Licking Letters

It’s hard to believe now, four long years on, but back in its heady early days, C4 was a trailblazing music channel that pumped out compulsive viewing which had even jaded music fans like myself hooked.

Homegrown, the New Zealand music show hosted by Clarke Gayford and Jacquie (“I had to audition, he didn’t”) Brown, was as vital to my week and cultural wellbeing as Radio With Pictures had been in the early 1980s. Even better it ran twice a week on Tuesdays at 8.30pm and Thursdays at 11 pm with a different line-up of video each time.

I was already a Jacquie Brown fan from her wacky improv. days on the cultish Friday night live show, Space, where she would run rings around nice dependable Dominic Bowden. It was one of the great double acts of Kiwi youth TV.

I knew Jacquie wasn’t a big music fan (she admitted as much to Stu when Space was filming a never-shown clip on Crawlspace Records K Rd shop), but her kooky chick thing wasn’t unfamiliar to those around music scenes. Musicians recognised and liked Jacquie and she liked interesting people.

Clarke was a product of Dunedin student TV, and more than a match for Jacquie Brown, who he (gleefully) out-Jacquied at times. They were fortunate to have plenty of stunning sounds and film to play. Technology and government arts funding had swollen the number of clips available, and Kiwi music, in general, was in a boom period.

And in amongst that torrent of sound were some truly memorable classics-in-waiting. Here’s nine of the best (in the then re-emerging post-punk/ art rock vein).

The Fanatics (David Green/ Tom Clark) were from up North and released one bare 2004 CDEP of compulsive and confrontational Big Black influenced tracks on Capitol Recordings, including the best cover yet of a FNun tune.

Their reinvention of Snapper’s propulsive 1988 gem, Buddy, pressed the original’s electro kraut rock dance leanings pedal to the metal with an expansive and clean widescreen mix. The Simon Ward directed video had them lost in translation in the streets and subways of an Asian City.

The Fanatics – Buddy (2004)

Also worth a look is Signal (Simon Ward again) from the same EP.

The Fanatics – Signal (2004)

They weren’t the only killer group mining the arty dark rock seam. The Mint Chicks’ glorious Licking Letters (off the lacklustre Octagon Octagon Octagon EP), an eppy hyper piece of post-punk with a Beefheart minded rhythm and unhinged vocal that winds you up tight, pre-dated them. They remain one of the most restlessly inventive and active groups of recent years.

The Mint Chicks – Licking Letters (2003)

The relentlessly confrontational Die! Die! Die! emerged from Dunedin college group Carriage H, who I remembered from a Mogwai inspired performance on Space. Die! Die! Die! were even more extreme with a stripped down spleen-venting sound Mark E Smith would have envied. Guitarist/ singer Andrew Wilson is one of the most compelling and un-nerving frontmen to ever helm a New Zealand group. Not Talking, still my favourite, is yet to released and the video is taken from the first A Low Hum DVD. Out Of The Blue is plucked from their self-titled Steve Albini recorded debut album for Capital Recordings. The video featured on the second A Low Hum DVD.

Die! Die! Die! – Not Talking (2004)

Die! Die! Die! – Out Of The Blue (2005)

The double entendre in rock – drug version – is well used on Dance Stamina. I’d followed Pluto since the beginning, but this was the first sign of their genius. It was all over music TV at the time with its simple but effective red room, disco floor set and post-punk (cue Modern English/ Souxsie/ The Sound) sound with feedback laced spectral meltdown section. Special mention for Mike Hall’s adventurous and highly original bass line. Number 32 in April 2006. Eight weeks in chart.

Pluto – Dance Stamina (2006)

The slow burning Long White Cross actually pre-dated Dance Stamina as the lead off single from Pluto’s second album, Pipeline Under The Sea (2005), but much like its musical dynamic took longer to burn its way into the brain. It reminds me of Mark Petersen-era Straightjacket Fits. Number 30 in September 2005. Ten weeks in chart.

Pluto – Long White Cross (2005)

The Tutts from Auckland’s North Shore were something else again. They’d clearly been listening to The Strokes’ first album. K had teen in-crowd cool in spades, and a simple infectious party-in-the-lounge video well suited to the song. Number 19 in November 2006. Eight weeks in chart.

The Tutts – K (2006)

The institutionalisation of New Zealand music meant I saw The Checks' blunt R&B riffer, What You Heard, every morning during NZ Music Month on a huge screen at Skycity Casino as I mopped the floor in the darkened public vestibule. It proved good company and sparked a few conversations with a recent Indian migrant who manned the desk. He told me he liked it, and I told him I liked Indian music, especially the sitar and tabla, and that one day (soon) his music would be up there. Number 21 in May 2005. Six weeks in chart.

The Checks – What You Heard (2005)

Next up: Pacific hip hop from the new millenium.