Chin up Christchurch

I went to start finding some information about what's left of Christchurch's music venues and stumbled across this site http://www.nzmusician.co.nz/index.php/pi_pageid/8/pi_articleid/2239/pi_page/1
where they have done all the work for me. Some great info here and it seems to be up to date. So thanks NZ Musician for pulling that together.

After speaking with a couple of friends who work full-time as musos in this city it sounds like there's a heap of muso's with no where to play. Venues like the Hornby working Mens Club is now hosting some different bands to what it might be used to. On a similar note, The Eastern, the band with the big heart, are offering to play anywhere - just contact them and they'll bring the music. Superb. It's things like this that make us all feel a bit better about this wreck of a city we're living in. 

Chin up Chch. Keep on rockin. That's rockin' NOT quakin'. Ok? Ok.

Nix Pix:

I actually have no freakin clue about what could possibly be open to go and see, so I suggest having a few friends over with a crate and a few guitars. If, on the off chance, I find an event to see I'll let you know.

You render me speechless... not

Seeing bands play at a party is always a real novelty. Sometimes a good one. Sometimes not so good. But always memorable. If I put my muso hat on for a second I'd say people's houses are hands-down a more favourable place to play. There's just a different vibe. It's more like playing in the band room, with the added bonus of having guests to egg you on.

Local legends The Renderers are playing at Goodbye Blue Monday this week, which sent me on a You Tube search where I found this great wee clip of them playing a party.

I love this band and wish I got to see them more than I do. I adore them for their country psychedelic rock, their laid back attitude, but most of all I love that their front person is a chick...  AND she's freakin awesome! I do have a bit of a thing for chicks in bands - well, who doesn't?! But it's a particular joy to watch someone so confident and at ease with her music. Not that The Renderers are all about Mary-rose, not at all, but she's the highlight for me. If you're looking for some sweet sounds to check out on Saturday night then head along to Goodbye Blue Monday - it's a sure thing.

Nix Pix:
Heaps to choose from this week.  I have my suspicions that there were cheap flights from the US to NZ recently cos there's three US bands in town this week - Ocean Floor, The Melvins and Queens of the Stone Age. Also some great NZ and local bands too.

Thursday 17 Feb
Secondi, Von Voin Strum @ Dux 
'Touch My Toga' - Yolanda Be Cool, Dick Johnson, MayaVanya, Supermodel more @ Orientation

Friday 18 Feb
I Am The Light w/ The Willow Page & The Gentlys @ GBM
Mustard @ Dux
Nudge! with special guest Dr Captain @ El Santo
Carnival For Carnivores, 2 Worlds, Awakened Inferno, Sekht @ Al's Bar 
Aaron From Cairo Knife Fight  @ Cartel 
Belushio @ Wunderbar 

Saturday 19 Feb
The Renderers @ Goodbye Blue Monday
NZeppelin @ Al's Bar
'New Noise' - Ruby Suns,Tommy Ill, Street Chant & The Guest @ Orientation
The Eastern + Dj Insomniac @ Cartel
Blue Blood, with support from Suede Arcade @ Dux
Curb @ El Santo

Sunday 20 Feb
Ocean Floor (Portland) with The Undercurrents & Paper Ghost (Wellington) @ Wunderbar

Monday 21 Feb
The Melvins (LA) and High On Fire @ Al's Bar

Thursday 24 Feb
Queens of the Stone Age (California) w Cairo Knife Fight @ Christchurch Town Hall

Hang Ten - Surfing USSR are back in town! Yoowwee!

I love it when something great you haven't seen for a while turns up unexpectedly. So I'm very happy to hear that Surfing USSR are playing at El Santo this week.

The Surferdelic EP was released in 2000

Surfing USSR were (are?) a Christchurch group formed about 1999 who played "instrumental surf tunes based on melodies from traditional Jewish klezmer music and eastern European folk tunes" (so says the band website). The band - Greg Malcolm (guitar), Marc Howe (bass), and Matt Gibb (drums) had a good following of loyal fans and haven't to my knowledge been seen around this neck of the woods for a while - what a great treat! (It's usually about now that I find out they play regularly and I just haven't noticed! Eeeeh...Cest la vie.)

Delaney Davidson's awesome Self Decapitation poster

I heard a track from local fella Delaney Davidson on the radio today which reminded me how much I like him, and that I need to get more of his music in my collection. So here's his lovely Homeward Bound tune for you to enjoy. He regularly plays at El Santo - well worth a trip through the tunnel I say. There's also a great article about him in the Philadelphia Examiner that's worth a looksee too.













AND this just in...

