Chris Knox | |
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Born | Invercargill, New Zealand | 2 September 1952
Genres | Indie rock, punk rock |
Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer, writer, reviewer, filmmaker, cartoonist, artist |
Instrument(s) | Guitar |
Years active | 1977–present |
Labels | Flying Nun |
Chris Knox (born 2 September 1952) is a New Zealand rock and roll musician, cartoonist and movie reviewer who emerged during the punk rock era with his bands The Enemy and Toy Love. After Toy Love disbanded in the early 1980s, he formed the group Tall Dwarfs with guitarist Alec Bathgate. The Tall Dwarfs were noted for their unpolished sound and intense live shows. His 4-track machine was used to record most of the early Flying Nun singles.
He has also released a number of solo, self-produced albums which feature his Casiotone. Knox has also released an album under the pseudonym 'Friend'.
At the 2001 New Zealand Music Awards Knox's ballad "Not Given Lightly" (1990) was announced as New Zealand's thirteenth best song of all time, as voted by APRA members. [1] A love song written for "John and Liesha's mother"—his then-partner Barbara—this track never scaled commercial heights though it has belatedly generated some income for the songwriter through its use in TV advertising (notably for Vogel's bread).
Knox has played live in front of audiences all around New Zealand, winning a reputation for his sometimes confrontational style, and performed annually at Wellington's Bar Bodega. He has also extensively toured internationally. His swing through the US in 1995 included, among others, stops in Seattle to play the Crocodile Cafe. His minimalist, DIY sound played well to ears then-focused on grunge, with its retro-punk stylings.
A long-time resident of Auckland, Knox spent time as a newspaper columnist and film reviewer for Real Groove. In 1986-1987, he edited and published three issues of a New Zealand comics anthology Jesus on a Stick. [2] Starting in 1987, his satirical comic strip Max Media appeared in The New Zealand Herald every week until 2009. He has also been an occasional television film reviewer, hosted a Television New Zealand season of classic movies 'The Vault', and presented two seasons of arts series New Artland.
Knox launched his own label 'A Major Records' in 2006 to release the album Chris Knox and the Nothing. This was the first album Knox recorded in a professional studio, rather than in his trademark DIY style, since his time with Toy Love.
Knox's "It's Love", from the 2000 album Beat, has been used in "Share the Good", a Heineken Premium Light commercial directed by Todd Haynes and cinematographed by Edward Lachman.
In 2009 Knox was awarded a New Zealand Arts Foundation Arts Laureate Award. [3]
On 11 June 2009 Knox was admitted to Auckland Hospital suffering from a stroke. [4] The album Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox was released in New Zealand on 16 November 2009. It features 33 artists performing Knox's songs. The album is a way for Knox's fans to contribute to the costs of his rehabilitation. All artists contributed their time and talent without charge. Artists include Jay Reatard, David Kilgour, The Mint Chicks, Shayne Carter, Yo La Tengo, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Bill Callahan, The Mountain Goats, The Bats, The Chills, The Verlaines, Jeff Mangum, The Nothing (including Chris), Tall Dwarfs and Lou Barlow.
The Greenwich Village arts venue Le Poisson Rouge hosted a benefit concert for Knox on 6 May 2010. [5] Artists included Jeff Mangum and Yo La Tengo, who both participated in the 2009 benefit album for Knox.
Since his stroke, Knox has done a very small number of live appearances, for instance at the presentation of Stroke – Songs For Chris Knox in November 2009, [6] on 22 April 2012, [7] on 29 September 2012 in Auckland, with Rackets, as Knoxious [8] and in support of Neutral Milk Hotel on 23 and 24 of November, 2013. [9]
Year | Title | Details | Peak chart positions |
---|---|---|---|
NZ | |||
1981 | Songs for Cleaning Guppies |
| — |
1988 | Seizure |
| — |
1991 | Croaker |
| — |
1993 | Polyfoto, Duck-Shaped Pain and Gum |
| — |
1995 | Songs of You And Me |
| — |
1997 | Yes!! |
| — |
2000 | Beat |
| — |
2002 | Inaccuracies & Omissions |
| — |
2005 | Chris Knox & The Nothing |
| — |
2008 | A Warm Gun |
| — |
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Year | Title | Details | Peak chart positions |
---|---|---|---|
NZ | |||
1993 | Meat |
| — |
1999 | Almost |
| — |
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Year | Title | Details | Peak chart positions |
---|---|---|---|
NZ | |||
2009 | Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox |
| — |
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
Year | Title | Details | Peak chart positions |
---|---|---|---|
NZ | |||
1989 | "Not Given Lightly" / Guppiplus |
| — |
1990 | "Not Given Lightly" |
| — |
1990 | Song For 1990 |
| — |
1993 | "Under The Influence" |
| — |
1993 | Chris Knox/Tall Dwarfs split |
| — |
1993 | "Not Given Lightly" |
| — |
1995 | One Fell Swoop |
| — |
1996 | Songs From 1990 |
| — |
1996 | 15th Anniversary Etching |
| — |
1998 | "Not Given Lightly" |
| — |
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously known as New Zealand Music Awards (NZMA)) are an annual awards night celebrating excellence in New Zealand music and have been presented annually since 1965.
