Live

Rip It Up, Issue 91, 1 February 1985, Page 28

Live

The Go-Betweens Chills, Able Tasmans The Gluepot. Feb 16 This weekend was originally, to be the last before the Gluepot went into a six month dry dock for major alterations. The deadline was put back a week to allow a "special goodbye weekend. I got no sense of history perhaps but a gig like this would have been a considerably more encouraging way to lower the curtain on this bar than another All-Stars trot-out. , I mean, this was exciting

Able Tasmans .seemed to ,be playing almost every weekend for a while last year. Almost always a support band,’ they had an unfortunate sense of being a novelty act TV themes, popular covers, crazee keyboard playing. And. of course, the novelty began to wear off... But back now with their own soundman and lots of new songs. Able Tasmans \ are no longer. a novelty act. There's a darker side to the music now, and a lot more thought as regards arrangement The major problem to be wrestled with now is the sameness of texture embodied in the

keyboards/bass/drums lineup. The homogenous sound all but obscured the considerable variety in the songs themselves The obvious solution would be to add

another member but then they wouldn't want: to lose that sparseness, would they? Hmmmmm. Still, the best moments (like 'New Sheriff and ‘Funny Mari’) were triffic. ' No doubt more than a few people were lured along ' to the Gluepot by The, promise of the Chills playing. And the Chills did not disappoint. It should be said here that the Chills did not play a single bad song In fact, keeping track of personal favourites can be quite a,daunting task given the rapid-fire string of good ;uns and great Tins that make up a Chills set.

The difference with the Chills at present is that the playing is doing justice to the songs The four on stage play very much as a band, hitting time changes (which there seem to be a lot of these days) and the like ideally and naturally. The core of it is Terry Moore’s bass playing the notes coil and twine intelligently around the bottom of the songs Therefc the impression that everyone is playing full-

which doesn't necessarily mean playing fast. Martin Phillipps remains the visual focus and he's a joy to watch. The friendly, slightly nervous figure who speaks between songs is the next minute the wideeyed electric figure spitting out the words to 'Smile From A Dead, Dead Face' like he's speaking in tongues His singing continues to improve the low. low from-the diaphragm notes that trail away

the chorus to Night Of Chill Blue' are genuinely affecting Of course the (60s) punk maelstrom this band can whip up is only one side to the Chills certain nuances get lost in a crowded pub. More and more recording will round out the Chills as something that is pretty rare now a great rock 'n' roll band The previous night some peo pie said the Chills were a better band than the main act, the Go Betweens. But as Andrew Boak said, they were a different band trying to compare the two was simply dumb

Music like that played live by the Go Betweens can run the risk of being merely disciplined and in telligent (or even, God forbid, ' bookish”), but the performance (particularly this night) makes it a lot more than that. Certainly the music does demand some attention but if you've paid 10 bucks to ignore the band you're a wanker

The Go-Betweens’ onstage volume is relatively low and it was possible, if you listened, to pick out every component of a song including the words' Grant McLennan and Robert Forster bounced off each other with guitars and as in the sublime Five Words' with vocals Between them Robert Vickers’ bass carries the songs along Lindy Morrison is a classic non-rock ‘n’ roll drummer in the Mo Tucker mould she plays like she was an artist or something who decided she wanted to play drums; and did, her way. It's a taut.

snapping style no biff plonk here. Most of .the audience seemed to be familiar with only a handful of the songs, which was understandable. As a result, ‘Cat tle and Cane' and ’ ‘Bachelor Kisses' got the biggest reactions along with the more immediate songs like the wry Draining the Cool! Other songs to come across well live were Forster's quirky 'On My Block' and McLennan’s 'King Of Mirrors; dedicated to Nick Cave (“Nicotine-stained angels sing in his 1 defence ... But the saddest thing of all is, he’s just a King of Mirrors .’..”).

