The Expendables were a 1980s band based in Christchurch, New Zealand. Fronted by singer-songwriter/guitarist Jay Clarkson, the band grew out of her former bands, They Were Expendable and The Playthings, and released a single and album in 1984 on the Flying Nun label. [1]
Clarkson was joined in The Expendables by Michael Kime (bass) and Robert Key (drums). Key was replaced by Chris Matthews in 1985, and Anthony Nevison was added as an extra guitarist, though the band did not survive beyond the end of that year. In 1986, Clarkson formed a new band, Breathing Cage, a band which also included Kime, as well as Graeme Jefferies, Maria Chiaroni, and Gary Sullivan. [2]
The Dunedin sound was a musical and cultural movement in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand, in the early 1980s. It helped found indie rock as a genre. The scene is associated with Flying Nun Records, an independent label.
Hello Sailor was a New Zealand pop/rock band originally formed in 1975. Although the band formally disbanded in 1980 after just two albums, they have continued to sporadically reunite during the years since; recording a further four albums and performing numerous live tours and appearances.
The Crocodiles were a New Zealand pop/new wave band formed in 1979 with lead singer Jenny Morris, who went on to commercial success as a solo artist in Australia; and later included drummer Barton Price, who subsequently joined Sardine v and then Models. The Crocodiles top 20 hit single in New Zealand was "Tears" in 1980 from debut album, Tears; a second album, Looking at Ourselves, appeared in November. The band relocated to Australia in February 1981 but disbanded in July without further releases.
Sneaky Feelings are a New Zealand pop rock band which releases on the Flying Nun Records music label. The band formed in 1980 with the line-up of Matthew Bannister, David Pine, Kat Tyrie and Martin Durrant. Tyrie was replaced by John Kelcher in 1984. Durrant was temporarily replaced by Ross Burge in 1988 for the band's second tour of Europe.
The Plague was a New Zealand theatrical punk/art rock band that was active from 1977 to 1979, and was led by Richard von Sturmer. Their most famous performance was at the Nambassa Music Festival in 1979 and they recorded four tracks for the Infectious EP. Von Sturmer went on to a career in writing and film-making and other members went on to play in bands such as The Whizz Kids, Blam Blam Blam, The Swingers, Coconut Rough and Pop Mechanix.
Rock music in New Zealand, also known as Kiwi rock music and New Zealand rock music, rose to prominence first in 1955 with Johnny Cooper's cover version of Bill Haley's hit song "Rock Around the Clock". This was followed by Johnny Devlin, sometimes nicknamed New Zealand's Elvis Presley, and his cover of "Lawdy Miss Clawdy". The 1960s saw Max Merritt and the Meteors and Ray Columbus & the Invaders achieve success. In the 1970s and early 1980s the innovative Split Enz had success internationally as well as nationally, with member Neil Finn later continuing with Crowded House. Other influential bands in the 1970s were Th' Dudes, Dragon and Hello Sailor. The early 1980s saw the development of the indie rock "Dunedin sound", typified by Dunedin bands such as The Clean, Straitjacket Fits and The Chills, recorded by the Flying Nun record label of Christchurch. New Zealand's foremost hard rock band Shihad started their long career in 1988. Since 2018 this title is now undoubtedly held by New Zealand Māori metal band Alien Weaponry who have achieved huge success in Europe and the USA.
Rip It Up was a bi-monthly New Zealand music magazine that was published from 1977 to 2015.
The Chills are a New Zealand indie rock band that formed in Dunedin in 1980. The band were fronted by founding mainstay singer-songwriter, guitarist Martin Phillipps. During the mid-1990s they were billed as Martin Phillipps & the Chills. Their top ten studio albums in their homeland are Submarine Bells (1990), Soft Bomb (1992), Snow Bound (2018) and Scatterbrain (2021). The Chills were a cult band in other parts of the world as one of the earliest proponents of the Dunedin sound. Their top 20 singles are "Pink Frost", "Doledrums", "I Love My Leather Jacket" (1986), "Heavenly Pop Hit" (1990) and "Male Monster from the Id" (1992).
Straitjacket Fits were a four-piece alternative indie rock band that formed in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1986 and broke up in 1994. They released three studio albums, Hail (1988), Melt (1990), and Blow (1993), and several EPs. Their line-up for their first two albums consisted of Shayne Carter, John Collie (drums), David Wood (bass), and Andrew Brough. Brough departed the band in 1991 and was replaced for the band's final album by Mark Petersen.
The Suburban Reptiles were one of the first two punk bands to form in New Zealand, the other being the Scavengers.
Mountain Rock Music Festivals, held on a farm near Woodville and later moved to a site near Palmerston North, were widely celebrated Kiwi music events in New Zealand during the 1990s. The event was created and promoted by Paul Geange and Paul Campbell, a Palmerston North Musician and founder of the infamous El Clubbo and the Palmerston North Musician's Society.
The Great Ngaruawahia Music Festival was the first large outdoor music festival in New Zealand. It was held on a farm at Ngāruawāhia on the Waikato River, 19 kilometres north-west of Hamilton, for three days from 6 to 8 January 1973.
Melt is the second album from Dunedin, New Zealand band Straitjacket Fits. It was the last to feature the original line-up of Shayne Carter, Andrew Brough, John Collie and David Wood; Brough was to leave before the third album, Blow. The album reached no. 13 on the New Zealand music charts, and sold 40,000 copies in the United States.
Geoff Chunn is a New Zealand musician, best known as an early member of Split Enz.
Mainly Spaniards were a 1980s New Zealand pop group led by guitarist/singer Richard James, who released an early 45, That's what friends are for, on the Flying Nun label. A follow-up was recorded but never released after James moved to Auckland to work as a schoolteacher in late 1983. He went on to perform and record in The Pterodactyls and The Letter 5. In 2008, he formed The South Tonight with John Kelcher, late of Flying Nun band Sneaky Feelings, and with other Christchurch musicians.
John Collie is the former drummer for New Zealand band Straitjacket Fits. Collie was previously a member of Doublehappys with Shayne Carter, a band which he had joined in 1984. Collie also drummed for ephemeral Dunedin "super-group" The Weeds on their one-off 1985 single "Wheatfields".
Peter Gutteridge was a New Zealand musician, credited with pioneering the Dunedin sound with The Clean and The Chills.
Above Ground was a band from Christchurch, New Zealand formed in 1983.
Jane Dodd is a New Zealand musician and contemporary jeweller. She is well known for her role as a bass player in early Dunedin-based Flying Nun Records groups The Chills and The Verlaines, was a long-standing member of Auckland group Able Tasmans, and occasionally played with side-project The Lure of Shoes.
"Kaleidoscope World" is an early song by New Zealand band The Chills. It was first released in June 1982 as part of Dunedin Double, an early Flying Nun compilation EP featuring The Chills, as well as Sneaky Feelings, The Stones, and The Verlaines.