SPEAKING NO EVIL

Rip It Up, Issue 218, 1 October 1995, Page 5

SPEAKING NO EVIL

A University campus is as good a place as any to form a band, John McNab, guitarist with the not-quite-death-metal band Deluge thought so too, and can therefore trace the roots of the now Auckland based band, back to Massey University in Palmerston North.

When John shifted the band to Auckland in 1992, members dropped out as if Timothy Leary had given the order personally. When current singer Jules Pettit answered an ad that said, ‘must be able to singer Slayer and Living Colour’, Deluge became half a band again.

Jules: “What happened was, we had so much trouble finding musicians who were open minded to both those extremes. John and I clicked quite early, we had the same attitudes towards music, but it was hard finding a rhythm section who could deal with both ends of the spectrum."

Once the virtuoso drum ‘n’ bass team of Chris Lopez and Dion Walsh were recruited, Deluge went about recording their debut EP, Serenade For Civilisation, out now on new Auckland indie label, Limousine.

Serenade delivers a mighty TKO, hurling hell-for-leather grunty guitars, beats and vocals at the listener, all wrapped in an atmosphere of positive energy. Unlike many bands operating in the same genre, Deluge hold no negative tendencies, nor harbour any sympathy for the devil.

John: “We don’t have any belief in any kind of worship, and we’re not really evil.”