... Wellington's Pelicans have an EP Crazy Legs out soon and are currently touring with saxman Andrew ‘Clyde’ Clouston, who released his debut EP, The Bag, recently.

Auckland recently defeated the Waikato lineup of bands in the inaugural Rockfurly Shield match recently and a Auckland v Wellington will be held mid Dec. The whole concept is a light-hearted way to generate the enthusiasm for local music that sport attracts ... Legionnaires have their first record for some time, the threetrack 12" ’Nosferatu' b/w ‘Shanty Town’ and ‘Waiting Room’ (by Les White) out soon on Hit Singles Records. Exploding Budgies recorded with Doug Hood for a Flying Nun release at the Lab recently... both Lab and Progressive Studios are now 16-track... Auckland’s K 4 and Napier’s Five Year Mission to release EPs shortly on a new independent label. K 4 title is Legs For Pensioners, 5YM’s is UFO ... the fourth Tall Dwarfs Ep, Slugbucket Hairybreathmonster, should be out soon in stunning flourescent colours. Quays nightclub is having a facelift including the construction of a piano bar and will in future be going somewhat more upmarket ... the Big Wide World debut single is now due out at the end of this month ... Ralph Bennett’s Fat ‘n’ Sassy have just recorded two nights live at Hamilton's Hillcrest and will choose tracks for a record. They are also looking for a replacement drummer for Kevin Thomas who has joined Midge Marsden's band. New in Wellington are: Go-Go Yetis, including former members of Ist XV, Freedom For Sheep and Unrestful Movements. Their music has been described as “sunny punk jazz’’ and they play old TV themas as well as originals ... Glass are a three-piece claiming to be like the Jam and the Verlaines! Drummer Gary Steele is not related to the editor of TOM mag —■ TOM has changed format in recent months and now incorporates more drama, film and other happenings as well as local music ... Economic Wizards debut with their EP Starve the Lizards, featuring the divine ’Pakuranga Girl’ ... Jayrem’s latest compilation is This Island, which features unreleased material by the Pelicans and Car Crash Set. Aucklander Giovanni Intra is putting together a mag called The Um, specifically to help the NZ cassette scene. First 30-page

issue should be out soon and features articles on Axemen, TV Eye, Portobello, Rites, ROIR, etc. Interested? Write to 3/475 Onehunga Mall, Auckland 6 ... Campus Radio finished recently with what will hopefully be the station's last AM broadcast ... Flesh D-Vice’s inaction cost them the opportunity to go on a USA compilation LP but Five Year Mission have landed a spot on a Norwegian cassette and Armatrak are on a USA tape... Compos Mentis (Wgtn), Armatrak (Akld) and Boner (Nelson) are among the names on new Rites Tape Rising From the Ashes Vol 2, which will be sent to over 20 countries, courtesy the tireless Neil Cartwright. Hamilton’s eccentric Ha Ha Ha mag assures everyone it’s still alive and kicking. Or something ... Radio Active 89FM battled an objection from Radio NZ to extend to breakfast hours near the end of its transmission. Its success lay in convincing the Broadcasting Tribunal that it was continuing to provide a truly alternative radio service ... Ether Relay is now bringing in the following New York and London mags; East Village Eye, Beat (reggae, black music), Details (fashion, style, interviews), ZG (contemporary culture, art

theory), Raw (the high chapel of comics, ltd supply) and ID (fashion). Latest outlet is Auckland’s Corner Bookshop. Russell Brown

South That funny little L-shaped bar called the Star and Garter will now open irregularly due to lack of support from the fickle ChCh punter who was no doubt confused by the variety of acts offered up there. Only major acts booked for next month are Freudian Slips, Wayward Witches and Sam Hunt.

If you live out of ChCh your gas bills could mount up, with tours lined up featuring Mockers, ND Toys, Fetus Productions, Martial Law, Peking Man, Beat Souldiers, the Rip. Doublehappys ... and that's not even getting into the big overseas acts more or less likely to grace these shores; see calendar page for more hot rumours ...

and after Peter Cooke’s desolate interview in the Starthere is doubt that the Wastrels have really broken up just yet. Bookings have been made for December, singer Anton Jenner doesn't go overseas until March and there are recording possibilities in the city Cooke described as “full of bland, uninspiring pop music," Auckland. Summer’s underway and the

Band Rotunda has already seen the Great Unwashed, the Axemen and the Connoisseurs, but they didn’t draw quite the 6-7000 that the Legionnaires gig there did. Resident band from the Marine, Louie and the Hotsticks. also did well. Lots more gigs planned ... with Segovia in Auckland the rest of the Connoisseurs have formed a loose ensemble with the Axemen and entertain Friday night shoppers in the City Mall, outside Ballantynes, any donations gratefully accepted... and the Axemen’s fifth cassette, A Scar Is Born It’s 2xC6O, has 30 songs and four different covers and can be got from PO Box 2764 ChCh for a trifling 10 bucks ... the cassette scene in Dunedin is also very healthy and among recent releases is one from Pink Plastic Gods.

On the recording front Scorched Earth Policy are still working with Eric Johns at Tandem ... and over at Nightshift Arnie Van Bussell has a brand spankin’ new 16-track recorder. Arnie has put more than his neck on the line over this one so hopefully local bands will support him by using the thing ... already recorded at Nightshift are Wayward Witches, who’s four song cassette is out, Unwanted Aliens from Blenheim,

Naughty Thoughts from Timaru, the Untouchables and Legless Brownies, who are also planning a cassette. Maiden China also hope to release an EP from their work there ... the fourth Krypton cassette is out from Onset-Offset and the Haemogoblins LP is nearing completion. After another spell, Roco Coca have another new lineup, some more new material, want to record and have plans for a summer tour ... Timaru band the Punch plan to add a brass section for two special performances in early Dec. One will be at the Caroline Bay soundshell ... Lions and Tigers are looking for a permanent drummer as Stephen Birss is already involved in two other projects ... Maiden China continue their search for a guitarist; ph 791-394 if you can play more than three chords. Latest fave around town (and with good reason) are Tan Zen Jungle, who will perform in ChCh only a few more times before going to Auckland. Guitarist William Stewart (currently on loan from the Haemogoblins) will probably not travel with them and instead they are planning to add another trumpet player. They also want to incorporate films, slides and tapes into their performances in future. Alister Cain