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1993 | Chris Knox for Duck Shaped Pain and Gum | Album Cover of the Year | Nominated | [10] |
1994 | Chris Knox for 3 EPs by Tall Dwarfs | Album Cover of the Year | Nominated | |
1995 | Chris Knox for Songs of You and Me | Album Cover of the Year | Nominated | |
2006 | Chris Knox for As Sweet As Sin (Bleeders) | Album Cover of the Year | Won | |
2012 | Chris Knox (as part of Toy Love) | New Zealand Music Hall of Fame | inductee | [11] |
Yo La Tengo is an American indie rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley, and James McNew. In 2015, original guitarist Dave Schramm rejoined the band and appeared on their fourteenth album, Stuff Like That There.
Jeffrey Nye Mangum is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who gained prominence as the founder, songwriter, vocalist and guitarist of Neutral Milk Hotel, as well for his co-founding of The Elephant 6 Recording Company. Mangum is characterized for his complex, lyrically dense songwriting, exemplified on the critically lauded album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, as well as for his public image as a recluse associated with his extended periods of musical inactivity and minimal press interaction. An article published in Slate described Mangum as the "Salinger of Indie Rock."
Flying Nun Records is a New Zealand independent record label formed in Christchurch in 1981 by music store manager Roger Shepherd. Described by The Guardian as "one of the world's great independent labels", Flying Nun is notable for bringing global attention to the Dunedin sound, a cultural and musical movement in early 1980s Dunedin, which gave rise to modern indie rock.
The Dunedin sound was a musical and cultural movement and a genre of indie pop and alternative rock, created and pioneered in Dunedin, Otago, in the early 1980s. The Dunedin sound is considered to have been a key factor in the origination of indie rock as a genre. The scene was closely associated with Flying Nun Records, an independent label which has become one of the world's most renowned.
Toy Love were a New Zealand new wave and punk rock band that originated in Dunedin and was active from 1978 to 1980. Members included Chris Knox, Alec Bathgate and Paul Kean.
Bruce Russell is a New Zealand experimental musician and writer.
Donald McGlashan is a New Zealand composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist who Is best known for membership in the bands Blam Blam Blam, The Front Lawn, and The Mutton Birds, before going solo. He has also composed for cinema and television. Among other instruments, McGlashan has played guitar, drums, euphonium and French horn.
Jan Hellriegel is a singer/songwriter based in Auckland, New Zealand.
Shayne P. Carter is a New Zealand musician best known for leading Straitjacket Fits from 1986 to 1994, and as the only permanent member of Dimmer (1995–2012).
The following lists events that happened during 1985 in New Zealand.
Fall in a Hole is a live album by the Fall, recorded in Auckland in August 1982 and released in December 1983 on the Flying Nun label of New Zealand.
Netherworld Dancing Toys was a New Zealand band from Dunedin formed in 1982. In 1985, their single "For Today" reached number 3 in the New Zealand singles chart.
Propeller Records was an independent record label formed in Auckland, New Zealand, by Simon Grigg in 1980.
The Enemy were a punk rock band from Dunedin, New Zealand, that are often seen as the starting point of the Dunedin sound rock movement.
Alec Bathgate is a New Zealand musician who was a key member of The Enemy and Toy Love, as well as being one half of the Flying Nun Records act Tall Dwarfs, alongside Chris Knox. In addition to playing guitar in these bands, he also released three solo albums.
AK79 is a collection of unreleased tracks by punk bands active in Auckland, New Zealand in the late 1970s. The album was compiled by Bryan Staff, with artwork from Terence Hogan, and was released by Ripper Records in December 1979.
Joel Little is a New Zealand record producer, musician and Grammy Award-winning songwriter. He is best known for his work as a writer and producer with artists Lorde, Taylor Swift, Broods, Sam Smith, Imagine Dragons, Ellie Goulding, Khalid, Elliphant, Jarryd James, Shawn Mendes, Marina Diamandis, Amy Shark, Goodnight Nurse, Noah Kahan, Years & Years, the Jonas Brothers, and Niall Horan.
"Not Given Lightly" is a song by New Zealand singer-songwriter Chris Knox. It was released in 1989 and is among Knox's best known songs. While the song did not chart when originally released in 1989, it has since become well known from its use in New Zealand film and television productions, especially in a television advertisement for Vogel's bread in 2007.
Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox is a benefit compilation released to raise money for the rehabilitation of New Zealand musician Chris Knox after he suffered from a stroke on June 11, 2009. The album features covers of Knox's songs by several New Zealand bands such as The Bats, The Checks, and The Verlaines, as well as prominent North American artists influenced by Knox.
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