Flying Nun Tuatara & Show # 611

A Tuatara is a reptile that is exclusive to parts of New Zealand. This particular reptile is one of a kind and is the only surviving member of its species that became extinct over 200 million years ago. This particular reptile was also chosen as the name of the very first compilation released by the New Zealand independent record label Flying Nun Records. The label was founded and started by Roger Shepherd in 1981. It was started primarily to document the music of the local scene in New Zealand in places such as Christchurch, but quickly spread outward to cover other parts of New Zealand. The music of Flying Nun covered their punk and post-music scenes and also the Dunedin sound. This was a particular style of music that was strongly influenced by the jangly pop sounds of The Velvet Underground, lo-fi experimentation, industrial, elements of noise rock and rock/electronic sounds.

Tuatara starts off with an instrumental track by The Clean called “Fish”. This song swims with groove, from the jangly guitar sounds to the loud crashing drums and driving bass. The second track on this compilation is “Coalminers Song” by The Gordons, which verges into noise rock territory. Other tracks of note on this compilation are the jangly pop/post-punk sounds of The Verlaines “Death And The Maiden” a song that was inspired by a 19th century French poet and a painting of the same name by Egon Schiele, the haunting melancholy of “Pink Frost” by The Chills which features 80s indie rock and post-punk sounds and the Sneaky Feelings “Throwing Stones”. This track along with quite a few others share similarities in the above mentioned Dunedin sound, but at the same time sounds different from say The Clean or The Verlaines. The Great Unwashed is a band that was formed by The Kilgour brothers of The Clean. Their name is a punny reference to their earlier band, The Clean. “Neck Of The Woods” from The Singles EP is featured on this compilation album.

In addition to these above mentioned tracks Tuatara compiled tracks from other New Zealand bands such as The Bats and Tall Dwafs, which was a band featuring Chris Knox. Knox is a New Zealand musician, songwriter and producer. It is fitting that the last track on this album is by Tall Dwarfs. Although the song shares its name with a 1962 sci-fi horror movie, it was Knox, who used his 4-track recorder to record most of the early Flying Nun singles. He also provided artwork for the label. Since this release hit the US in 1986, Flying Nun has become more diverse and has expanded. Flying Nun has housed artists such as The D4, The Mint Chicks, Pavement, David Kilgour, Street Chat, Tiny Ruins and numerous others since their beginnings in 1981. Most recently in 2013, they joined forces with US label Captured Tracks and re-issued several classic Flying Nun albums. At first thought many people may have thought that the music from Flying Nun was like the lizard that is featured on the front cover of the Tuatara compilation. But, there wasn’t a lizard on the front cover. It was a different species, a different kind of reptile. Flying Nun set out to do something different and like the stoic reptile that is on the cover of the Tuatara compilation album, Flying Nun has survived and still walks proud today





Saturday Night Playlist:

1. Sneaky Feelings - Throwing Stones
2. The Great Unwashed - Neck Of The Woods
3. The Dandy Warhols - The Catcher In The Rye
4. The Last Shadow Puppets - Aviation
5. The Soles - Newest Revelation
6. Dead Broke - Miles Away
7. Electric Eels - Agitated
8. No Exit - Nothing New
9. Mo-Dettes - Norman (He’s No Rebel)
10. Sloan - Learn To Play Dead (One Chord To Another Outtake)
11. Marbles - Red Lights
12. Chris Stamey - The Summer Sun
13. Erasers - It Was So Funny (The Song They Sung)
14. Alice Cooper - Caught In A Dream
15. The Tonettes - I Gotta Know
16. The Commands - Must Be Alright
17. Deja Voodoo - Things With You
18. Jerry Jerry & The Sons Of Rhythm Orchestra - Color TV
19. The Locusts Have No King - Rye Whiskey (CJAM Session 2008)
20. James O-L & The Villains - The Other Side
21. The 427’s - Night Of The Living Surf
22. Kid Congo & The Pink Monkeybirds - Coyote Conundrum
23. John Doe & The Sadies - Detroit City
24. Trout - Spineless
25. TV Freaks - Don’t Read The News
26. The Famines - The State Of Music
27. The D4 - Exit To The City
28. The Vibrators - Petrol
29. The Adverts - One Chord Wonders
30. Parquet Courts - Two Dead Cops

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for April 30. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Great Sounds Great...The Story of The Clean and Show # 246

Forming in 1978, The Clean were an influential band from Dunedin, New Zealand. Brothers David Kilgour (guitar) and Hamish Kilgour (drums) joined forces with Peter Gutteridge (bass) and Doug Hood on vocals. This was one of the early incarnations of the band, they would go through a changing line-up until they settled on bassist Robert Scott after 1979 (Gutteridge would leave the group). The Clean soon created their own sound which was a mix of strange sounds, Ramones chords, and heavy organ sounds.