Something which seemed; to bypass many in the crowd was the fat vein of humour that ran though the whole set: “I’m a great singer and a very good guitarist and this is a wonderful song that I wrote," saidJ Forster, \ deadpan, and , the crowd seemed to take him at his word, uttering barely a murmur. Forster was a weird figure his lanky' build seemed make the stage unbalanced he squirmed and frowned and then would break into a narcissitic.. hip-swirling dance, eyes closed in apparent ecstasy. Forster even descended to the dancefloor to swivel his bum among the punters (who stood and stared) at one point. Much of the activity seemed to be an attempt to stir, up some audience reaction and the band apparently almost did , not do an encore because of the dull crowd

response. We should be glad they did the final song was a magnificently stretched, torn and 1 twisted River Of Money'. A perfect way to end. As Brian Eno once said, only 20,000 people might have bought the first Velvet Underground album, but sooner or later they all went out and formed bands ... Okay, so who played in the rest of the world this weekend Russell Brown The Spines, Ten Foot Faces Clyde Quay Tavern, Jan 25 ■ This was the first time I'd seen the Spines./In Wellington, the name has an aura of indepedent originality and something exciting in an avant-garde way My illusions were shattered. They were j just another J lightweight funk band, and fairly boring with it. The music itself was played very well Sound was dominated by the bass, which formed a steady funky (God. I hate that word) beat with some light/ sensitive drumming This; provided the stage \ for Jon McLearys guitar punctuation. He also sang what seemed to be original songs, but I couldnt hear a word he sang. By the time the words got beyond the mike, they were just another ambiguous, chewed-up noise.

So, Jon, I hope you do something about it. After all, some of us really want to hear what you've got to say A twittering sax was ’added in the second set, which seems to be the latest thing

to do Stage atmosphere was fairly quiet. |lt was 2 lit, by a . single, minimalist red light. The Spines were proceeded by, a four-piece called Ten Foot Faces. They were, very good. Tight, dry, and sometimes innovative, they were in the mould of Magazine. In fact, • they sounded; exactly. 1 like Magazine, with a I Devoto soundalike on vocals. Like the Spines, though, they were too serious and lacked that vital element involved in putting on a lively show. .f; ;; So; what ’else was on\in Wellington? Heavy metal foursome Madlight bashing away largely covers to a sedate crowd of denim brains at the terminus. New band with innocuous; name Crook Straight at the Cricketers. Fairly light sound, mainly doing covers like a pre-Siouxsie ‘Prudence’. And talented/ experienced cover band Fool Proof at the Clarendon, churning. out| their versions of 'Miss You! .‘Black Night! .'Start Me Up! etc, etc. But it was a beautiful weekend in the Capital At the end of each show, the few punters left in the pubs drank up and disappeared into the night mumbling something about parties, night clubs. Ghostbusters and how to avoid Neil Young when he arrives Clifton Fuller Crying Out Loud/the Glass, the Tradaviks Clyde Quay Tavern, Feb 2. The Clyde Quay Tavern (aka The

Pulse) in Wellington is doing an excellent job in ‘ giving original ! NZ bands the opportunity to play. In the past few months visitors have included the Doublehappys from Dunedin, the Great Unwashed and All Fall Down from Christchurch and locals Flesh D-Vice and the Spines. This Saturday three more local bands were given a chance. Crying Out Loud is’ an in teresting. innovative four-piece They readily substituted the basic drums, bass and two guitars in the

lineup with an oboe, tambourine, acoustic guitar, etc. The changeovers, though, took a bit of time and unsettled the audience. The songs were complicated and usually , involved frequent changes in pace Sometimes this meant their lost their, coherence and might have been more effective if the structure was simpler I; couldn't make out the words Sound was generally, quiet, sensitive and atmospheric. It was also original The main criticism was that they did not • succeed in generating enough energy in the show to take it to the audience. The Glass were louder and more • energetic. A < three-piece, they were based on a heavy bassdrum axis contrasted with a

lighter, chiming guitar, The bass player jh black was the main focus, as he also sang. Vocals were angry, sometimes hateful and, delivered with a sneer This work ed particularly. well in Pretty’ and I'm Laughing Now', but got a bit; monotonous after a while. After all, ; there is more to life. As they played on,; it became clear that each song was too much the same as those that had' gone before. Only Returning' stood out as distinctive (a future Flying Nun single?). The one slow song didn't work. Clearly the favourite band of the evening, the Glass reminded me of the heavy three-pieces that used to knock around Christchurch five years ago. Next were the Tradaviks. At first I thought this was an all-male Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders setup without the cosmetics Very polished and confident. lighter in sound and playing as if they were in a glass cage ' The band was drums, guitar, bass and a vocalist who wrestled with the mike stand (in place of a guitar) like my grandmaster does with his walking stick. Sound gradually wore thin as shades of a diluted U2 crept in. . They seemed out of place with the previous two bands and most of the audience In the end, the real entertainment came from a group of dancers who took the mickey out of them. Serious. Bono-type egos posed by lead singers don't go down too well in a local pub if anywhere Clifton Fuller