Singer / songwriter/ guitarist / turntabilist / producer Mara TK is in town playing a solo set  at  - you guessed it - El Santo on Thursday night. If you're into soulful vocals then this is a gig not to miss. Mara currently plays with Electric Wire Hustle, Fly my Pretties, and has featured on Julien Dyne and Benny Tones' albums amongst others.
He's a great songwriter and all-round super dude, go check him out on Thursday night.



Nix picks for what's on this week

Wednesday 9 February
The Eastern @ The Wunderbar  

Thursday 10 February
Mara TK @ El Santo
Folk & Blues Night with special guests Farrago (UK), Al Parks @ Al's Bar
Canterbury Rams @ The Dux
Psymon Barnet @ Goodbye Blue Monday
Plum Green "The Red" EP Release @ The Wunderbar


Friday 11 February
Surfing USSR with guests @ El Santo
Masters of Our Universe @ Goodbye Blue Monday

Saturday 12 February
Oxfest, Dance Asthmatics, Palace Of Wisdom, The Stefan Van Soest Hit Machine @ El Santo
Jess Chambers + Marlon Williams @ Goodbye Blue Monday
The Weight @ Cartel

 

My mum always told me...

My mother was never one of those mums who told me "if I didn't have anything good to say then say nothing at all", and in retrospect perhaps she should of. It might have made me a quieter and more thoughtful person. I fear it may be a little too late, but this old dog is gonna try and learn this new trick. And as I have nothing good or exciting to comment about this week I'm gonna leave it at that. Nada. Not even a tiny squeak. Nada.


Thrilling, isn't it?
 


What's on this week?

THURSDAY January 27 
The Unfaithful Ways @ Cartel
Blindfolded and Led to the Woods (EP Release) with My Dad's a Heart Surgeon @ Dux
The Golden Awesome with T54 @ Goodbye Blue Monday
Jack Derwin (Sydney) @ Al's Bar
World Buskers Festival @ The Bedford

FRIDAY January 28
Azalia Snail Celestial Respect Tour @ El Santo
Magic Eye with Bits'n'Pieces @ GBM
Ed Musik and the Burning Sensations @ Dux
The Mamaku Project Electro 4tet @ Wunderbar
Made in China, Osmium, Stonehurst @ Al's Bar
World Buskers Festival @ The Bedford


SATURDAY January 30
Echo Chamber_Roots/Dub/Dancehall @ El Santo
Scarlett Lashes & Vostok Lake @ Harbourlight
Lupus Lunar + Tiny Lies + Happiness Stan @ Wunderbar
Crossroads with Kelly Fletcher-Jones @ Al's Bar
World Buskers Festival @ The Bedford

You squirmed your way into my heart

Apologies to all the blog purists out there but I'm feeling VERY lazy tonight so I gotta whole lotta 'copy and paste' goin on. I just wanted to quickly let you know about the upcoming documentary release (trailer above) called 'Gone with the Weird' featuring one of my favourite Christchurch bands Squirm.

Squirm outside Hex Central

"Squirm were a New Zealand alternative rock group based in Christchurch New Zealand. The band played from 1991–1997 and released 2 albums and one 6 track ep.

Discography

* 1994 - Whip Me Honey CDEP - 6 tracks - Failsafe Records
* 1995 - Mastermistakemaker - Album - Failsafe Records
* 1996 - Spastic Sarcastic - Album - Noseflute Records

Members

The band line up centered around

* Brett Lupton (Virgil Reality) - Guitar and Vocals
* Michael Brassell (Mike Hex) - Guitar and Vocals

and Drummers

* 1991 - 1994 Hat Myer
* 1994 - 1995 - (Darryl Kirk) Lawrence O'blivion
* 1995 - 1998 Pete Mitchell

and later bassist Vaughn Watson.

The band didn't officially split but members went off to do their own thing, Notably Michael Brassell's Hiss Explosion featuring Pete Mitchell on drums which released a couple of albums, and his other side project whitey Hiss which also had releases. Michael Brassell died of complications arising from pneumonia in February 2004."

[Thanks Wiki!]

Gone with the Weird is a documentary by Simon Ogston about Christchurch's much loved 'progressive art punk glam rock band' Squirm. (Check out the link for a great article about the doco on CHART by Vicki Anderson. This much anticipated documentary premieres at Al's Bar on Thursday night. Not only will you get to see a great documentary but both Permanence and, of course, Squirm are playing. I believe the run sheet for the night goes something like this:  
Permanence 8.30pm, Documentary 9.30pm, Squirm 10.30pm. 
Cost $10.


