RUMOURS

Rip It Up, Issue 124, 1 November 1987, Page 43

RUMOURS

Auckland Simon Lynch, longtime keyboard whiz for Ardijah, is another dedicated member of the band to leave in recent months... Herbs and Rhythm Cage are filming an RWP special at the Galaxy on Thursday, Nov 11... on Friday Nov 20 the year's final HM special will take place at the Galaxy, with Fat Sally up from Christchurch, and locals Mantra and Confessor. Rhythm Cage stole the show at Pagan Records’party at Wildlife with an acoustic set, playing their ‘Freeze City’ and an acapella version of Elvis's ‘Return to Sender,' among others. Also starring were the Warratahs, Pagan’s first No 1 act Tex Pistol, who sang Joe Ely’s ‘I Keep My Fingernails Long (So They Click When I Play the Piano),’ and Shona Laing. Ray Columbus appeared in a speaking role. Pop Mechanix, under the working title of Big Rehearsal, begin gigs at the Wildlife this month. New member is Peter Warren ... keyboardist Murray Hancox has his debut album Just for the Record out on Ode... also on Ode soon is Chris & Lynne Thompson Live, recorded by Radio NZ ... Margaret Urlich signed a solo deal with CBS last month... Dave Dobbyn won the 1987 Apra Silver Scroll for ‘You Oughta Be in Love' ... the Warners LP has been recorded, and should be out next month. Chris Bourke Wellington The Rock Theatre has closed down again as a live venue after noise problems and high overheads ... the Wild Poppies have split with part of the band in Wellington and part in London. An overseas reunion is planned and their last single ‘Where is Wellington/Stare at the Sun’ is getting a lot of local airplay ... Nazgul have a new bass player and lead guitarist, and will tour south with No 9... Wazzo Ghoti continue to use stand-in drummers as Joe’s health improves after the July assault. They have an excellent demo tape circulating. Look for an LP early Feb... the Ranchsliders and the Cattlebirds are recording at Writhe. The Gordons look set to reform and record in the wake of a Skeptics split... Neil Jones and the Heaters are standing in tor the Warratahs at the Cricketers as the Warratahs, with their single in the charts, are spot touring the country. Their album is currently being pressed in Australia. Congrats to Pagan stablemate Tex Pistol and backing vocalist Callie Blood for reaching No 1 just before 'The Game of Love’ vinyl ran out ... new band Ga Ga recently debuted after nine months rehearsal ... new hard rock band Xenon hae been recording demos and are supporting on the suburban circuit ... despite what BiFim might say, Chicago Smoke Shop are not known as Smokestack Lighting The Backdoor Blues Band, now known as Naked City, will return for a pre-Xmas tour with new Australian drummer ... new studio Rock Solid will record free of charge if the material is accepted by their publishing company... Bill Lake and the Living Daylights have their LP A Bop in the Ocean, out this month on Eelman through Jayrem. The album was recorded virtually live in the studio at Marmalade ... with EMI having refused to press Skank Attack’s new single, the material will probably surface on thier debut album. They'll play with Hunters & Collectors on Nov 23. The National Student Radio Compilation selection panel received over 130 demo taps for consideration. The unofficial selection is the Benders, Ranchsliders, Cattlebirds, Tarter Brown, Neil Jones and the Heaters, En Can Ma, Prodigies, Screaming Pope, Shine, Fish for Life, Riflemen plus a short list of reserves. Each band will re-record later in the year for a March 'BB release ... local bands to make the Wellington finals of the Battle of the Bands were the Holidaymakers, Kaihana, Crawbilly Creeps and the Quiet, with Cattlebirds and the Laundrettes going through to the national final. JohnPilley Christchurch Passage Tapes have been busy with releases by Hiding from Stan and Patchamama due out soon. They recently released Indians 1926 and Breaking Even by South Amerikan ... and the another cassette distributor Blue Factory are producing a monthly newsletter Sloth Cloth Bits ’n‘ pieces: Floyd has left Mea Culpa ... Worlds Apart have “gone underground" for five years . .. Flying Nun report that the Sneaky Feelings tour of Europe is going we 11... in the gone-but-not-forgotten department, the Pedestrians have been offered a recording deal from Germany and new semi-resident band

