NZ? Isn't That Part of Australia? - Covering The Beat International Special

I don't know about you but I can't help but feel a slight flush of excitement when our little country is acknowledged overseas. I was in the US when David Lange resigned as PM, and I was quite impressed that the story was the lead in the World News section of the San Francisco Chronicle. And I remember once when watching an episode of the original Star Trek that when Captain Kirk and the crew beamed down to a strange alien planet it was clear that the scene had been filmed in a New Zealand section of some botanic gardens. They were surrounded by flax, toi toi and cabbage trees. Then just recently I was watching an episode of the TV series Weeds and was completely distracted from the plot when I heard some kiwi dub playing on the soundtrack.

Many NZ musicians have tried to make it overseas, but the reality of competing in a global market from the bottom of the earth means the successes are few. So it's nice when the musical and songwriting talent of our musicians is recognised overseas. In a bit of depature from the norm this episode of Counting The Beat features overseas artists- but performing New Zealand songs.

Two New Zealand artists who have received considerable overseas recognition are Crowded House and OMC. Both have also been covered, albeit in very different ways. OMC's worldwide hit, 'How Bizzare' has been given a lo-fi indie treatment (with ukelele!) by Montreal band, The Diskettes. And while there are many covers of Neil Finn and Crowded House tunes, one that stands out has to be Donny Osmond's cover of 'Don't Dream It's Over' - unfortunately it stands out for being bland, saccahrine and utterly beyond redemption. (See the video for the originals on the video page)

Marshall Crenshaw is a musician from Detroit, Michigan. He got his break playing John Lennon in the stage show Beatlemania, and he also played Buddy Holly in the film, La Bamba. His sound has been described as, clear, clean-lined, guitar-centered pop-rock with roots in classic soul music, British invasion songcraft and Burt Bacharach." So it was somewhat of a surprise when he covered a song by lo-fi Flying Nun band, Tall Dwarfs. The song appears on Crenshaw's 1991 album Life's Too Short.

Also from Detroit are The Dirtbombs, although rather than clear and clean-lined, they're distinctly rough, ready and dirty, fusing punk and soul with an unusual line-up of two drummers, two bassists and one guitar. Although they've released four albums they were originally conceived as a singles band and they still release a number of limited edition 7" records. These are often released in conjunction with tours, covering bands from the region being visited. The Dirtbombs recently toured New Zealand and recorded two covers of Ray Columbus and The Invaders, 'Kick Me' and 'The Crunch'. The single is yet to be released.

The Lemonheads 1988 album Lick contained a couple of covers - well known songs like Suzanne Vega's 'Luka' and less well-known songs, that is outside of NZ punk rock circles, like Proud Scum's 'I Am A Rabbit', a song from the classic punk compilation AK79. If anything, The Lemonheads version is more raucous than Proud Scum's, showing the influence of American hardcore in the intervening years. (On the video page is an interview with Proud Scum recorded when they reformed for last years AK79 show)

What I'm looking forward to now is to see if any overseas musicians have a go at reinterpreting Scribe's massive US hit, 'Swing'. If they do I'll be sure to be it playing here on Counting The Beat.

Download the Counting The Beat - International Covers podcast

Previous cover specials:
Covering The Beat - Chills special (mp3)
Covering The Beat 2 (blog post and podcast)
Covering The Beat 3 (blog post and podcast)
Covering The Beat 4 (blog post and podcast)

Covering The Beat 4

This episode is another instalment in an occasional Counting The Beat series, Covering The Beat, where I feature kiwi bands covering kiwi bands. You may be interested in checking out the previous Covering The Beat episodes - one (MP3), two and three.

I've got an eclectic bunch of originals and covering acts in this episode starting off with a rap novelty from 1989, Mod Rap - Double J and Twice the T covering Ray Columbus and The Invaders huge hit, 'She's a Mod' (read the story of the original song on NZhistory.net and see a promo clip for it on the video page). In 1989 Double J and Twice the T won most promising group at the NZ music awards. They were up against Upper Hutt Posse, another hip hop outfit who actually did go on to have a lasting legacy. There's great article about that on the Critic archives.

Die! Die! Die! claim to be influenced by The Gordons, Skeptics and The Dead C. They're also equally influenced by American outfits like Big Black and Shellac. It's probably easiest to call them punk. So what are The Gladeyes, an Auckland indie pop-folk duo doing covering them? Who knows, but their version of 'Shyness Will get You Nowhere' has rightfully been receiving wide acclaim. (By the way The Gladeyes shouldn't be confused with The Gladeyes, an altogether different band from Dunedin.)