The first Clean single ("Tally Ho!") was released on Flying Nun records in 1981. The label was started by 1980 by a Clean fan named Roger Shepherd. The single went to # 19 on the New Zealand singles charts. When the band decided to record their first full length album, they ran into some difficulty. Since most record producers did not care for the bands sound, they recorded a four track EP titled Boodle Boodle Boodle themselves. Recorded with New Zealand musicians Chris Knox and Doug Hood, the album went to number four on the New Zealand charts. 1982 saw the release of the Great Sounds Great EP. The actual title of the EP was a bit longer, it's full title was Great Sounds Great, Good Sounds Good, So-so Sounds So-so, Bad Sounds Bad, Rotten Sounds Rotten. The Clean released one more single titled "Getting Older", which was also their loudest single at that point in their career before taking a break.

David Kilgour would leave the band shortly after this, with Robert Scott following soon afterwards. Hamish Kilgour would move to Dunedin and Hamish Kilgour moved to Christchurch, where the head offices of Flying Nun Records were located. Bassist Robert Scott formed his own band called The Bats. It wouldn't be long before Hamish started writing/working on his own material. David Kilgour would come up to help with the recording and the result was an album in the folk/acoustic musical direction. They named themselves The Great Unwashed (a pun on the name The Clean) and released the album titled Clean Out of Our Minds. They toured to promote this album, bringing Peter Gutteridge back into the music mix. While on tour, the band played quite a lot of material that was written by Gutteridge. They would in turn record another EP titled Singles, which came out in 1984. During this time the band would get a new bass player (Ross Humphries) since both Gutteridge and David Kilgour could play guitar. The Great Unwashed would break up and not last very long. They broke up with in a year of the bands formation.


Hamish Kilgour would form a new group called Bailter Space, Gutteridge formed Snapper and David Kilgour stopping making music for a couple of years. That would not be the end of The Clean though. The group would reunite for a few live shows in 1988, and record yet another EP. The Clean then embarked on a world tour. A full length album would follow in 1990 titled Vehicle. The album was more of a pop influenced album than their previous efforts. After another world tour the band would split again. They would reform yet again in 1994 and record another album titled Modern Rock. The Clean continue to record and produce music. They released Unknown Country in 1996, Getaway in 2001, and numerous other compilation albums. They also have numerous live compilations/EP's and as of 2008 have been working on material for a new album. Mister Pop was released in 2009.

While The Clean have done very well on the charts in New Zealand, they are virtually unknown in the US and other places of the world. They became part of Flying Nun Records which helped create the Dunedin, New Zealand sound. This included bands such as The Bats, The Chills, The Verlaines, and Sneaky Feelings. Flying Nun is New Zealand's biggest independent record company and have released several compilations featuring hard to find Clean material.

More information on The Clean can be found at:

The Clean - Anything Can Happen
The Clean Myspace Page

This Week's Play List:

1. White Stripes - The Union Forever
2. Sports - Warn Me
3. Neil Young - Fuel Line
4. The Clean - Point That Thing Somewhere Else
5. 3-D's - Hey Seuss
6. The D4 - Little Baby
7. Luger Boa - Don't Talk To Me
8. Clap Clap Riot - Thief
9. Valina - Idiom's Palace
10. 40 Thieves - Bangarang
11. The Unicorns - I Was Born (A Unicorn)
12. The Fresh & Onlys - Fog Machine
13. Ex- Boyfriends - To The Lowest Bidder
14. Sloan - Judy Is A Punk
15. The Killers - I Just Wanna Be Me
16. The Gears - Let's Go To The Beach
17. Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet - Run Chicken Run
18. Atomic 7 - Chock Full O' Notes
19. Los Straitjackets - Kapt'n Krunch
20. Randy - Punk Rock High
21. The Takeover UK - Never Been So Sick
22. The Demics - The News
23. Jack O & The Tennessee Tearjerkers - Switchblade Comb
24. The Pointed Sticks - All That Matters
25. The Strokes - New York City Cops

To download this week's show visit the CJAM archives and select the files 10:00 AM and 11:00 AM on April, 28th 2009.