The Wait Albert Motor Lodge, Palmerston North. Feb 1 ‘I; suppose it’s not that astonishing.... but since the demise of Snailclamps in June last « year ... Palmerston Cheese has died musically. The Wait then are the break in the monotony ... a distraction from 1 the conformist i [lifestyles of the locals. Ahhh ... unfortunately not so true, because the Albert was packed full with humans trying to look, talk and act 1 like Americans. Clones I would call; it... who were more interested in making a series of sexist, sometimes racist remarks whilst fondling the person next to them.. Luckily for me, I decided I was insane and turned to watch 30 minutes of .-homegrown music pulsing forth from from an ab- . solutely beautiful PA system The Wait are good ..’. much, much bet ter than the band they were supporting, the resident band Chyna Only recently formed, their original material brings a surprising freshness.. one song springs to mind, typifying Palmerston North and its regulated environment. The only boring thing about the two nights were 90 per cent of the people in the audience ... and yes, that is a generalisation. Anonymous South Flying Nun stuff... Tall Dwarfs' new megamix (19 people play and/or sing on it) version of Nothing's Gonna Happen; recorded before Xmas at Mascot will be

released shortly in a pizza box ... .the Scorched Earth Policy ER, is due for release and features some six tracks... also due out is the Haemogoblins debut album, Psycho delicatessan ... planning ... the Chills and Verlaines plan LPs for F Nun this year, while the Doublehappys seem content to do an EfUMMIMI Peter Gutteridge has returned to Dunedin and with Hamish Kilgour presently overseas, the future of the Great Unwashed is in limbo ... Hot Records (Australia) is to release a Flying Nun compilarion LP featuring a cross-section of artists from the Clean to the Chills. The LP will rejoice under the name Bison ... and English indie biggie Rough Trade expressed more than a little interest in the F Nun catalogue at the recent MIDEM music fair. . Dunedin's Crystal Zoom compiled and recorded a 'Dunedin Sound On 45' with the aid of David Kilgour and Martin Phillipps. Songs include the Clean’s Billy , 2' and Point That Thing, the Verlaines' Death and the Maiden’ and Doledrums’ and 'Kaleidoscope World' by the Chills. The B-Side will be Crystal Zoom's own ‘Uptown Sheep’ ... Crystal Zoom have left/are leaving for Auckland but are still planning a record featuring fellow young Dunedmites Alpaca Brothers and the Orange ... new out in ChCh shops is 'Ordinary Girl'/'Otara St’ by White Whisper featuring Mike ' Turbo'' Wingfield The , Punch have moved to ChCh and seem set to take up the

residency at the Aranui ... Maiden China are moving to Auckland... the Wastrels will say goodbye to the nation with a series of farewell performances in the South Island and at Auckland's Strmgfellows Former drummer Ritchie is cur rently. coining it in as a lifter of heavy things for the Narcs and Grant Ettrick will fill Jin/... Roco Coca have called it a day... there will be no more bands at ChCh’s Zanzibar No reason given. Easter Weekend will see a huge Flying Nun spectacular featuring Sneaky Feelings,, the Chills, Verlaines, Tall Dwarfs and Bats... Dialogue With Swimmers seem set to reappear... the Empire is having trouble, recruiting bands as there seem to be no ; new bands coming up and the established acts seem to have grown out of it ... Dunedin’s End have a new drummer, in Graeme McLauchlan and are looking for a vocalist ... Doublehappys writing a new live set and record real soon ... will the Octagon Underground ever surface? Sue Calvert (vocals/sax) has joined Wayward Witches... Dick Driver has a new band, to be called either A Singed Paisley Shirt or Psychotic Reaction ... 12,000 people turned up to see and hear the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra perform 'Classical Sparks’, in Hagley Park recently AC & GK