I've featured punk-pop band Elemeno P's cover of The Verlaines' classic "Death and the Maiden' in an earlier Covering The Beat epiosde but I'm repeating it here because I recently had the chance to talk to Dave Gibson from Elemeno P about how that cover came about. That interview is included in the podcast - Gibson describes the song as one he is jealous he didn't write. The video for the original is one the video page.

Shihad were once managed by Gerald Dwyer, who had been frontman of notorious punk band Flesh D-Vice. After Gerald passed away Shihad released a cover of Flesh D-Vice's best known songs, 'Flaming Soul'. Cover lovers will also want to track down this single for Shihad's version of the Devo song 'Gates of Steel'. Incidentally there's a great little story about Dwyer and Shihad that I stumbled upon on From The Morgue.

And to finish - a band that you probably wouldn't expect anyone to cover is post-punk avant-garde noise merchants, The Dead C. However, although the bands performances and releases are now mainly improvisational, in earlier days the band were a little more song based, although it is still a brave band that would attempt a cover. That band is Xanadu. Their version of 'Sky' appeared on a CD issued with A Low Hum magazine a couple of years back. The original is from what I consider to be one of the greatest named albums of all time, Trapdoor Fucking Exit and you just have to watch the Dead C clip on the video page where they perform live on national TV in a style completely at odds with the show on which they were guests - simply stunning.

Download the Counting The Beat - Covering The Beat 4 podcast

What's on the Governor General's iPod?

The release of the Queens Birthday and New Years Honours lists may be not be an event that many kiwi music fans hang out for, but actually, over the years many musicians have been recognised. In this years Queens Birthday list 1960's kiwi guitar legend Peter Posa got the nod, being made a member of the NZ Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to music. Posa joins a long list of musicians who have been honoured in recent years including Mahinarangi Tocker (MNZM), Eddie Low (MNZM), Tina Cross (Officer of the NZ Order of Merit) check out her website, it's kind of scary, Whirimako Black (ONZM), Midge Marsden (MNZM) and Bic Runga (MNZM).

Go back a few years earlier and the list includes Moana Maniapoto (MNZM 2004), the Dobber (ONZM 2003), Mike Chunn (ONZM 2002), Wayne Mason (MNZM 2002) and David Kilgour (MNZM 2001).

An ONZM is equivalent to an OBE in old money, while an MNZM replaced an MBE in changes made to the honours system in the mid 1990s. Ray Columbus picked up an OBE in 1974 and Howard Morrison became Sir when he was knighted in 1990. (The granting of the titles Sir and Dame was dropped in 2000). You can see Ray Columbus and The Invaders on the video page.

This episode of Counting The Beat features some of the music of those who have received royal or state recognition for their musical contribution to the country. Think of it as taking a listen to the Governor General's iPod. Although, I'm not sure what he'd make of the Howard Morrison track.

Note: Quite a few of the links in this post take you to a site named New Zealand Music of the 60s, 70s and a Bit of the 80s. It's probably the most comprehensive and valuable reference sites around on NZ music of that era and is well worth a look.

Download the Counting The Beat - On the Governor General's iPod podcast

Covering the Beat 2

If you spend a bit of time wandering around the internet reading music blogs (and since you're reading this, I presume you do) you'll find that there are a number of bloggers obsessed with covers. I'm pretty fond of them myself so a while back I decided that I would run an occassional series called Covering The Beat - NZ bands covering NZ bands. The first Covering The Beat featured three bands covering The Chills and is still available to download. This episode casts a wider net although Flying Nun originals still feature.

In 1997 Flying Nun released a tribute album entitled God Save The Clean featuring a diverse range of local and overseas acts covering songs by The Clean. There are a number of stand out tracks but one that received quite a bit of airplay at the time was Head Like A Hole's version of 'Beatnik'.

Also covering a Flying Nun classic are pop-punk outfit Elemeno-P. On their 2005 album Trouble in Paradise they unexpectedly included a pumped up version of The Verlaines' 'Death and The Maiden'. (original classic "rabbit" video on video page)

Now for something completely different. In 2007 Michel Rowland put together a real labour of love. She's Lost is an internet only compilation of dark-alt/industrial/electro/experimental acts covering favourite NZ songs. The whole album is worth a listen but there really is something special about industrial cyberpunk outfit N.U.T.E's take on John Rowles' song about his sister 'Cheryl Moana Marie'. (see John sing it on the video page)

To finish up, from the classic AK79 punk compilation I have The Terrorways' (pictured above) version of 'She's A Mod', originally by Ray Columbus and The Invaders.

Keep posted for more Covering the Beat specials in the future including a very special special, probably in two or three months time.

Download the Counting The Beat - Covering The Beat 2 podcast

Download the Counting The Beat - Covering The Beat: Chills Covers podcast