Sounds like a great way to spend a Thursday night.

I'll post some other events for the rest of the week later on.

Sounds Abound

January is here and with it comes a heap of musos on tour for various gigs around the country. The Big Day Out and Fly My Pretties are a couple that spring to mind. It's been a long (long) time since I last made it to a Big Day Out, and realistically I don't think I'll make it to another.  Back in 1996 I sold my 1962 Morris Mini for $300 to go to the BDO. The thing I remember most about the concert is that every second girl seemed to have blue or green hair that they'd dyed with food colouring and after a torrential change in the weather there were blue and green 'smurfs' everywhere as their hair colour leaked out and the green grass turned into brown muck. I can't remember a lot of the bands but I vividly remember Elastica and Tricky.

I'm a horder of all sorts of bits and bobs and it turns out that I still have the timetable I ripped out of the Auckland Herald and my ticket. Back then it was $62.50 and that seemed like a lot of money so I guess it's probably about the equivalent of today's ticket price of $158.

The timetable and map from The Herald January 19th 1996

The ticket

The 1962 mini I sold to get to 1996 BDO.

I'm happy to say that one of my favourite Christchurch bands The Unfaithful Ways are playing this year, but to be honest I'm not all that enthused about this years international acts, mmm that may be in part to my sheer ignorance (or my age) but I don't seem to know many of them. Shame. And the ones I do know... yawn.

Anyhow Fly My Pretties are back in town and playing out at Pegasus Bay Winery at Waipara on the 15th. I'm sure that'll be sweet. I saw FMP's slick third production in June last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. There's some other great gigs in town this week - EP releases from T54 and Second Gear Grind and English band Kitty, Daisy and Lewis are playing at Al's - so get ya gladrags on and get amongst it!

What's on this week? 

THURSDAY 13th Jan
Evening Empire, Weaponized, Lupus Lunar, Secondi & Raukus Methods (Nelson) @ Al's Bar
Slammin Bitches @ Dux
Orchestra of Spheres @ El Santo
Gypsy Fever Summer Tour feat. Niko Ne Zna & DJ Balkanetic @ Harbourlight

FRIDAY 14th Jan
Kitty, Daisy and Lewis @ Al's (Sold out)
Delaney Davidson, The Mysterious Tapeman introducing Zeno Tornado @ El Santo
Oakley Grenell Duo, 11pm Supership @ Fat Eddies
The Micheal Gordon Trio Experience @ Wunderbar

SATURDAY 15th Jan
Fly My Pretties @ Pegasus Bay Winery, Waipara
Steriogram Moving On Tour @ Al's Bar 
T54 - Drone Attacks EP Release with Magic Eye and The Guest @ El Santo
Second Gear Grind -  Grayscale EP Release with Soulseller @ Dux

Another great poster from El Santo

Bye Bye 2010

For me 2010 was romped along at a startling pace and I find it hard to believe it's nearly over. I didn't really want to write a retrospective of the year but I have posted the video of The Eastern for good reason. This wonderful band has made a big, albeit unwitting, impact on my 2010, and as it turns out the rest of my life. Oh yeah that's some DEEP sh*t right there my friends.

Back in June I had an idea to put together a charity gig to help raise funds for the City Mission. I'd contacted a few people and wasn't really getting anywhere until The Eastern signed up in full force - banjos, mandolins, bells and all. Their enthusiasm buoyed me along until other bands and sponsors followed suit and within a very short space of time I found I had a proper event to manage. 'Can Out' was the first event/gig I'd managed and although it was thrown together in a hurry it was a great success. We collected hundreds of cans for the City Mission and had an absolute rip-snorter of a night.

I think the amazing vibe of that evening will stay with me for ever. During 'Can Out' I discovered that I really enjoyed managing events and with the redundancy of my graphic design job staring me in the face it seemed the time was right to change my career. So that's what I did. Now I'm working as an Events and Communications Coordinator and I put this change in my life down to one band saying 'yes' to a simple idea and following it through with full force like only The Eastern could. Their guts, their hearts and their passion for what's right has inspired me and I truly thank them for that.

Right, 'nuf said.

2010 is coming to a close and I hope you all have a great New Years Eve. Mine will be enjoyed romping round with friends and whanau out in the back blocks of Okuku. Bye bye 2010 HELLO 2011!

What's on this week?

Friday 31st Dec
The Ghost of The Grand Saloon with special guest Stompin Nick @ El Santo
Supercharger @ The Dux
DJ Tony Dizzle @ Goodbye Blue Monday
Salmonella Dub Live with DJ Digital (UK) @ The Bedford