Between 1980 and 1982 The Screaming Meemees were far and away New Zealand's biggest independent (it was called indie pop then but that pop tag means something quite different now) band, and, with DD Smash, one of the two biggest live acts in the country. But the Meemees were far more than an indie pop act. They were at the same time extraordinarily innovative, and commercially successful, in a way that no longer seems possible.

Tony Drumm (vocals), Laurence Johan...but everyone called him Yoh (drums), Peter van der Fluit (bass, keyboards) and Michael O'Neill (guitar) formed the band at Rosmini High, a private Catholic school on Auckland's North Shore in 1980 and started practicing in the school's music room. Their reputation spread fairly rapidly on the Shore and by the middle of that year they were playing regularly in the city and were soon seen as the leaders of what was termed, the North Shore Invasion, when dozens of bands from across the bridge seemed to flood Auckland's multitude of venues (best documented by many of the tracks on the Propeller's Class of 81 compilation). Their track on that album, All Dressed Up was taken from their first demos, recorded at Harlequin Studios in late 1980.

Outside The Windsor Castle, late 1980. Photo: Murray Cammick.

Playing with the crop of post punk heroes like The Features, The Clean and The Spelling Mistakes, in venues like The Windsor, XS, Reverb Room, The Rumba Bar and many others, the Meemees' brand of rough derivative garage power-pop immediately won them a massive and loyal fan base and they released a one off single sided single (with the Newmatics track Judas on the on the other) Can't Take It on Bryan Staff's indie, Ripper Records (also taken from the first demos). This single entered the bottom rungs of the top 40 and sold about 2000 copies over the first few months of 1981, quite a large number for an indie act at that time.

Auckland War Memorial Museum, early 1981.
Photo: Dave Merritt.

Before that single was released they had already signed to Propeller Records. By mid '81 The Meemees were the biggest thing in Auckland, with massive queues outside all their gigs and they headed off on the landmark Screaming Blamatic Roadshow with labelmates Blam Blam Blam and The Newmatics, doing the same sort damage throughout the rest of the country, with mini-riots in Wellington and Christchurch being par for the course.

The second single was the highly anticipated See Me Go, released in a limited 12" edition (500 numbered copies) and deleted in all formats on the day of release. The single entered the chart at number one the next week, and, being completely unavailable, dropped off a couple of weeks later. See Me Go sold about 4000 copies in that one week and was the first New Zealand single to enter the NZ Singles chart at number one - doing so with no radio play whatsoever outside student radio.

On the roof of the Farmers Carpark. An outtake for a Rip It Up cover.
Photo: Murray Cammick

In fact the band's success was done without any commercial airplay at all, anywhere in NZ. Remember kids, many of these execs now championing NZ music fought long and hard to keep local music off the airwaves....

Newspaper ad, 1982 tour.

The next single was Sunday Boys, in December. Another record, another top twenty tune and the first release from the debut album. That album, the now acclaimed indie pop / post-punk masterpiece If This is Paradise.....I'll take the Bag was begun in October 1981, with Ian Morris producing (it was his whiskey soaked production which helped make the record what it was...that and the ongoing parties that were part of the recording sessions) and was finally released in July 1982. It duly jumped into the top twenty in an era when NZ albums simply didn't chart. It showed the band, whilst still wearing their influences proudly were growing up-something that would become obvious on their next and final single.

Michael O'Neill, Mainstreet, 1983.
Photo: Murray Cammick

By late 1982 the band were confusing many of the still huge crowds with the pre-show tapes of dub, New York dance and hip-hop that were being played regularly. The album had strongly hinted at these changes. The final single, Stars in My Eyes, the only record produced by the band (with soundman Tom Sampson), was a result of these influences, especially with the 12" mixes..the first NZ record to have 12" club mixes. Stars in My Eyes sounded revolutionary for NZ at the time of its release, with Festival Records (the label's distributor) management being unsure if it should even get released. It 'sounds odd' we were told.

Tony Drumm, Mainstreet, 1983.
Photo: Murray Cammick

AllMusic has this to say about the band:

Their work for the album brought the Screaming Meemees closer to what U.K. groups A Certain Ratio and Rip Rig and Panic were up to. Stars in My Eyes was the last single the group released, which came out as a 12" EP with extended versions. The Screaming Meemees were as essential to the history of New Zealand rock as Split Enz and Blam Blam Blam. Their sole album is well-worth seeking out for fans of post-punk.

