Tag: influences

Shoes This High – STH 7″ EP (Recorded 21.12.80)

In 1986 Stu Kawowski succumbed to the magnetic attraction of “The North.” At first he thought it was the Wellington effect, so he ventured up there for a few months, and moved in with The Skeptics for a while, first at Nick’s pad in Brooklyn, and later crashed at Writhe Recording, their studio cnr Walter […]

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Mingus.. McCartney.. Agro.. Baird

This STEREO post, in STEREO, celebrates two great bassplayers who brought a whole lot of bottom to the Axemen sound (examples of which are included as mp3s below, in STEREO) and inspired the band totally and permanently…totally and permanently…totally and permanently… Bass Face #1: M. S. Agro, the taxman in the Axemen M. S. AGRO […]

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OCCULT FIGURES – MEETING THE PERFECT STRANGERS

[reprinted with kind permission of the auteur, Duane Zarakov, from his extant blog, http://www.geocities.com/duane_zarakov/] OCCULT FIGURES – MEETING THE PERFECT STRANGERS For my last year of high school I had to go to a private boarding school in Christchurch where pretty much the only music the other boys ever listened to was Led Zeppelin, the […]

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Wellington’s Spies – Memoirs of a metamusician

[reprinted with the permission of author, George D Henderson] Memoirs of a Metamusician: the Story of the Spies 1978 – 1980 I arrived in Wellington at the start of ’78, newly punked up after seeing Dylan Tate’s epochal “Radio With Pictures” punk special and Sex Pistols interview (outside Buck House) at the end of ’77. […]

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The And Band: Outhern

As requested, here are the tracks from the flipside of The Perfect Strangers: Not To Be Taken cassette, labelled as And Band: Outhern. Being that the track titles are in Kawowski’s inimitable handwriting, let’s assume that the cassette is a dub he made from an original compilation by Lindsay Maitland, that came into Stu’s possession […]

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The Spies Who Loved Me

George Henderson’s move to Wellington was notable for many reasons, including the formation of the band THE SPIES, sharing  Chris Plummer with the legendary Shoes This High. The full lineup of the Spies consisted of: George Henderson – Guitar, Voice, Organ Susan Ellis – Organ, Piano, Voice, Guitar Chris Plummer – Drums Richard Sedger – […]

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The art and magick of The Perfect Strangers, Chch 1980-1982

By George D.Henderson http://blogs.myspace.com/georgedhenderson Reprinted by permission of the author First published Friday, February 02, 2007 The art and magick of The Perfect Strangers, Chch 1980-1982 If The Perfect Strangers were only the blues-jam outfit implied elsewhere, I’d not be writing this story. The thing is, that Bill Vosburgh and Mark Thomas were two songwriting […]

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