Recent Vinyl video #39

Recent Vinyl #1

Roger Shepherd from Flying Nun

A little while ago I got the chance to have a chat with Roger Shepherd, founder and owner of New Zealand's iconic Flying Nun record label. Having formed the label in 1982 Shepherd was at the helm until he sold it 1999. In the new century Flying Nun lost it's spirit and direction as it shifted through a range of corporate owners but in late 2009 Shepherd bought back the label and has embarked on a mission to not only release a wealth of long lost gems from the vaults but also to sign and release new material.

The first releases on Flying Nun since Shepherd took over again, Grayson Gilmour's No Constellation and Die! Die! Die!'s Form. The third release, just out is a new solo album from Robert Scott of the The Bats and The Clean, Ends Run Together.

I also spoke with Shepherd about his plans for re-releasing Flying Nun's back catalogue. While even well known acts like The Bats have classic material that is unreleased there is a wealth EPs from lesser-known acts. While some of this material, like the two 1983 EPs by Marie and The Atom, has a fairly niche audience it would be good to have it available in some form.

There are also a number of Dunedin bands who released material that was significant in the development of New Zealand music throughout the eighties and beyond which at present can't be heard.

After I turned off the recorder Roger and I kept on chatting and we discussed the possibility of previously unreleased material emerging. In a Counting The Beat exclusive this podcast includes a song from the 3Ds David Mitchell, recorded in the lead up to their Fying Nun EP Swarthy Songs for Swabs - a portastudio recording called Some Thing.

There are videos from Robert Scott, Die! Die! Die! and Grayson Gilmour on the video page.

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In the Belfry

They've been around since 1982, releasing their first recordings in 1984. They've been in the American college radio charts over three decades and they're still going strong - releasing a new album and retrospective EP and playing around the world this year. The Bats haven't been consistently active over their 27 year career, often due to the many musical commitments of band member Robert Scott, however, they have been consistently excellent. The melodic pop and chugging bass lines of the The Bats have become iconic, internationally known as one the key alternative New Zealand bands along with the likes of The Chills and The Clean.

This year The Bats released album The Guilty Office, retaining all of their key elements of their sound but expanding it a little with more vocals from Kaye Woodward and a touch of strings. They've also released an EP, Don't You Rise, collecting unreleased songs from 1998-2003.

While releases by The Bats have been fairly sporadic over the years there's also been solo material by Robert Scott, Scott's ongoing work with The Clean and from the other three members, side project Minisnap, who have been releasing material in a similar vein to The Bats, but with Kaye Woodward on vocals since 2002. Minisnap released EPs in 2002 and 2004, followed by their debut album Bounce Around in 2008 and later in that year a 7"single, 'Whistler' on Cloudberry records. The Clean have also released a new album, Mister Pop, this year and Robert Scott has been consistently releasing solo material since instrumental solo debut the Creeping Unknown in 2001, taking in pop and historical folk songs from Otago along the way.

This year The Bats have been touring the world, from Spain to the US and, of course, New Zealand. They'll play Dunedin later this year at a show which will be filmed for fans around the world who would love to be there but can't make it. The video of two songs from each of the three acts on the bill, The Bats, David Kilgour and The Puddle will be released to virtual ticket holders around the world following the show, and as an extra those who but tickets get a bundle of mp3s of unreleased songs before the show too. You can get your tickets at Undertheradar.

The entire set of The Bats playing is Spain is available for free download at the Free Music Archive and videos from The Bats, Robert Scott and Minisnap are available on the video page.

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Megawatt

On a recent record shopping expedition I picked up 'Cut the Cable', a novelty single by The Freda South Singers that served as the campaign song of the independent South Island campaign that was running in the late seventies. I recall my best friend's father being involved, in fact he may have even stood for parliament on that platform in the 1978 election. There's no info on-line about the campaign that I can find, but I do remember that their symbol was a rooster for some reason. The song itself is pretty terrible, typical of the "comedy" songs produced by radio station types (in this case Radio Avon in Christchurch). One of the arguments behind the independence campaign, and the subject of the song, was that the North Island was benefiting from the hydro-electric capacity of the South without paying it's way.

