In Case You Were Wondering.........
To the best of my knowledge, these are the approximate whereabouts of some of the the bands mentioned on these pages, updated as information comes to hand....
The Features in Wellington, 1980
The Features
Jed Town and James Pinker still make music. Jed went became Fetus Productions and now DJs and records, and is an audio-visual artist of some reputation in Auckland. He made several solo records as ICU, as well as performing with SPK. James Pinker was in Dead Can Dance and lived in London for years, later, back in Auckland, was a member of Mesh, and now manages an Art Gallery in the city. Karel Van Bergen lives in Germany and Chris Orange was in Japan playing freeform jazz. Jed has recently been playing again with Chris as The X-Features.
Jed's ambient soundscape DVDs for sale
A 2007 interview with Jed
The Spelling Mistakes
All four still live in Auckland and reformed for three sell-out gigs in the late nineties. Nigel Russell runs Oceania Audio and the Hanson brothers still actively record and are involved in other artistic ventures. Warwick Fowler (nee Hitler) lives in Auckland and can often be seen driving around the city, grinning as always. There was a compile of all their work a couple of years back. Its for sale at Record Records.
The Marching Girls / The Scavengers
Johnny & Des live in Melbourne and are still playing music. After leaving Marching Girls, Ronnie, as Brendan Perry (his real name) was half of Dead Can Dance who were extraordinarily successful over six albums, released for 4AD. He lives in Ireland and has released his debut solo album and owns a studio. He has another due soon. The Scavengerss reformed in 2004 for 2 Auckland gigs, without Brendan, but featuring Dion from the D4, and a special guest appearance from Michael Simons (nee Mike Lesbian) who is successfully in the advertising business in Sydney. Mike sang Mysterex for the first time (it was, notoriously, written about him when he left the band). Their 1978 demos were finaly released in 2002, as an album, on John Baker's Zerox label.
Brendan's site
The Scavengers' MySpace
Johnny Volume at the Windsor Castle. Photo Murray Cammick
Techtones
Chris Burt & Steve Roach do film and TV sound (Steve for TV3 I think), Peter Solomon lives in Auckland and Jimmy Jurucevich was last heard of as an electrician in Melbourne.
The Screaming Meemees
Michael O'Neill and Peter Van Der Fluit both live in Auckland and still make music and run Liquid Audio in Grey Lynn. Mike is also a proerty owner of some substance. Tony Drumm is a sculptor in Auckland (and a qualified lawyer). Yoh lives in Byron Bay, NSW and is a landscape gardener. A reunion fell through a couple of years ago.......which some might see as a relief!
Blam Blam Blam
Tim Mahon managed a band called Mar-v-elle who had several top 40 singles in NZ, and was a major mover in the rise of South Auckland's urban sounds in the mid nineties. He now sells Real Estate in Auckland. Mark Bell is a session guitarist of some repute, and journalist in Auckland. Don McGlashan led The Muttonbirds for years, and does film and TV scores. He has just released his first solo album. They reformed in 2003 for a one off tour and again in 2007.
Tim Mahon's workpage
Don McGlashan's site
Trish 'Sissy Spunk' Scott, Suburban Reptiles, May 77. Photo Simon Grigg.
The Bongos
John Quigley plays in the Nairobi Trio in Auckland, Gill Civil is somewhere abroad and Phil Steel is a ski instructor in Japan. Simon Mark-Brown is a Commercials director of some note.
Simon Mark-Brown's Film Company
The Nairobi Trio
Tall Dwarfs
Chris Knox and Alec Bathgate still are.
The Newmatics
Brent 'Sid' Pasley runs a tourist boating company in Auckland, Mark Clare is an actor in Auckland (he's the one who dives off the bridge in the lotto ad and could be seen on Street Legal), Kelly Rogers co-owns The Rialto Cinema in Newmarket, Benny Staples, was in The Woodentops, and Lava Lava, DJs around Auckland and played as part of The Crackhead Experience. Jeff Smith is a computer programmer and designer, Chris Watts plays jazz professionally in Auckland. Simon Clarke where are you? Recently reformed, they had a sell-out gig in Auckland as a one off. Benny released a solo album in 2005.
No Tag
Karl Van Wetering & Mark Sullivan live in London. Andrew Boak lives in San Francisco where he ran the highly respected Imperial Dub label and now runs his own Green label. Paul is a Feng Shui consultant in AK...true.
Paul's Feng Shui School
No Tag on MySpace
The Dabs
Steve Thorpe, a great guy if there ever was one, sadly took his own life in the mid eighties. Geoff Hayden is in London, where hew drives a black cab. Rowan lives in Sydney, works for a travel software company and plays country rock.