at the Playroom is Peter Kearns’ Atomic. Overall winners in the national Battle of the Bands was Christchurch's Eklectic Club, with Big Game Hunters coming third equal: that must say something for Christchurch bands! But this month's big question is, if Christchurch instill producing the best bands, why are our top two studios in jeopardy and our only venue for original bands closing its doors? John Greenfield Dunedin After many ups and downs the Chippendale House venue is sadly closing up, but the collective will continue on. Straitjacket Fits and the Bats both recently had good weekends there ... Saltwaters is a open air concert to be held at Riverton on Nov 22, to raise money for a school pool. Taking part are National Collection, Spaghettis, Jim’s Live Deer Recovery, Sierra, Live Wire, Splinter, Pioneer Scroggin Bush Band ... the Battle of the Bands came and went with a puff of grey smoke and the bands winning the two Dunedin heats were Cactus Club and Doug the Warlock. Jim’s Live Deer Recovery cleaned up the Invercargill heat... Tonikim Nervus have a live cassette out. Look Blue Go Purple have a breakup gig planned ... Let’s Get Naked's 'Funky Dunedin’ video suffered a major disappointment after being turned down by RWP due to “violence" ... welcome Collin, upon returning to Dunedin from the Bad Eggs in Sydney ... Pink Polyester have recently recorded a cassette of all their best songs; it’s available from the second hand record shop ...Tin Can Dread are taking a threemonth break ... the Southland Community College will be operating a radio station out of Invercargill aimed at the 15-29 audience from Nov 28, six days a week on 99 mhz from 3.00 pm to B.oopm. Sharon Guytonbeck UK&USA From RB in the UK: Sneaky Feelings are by now well into their debut European tour, which began with a low-key set with the Chills in Bristol, Belgian, Dutch and German dates were to follow. One of the locals at Bristol called out for 'The Strange and Conflicting Feelings of Separation and Betrayal' — “Unfortunately, we don’t play that one any more,” David Pine told the out-of-breath punter... the Verlaines compilation Juvenilia is showing up on college charts around the USA ... the Chills’ Brave Words entered the MRIB charts at No 12. The CD of the album has just been manufactured in Germany ... Sonya Waters has been subject of the whims of rock stardom and is no longer with the Woodentops. Jordan Luck strode the boards for the first time in England with a pick-up band that had formed to back up Jayne County. Jayne arrived with her own band, so the group wanted a singer to play a few gigs before dispersing. With the arrival of Brian Jones, all the Exponents are now in England ... NZer David Swift has left the NME to work with new technology at a Nottingham newspaper. Crowded House won best new artists at the US MTV awards, Paul Hester dropped his trousers, Aerosmith refused to play 'Walk this Way’ with Run DMC, while Prince stayed in his trailer throughout. He emerged at 2am to give a two-and-a-half hour set with his new 10-piece band. Lou Reed joined Duran Duran on stage for ‘Walk on the Wild Side' at a NY charity gig recently ... Larry Blackmon of Cameo has been recording with Eddie Murphy and, in a separate session, Miles Davis ... Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and U2 will all record a Woody Guthrie song for an LP to benefit the Smithsonian Institute ... Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin, key early Temptations, have recorded an album together. Springsteen will have earned USD $56 million for the 24 months up to this December 31, says Forbes business mag ... last year, the US record industry released 2345 albums, with only 15 percent making money ... Roy Orbison has re-recorded 'Crying’ with K D Lang ... next single for ÜB4O is a Michael Jackson cover, 'Maybe Tomorrow' ... Cher has entered the studio, to record, with Jon Bon Jovi.. Diana Ross was filmed from the waist up for her 'Shock Waves' video recently. The reason? Days later she gave birth to a son.