Yoh, The Gluepot, 1982.
Photo: Michael Thopmson

The single was a crucial moment NZ rock. And it was another hit and a great way to go out. After a headlining, 9pm, slot at the 1983 Sweetwaters Festival, The Screaming Meemees played their last public gig at Auckland's Mainstreet Cabaret in April 1983, breaking the attendance record there held by Split Enz with over 2000 attending the final night and queues of those who couldn't get in down Queen Street. And that was the last NZ saw of one of the most important bands of the decade. They reformed once in the late 1980s for Michael's wedding but never since.

Peter Van Der Fluit, backstage, Mainstreet, 1982.
Photo: Murray Cammick

 

Outtake from 1982 publicity shoot. Photo: Kerry Brown

At the time of writing (early 2008) Mike & Peter own Liquid Studios in Auckland, and have just remade See Me Go as a Weet-Bix TVC with a child vocalist. Tony is a sculptor in Auckland, and Yoh is a landscape gardener in New South Wales.

In 2003 Mike and Peter bounced back into the NZ Top 3 as The Zephyrs, a band made for a TV ad.

The Screaming Meemees' album If This is Paradise.....I'll take the Bag will be remastered and re-issued at some stage.

A series of shots at the Northcote Netball Club, early 1981.
Photos: Murray Cammick

A Discography:

See Me Go (Demo)

(a track on the Ripper compilation Hauraki Homegrown RPR2, Dec 1980)

Can't Take It

(half of double A sided single, with The Newmatics', Judas, Ripper 7" RIP013, March, 1981)

All Dressed Up

(track on Propeller compilation, Class Of 81, REV201, March, 1981)

See Me Go / Till I Die

(Propeller REV 8, July, 1981)

See Me Go / Till I Die / Poison Boys (Live) / See Me Go (Alt. version)

(Propeller REV8X, July, 1981)

 

 

 

 

Sunday Boys / At At

(Propeller REV 15, November 1981)

Pointy Ears

(track on bFm / Ripper compilation Goats Milk Soap RPR005, 1982)

If This Is Paradise, I'll Take The Bag

(Propeller LP / Cass REV 203, July, 1982)
Your Accent / Days of Heaven / Days Goes By /Hardly Moved By It / What Do Eyes See / Sunday Boys / F is For Fear / Coloured Day / Orson Welles / Dali's Moustache / Miro Miro

F Is For "Fear" / Orson Welles

(Propeller 7", REV18, July, 1982)

Till I Die

(track on XSF compilation Hits & Myths 2, August, 1982)

See Me Go / At At

(tracks on Propeller compilation Doobie Doo Disc, REV206, November, 1982)

Stars In My Eyes / Day Goes By

(Propeller 7", REV22, December, 1982)

Stars In My Eyes (Pt.1) / Stars In My Eyes (Pt.2) / Day Goes By (Extended.....)

(Propeller 12" REV22X, December, 1982)

Sunday Boys / Sunday Boys

(tracks on US Readers' Digest compilation, 1984)

Stars In My Eyes

(track on US Strange Weekend compilation Unexplored CD044, 1986)

See Me Go / Sunday Boys / Stars In My Eyes

(tracks on Propeller compliation Bigger Than Both Of Us 2REV210, August, 1988, LP, CD, Cass. Reissued on CD, REV505, 2004)

Stars In My Eyes

(Propeller CD REV501, October, 1992)
Can't Take it / All Dressed Up / Poison Boys / See Me Go (45 version )/ Till I Die / Pointy Ears / At At / Sunday Boys / Days of Heaven / Your Accent / Day Goes By / Hardly Moved by You / F is for Fear / Coloured Day / Miro Miro / Over the Hills (Unreleased) / All Dressed Up (live) / See Me Go (demo) / Stars in My Eyes

Sunday Boys

(on Propeller compilation Give Us a Whirl REV504, 2003)

Plus a large number of comps that seem to have slipped through. Tracks have been found on various US compilations plus a few from Europe over the years, most of which we had no idea about. Pirate copies of If This Is Paradise were available in Europe and the US in 2005.

Days Goes By and Hardly moved by It were both renamed as Day Goes By and Hardly Moved By You on all releases subsequent to the "Paradise" album (I don't know why)

See Me Go, Till I Die, Days Goes By, F is For Fear, At At, and Stars in My Eyes all had videos made for them. The video for Stars costing a grand total of $129

The album "Stars In My Eyes" is available on Propeller Digital via Amplifier.