The Prime Movers
Chris Mathews was in The Headless Chickens, and Nick Crowther is believed to be in Melbourne, Australia
Prime Movers, Mainstreet, 1982. Photo unknown
Jam This Record
Was a one off from James Pinker, Alan Jansson, Dave Bulog, and myself.
SisterMatic
Basically the Newmatics plus Sina, the female vocalist on OMC's "How Bizarre" (aged 16). Sina found worldwide fame as "Sister Sina" in that song's lyrics but now lives happily in South Auckland with a family.
The Suburban Reptiles
Buster was in the Swingers and The Models and now lives in Perth with his family where he is a successful graphic designer and involved with Children's Television, Zero (Clare) is in West Auckland with her family and makes puppets, Billy is a software programmer and analyst of international renown and spends his time between Auckland and London, Jimmy (Brett) runs an English language school in Wellington, after years in Hong Kong; Trish and Tony are in Auckland, Bones was in Midnight Oil for years but has now moved back to Auckland and splits his time between NZ and the US, and Shaun (Brian Nichols) was unfortunately killed in a traffic accident some years back. Des Edwards must be out there somewhere?
Buster's MySpace
Bones Hillman
Proud Scum
John 'Atrocity' Jenkins is in South London somewhere; Alistair 'Rabbit' Duguid is, I think, successful in the NE US (in software??); Jonathan 'Jamrag' Griffiths is in Melbourne; and Bruce Hoffman is in Auckland
Terrorways
John 'No-One' Hunter is living on Auckland's North Shore; Kerry Buchanan works at Real Groovy Records in Auckland and is a writer and commentator of some reputation; Dean Martelli works with Michael O'Neill and Peter Van der Fluit (ex Screaming Meemees) at their Liquid Audio; Peter Hoffman is in Auckland and plays in a rockabilly band; Gary Hunt is a artistic metalworker who sells to the rich and famous amongst others.
Scavengers @ Zwines. Johnny Volume and Mike Lesbian
Masochists / Rednecks / Europe
Kev Grey, Jimmy Sex, Spike, and Tony all still live in West Auckland. Kev is married to Zero from The Suburban Reptiles. Spike & Tony are in a band, The Stop Go Men, with Tim from Blam Blam Blam
Secret Agents
Keith lives in Nottingham and is a Systems Analyst. Sadly 'Tall' Tony Jakich died a few years back in the UK of an illness, and is missed.
The Dentists
Dean Buchanan became a painter of some reputation in New Zealand, as did Denys Watkins. Ross Townshend owns a screenprinting business in Auckland. William Giffiths is a jeweller in Melborne.
William Griffths' site
Dean Buchanan
The Phantoms @ Zwines. Photo unknown
Junk / The Phantoms
Frank Stark, today, heads the New Zealand Film Archive; Grant Dillon is an Alexander Techniquein in Auckland; Robbie Van de Lisdonk is a printer in Morningside, Auckland (and provided the photo above) and Iain Myers was last heard of as an accountant in Australia.
The Idle Idols
Paul Gibbs is an artist in London; Julie "Jamie Jetson" Curlette lives in Hamilton after years in London; and Sandra Jones lives with her family in West Auckland.
The Ainsworths
Hillary Hunt is very successful in the finance world, Adam Holt is managing director of Universal Music NZ, and president of the Recording Industry Assoc of NZ.
others..
Harry "Ratbag" Russell is in New York where he released three seminal albums under the name Harry The Bastard.; Paul Robinson (Berlin) works for the Qantas magazine in Sydney; the Trezevant sisters (Aliens) both live in Auckland...Yvette, was in Dead Can Dance in the 1980s and is now an actor, and Giselle owns a catering business; Mike Allpress (City Slitz) owns Allpress Coffee, one of Australasia's biggest coffee companies; Mark McDonald (Brunetttes) is a practitioner of holitsic medicine in Sydney; Terry "Towelling" Graham (Rebel Truce) is an artist in London; Eddie Olsen, drummer for The Instigators, later played in Coconut Rough and The Exponents and is now a freelance drummer in Manchester, UK.
Toy Love's site
The Enemy's MySpace
Toy Love's MySpace
Allpress Coffee
The Chills' MySpace
The Chills' Site
Simon Coffey's rather splendid poster and artwork archive
Some of the photos on this site come from Anthony Phelps, who, as a newspaper photographer in the early 1980s, took hundreds of quite incredible shots. One day, like Murray Cammick, I hope he'll put a book or site covering those together. In the interim he can be found here.
as for the rest - sorry can't help you