The hydro-electric angle leads me to two other campaign songs. 'Damn The Dam' is probably New Zealand's most successful ever protest song. Written by John Hanlon as part of the campaign against raising lake levels at Manapouri for a hydro-electric scheme the song got to number 5 in the charts in 1973. This song gained John a bit of a reputation as a nature boy, but the truth is a little different. Hanlon actually worked in advertising and the song originated as a commission for AHI, the manufacturers of Pink Batts, who would have preferred the government focus on insulation over further electricity generation.

With the widespread devatation that comes from flooding a valley it's no surprise that proposal for hydro-electric dams always attract opposition. Project Aqua was a proposed scheme that would have seen 6 powerstations built in the Waitaki Valley. The proposal was eventually abandoned in 2004, but not before Robert Scott, best known for his work in The Clean and The Bats picked up his guitar and lent his voice to the campaign with 'Project Aqua's Got to Go'

Download the Counting The Beat - Megawatt podcast

Also, check out previous epidodes featuring campaign and protest songs -
Rugby Was The Winner On The Day (blog and podcast)
Nuclear Free New Zealand (mp3)

Sea Shanties

As an island nation it's no suprise that New Zealanders have carried on the sea shanty traditions of our first European arrivals and written plenty of songs about the ocean and seafaring. While we're all familiar with songs like 'Six Months In A Leaky Boat', 'Easy Come Easy Go (The Interislander Song)' and the cringe-inducing 'Sailing Away' there are many other songs about the sea worthy of intention.



In 1997 husband and wife duo Brian and Maryrose Crook, who perform as The Renderers, released an album Dream of the Sea. Being an angry young man at the time I didn't really get The Renderers mix of alternative guitar squall (yes) and country (no), but now this is one of my favourite NZ albums. A few years ago I rented a cliff top house right by the sea and there is no record better suited for watching an approaching storm, the title track in particular. Anything by this band is worthwhile and you should also check out Ghost of our Vegas Lives, an album released as a Maryrose Crook solo project which includes the the songs 'Under the Sea' and 'Sea of Total Darkness'.   Brian and Maryrose Crook interview (stream)



The Renderers live in Port Chalmers on the Otago Harbour, which was for a time also the home of David Mitchell and Denise Roughan of the 3Ds. The 3Ds second EP was Swarthy Songs for Swabs and I have alcohol blurred memories of attending a launch gig where they played on a mocked-up pirate ship. The duo also released a number of singles under their own names and as Ghost Club. In 1991 they released a single which featured the B-side 'Grey Funnel Line', a folk song about the Royal British Navy. It's an amazing version of the song combining a pretty straight take on the vocals from Roughan with Mitchell's trademark hunched-in-front-of-the-amp guitar storm. You might be able to track the song down on the Xpressway Records compilation Making Losers Happy.



Sea shanties have also been tackled by Robert Scott of  The Clean and The Bats. In 2004 he released an album of folk songs, Songs of Otago's Past. When I heard Scott was recording this album I was keen to hear how he would take the old songs and add his own musical style. In the end I felt the album was a little disappointing as it was actually pretty traditional. To my ears the best in this collection is a song from 1900, 'Whaler's Rhymes', where Scott is accompanied by Alan Starrett on a contemporary wheezing ships harmonium.



If you take a listen to the podcast you'll also hear a song from H.M.S. Fortune, the second EP from Wellington band The Raskolnikovs, who could be described as a mix of Eastern European folk music and Nick Cave's Murder Ballads; 'Sea Shanty' a song from Werecat Lullabies, the debut album from the great Christchurch indie folk duo Ragamuffin Children, winners of a Counting The Beat Alternatui last year; new, but very traditional fare from The Maritime Crew, the resident musical act at the National Maritime Museum; and a rendition of the first NZ sea shanty, 'I've Traded With The Maoris'.You'll find the video for 'Six Months in a Leaky Boat' on the video page and more on sea shanties here.



Download the Counting The Beat - Sea Shanties podcast