Normally, when people use the phrase “a musician’s musician,” it’s meant to describe some Les Claypool nightmare whose dexterity and technical skill can only be properly appreciated by people who have also dedicated themselves to a life of fretless guitars and sweep arpeggios. That being said: When New Zealand’s Axemen want to be, they’re musicians’ musicians. It takes some effort to crack the self-serving exterior of their approach (getting drunk, recording off-the-cuff songs with whoever was hanging around, and releasing as much of it as humanly possible) but, as anyone who’s ever tried this approach themselves can attest, it’s completely intoxicating as long as you don’t muck it up by throwing in any pretensions of sophistication. By making their methods obvious and leaving very little to the imagination, Axemen have created a bunch of music that perfectly encapsulates the feeling of fucking around creatively with your friends.

Three Virgins is the final release in a series of terrific Axemen reissues Siltbreeze has put together, and by now it’s pretty clear that these records, pressed to wax in 1985, were a relic of their time and place. The idea of starting a non-terrible band with the expressed purpose of protesting a sexist milk advertisement has been left by the wayside, to say the least. Their willingness to experiment using the rock and roll song as a launchpad, but with few clear reference points, has gone almost unmatched in the DIY community since these albums were released the first time around. Granted, their apparent creative process has lived on in a less slapdash form, but the fact that Axemen were playing and releasing music with this mentality when recording your garage band could still be considered “hard work” is admirable, and near-singlehandedly makes these reissues worthwhile.

Methods aside, Axemen’s songs tend to do more than scrape by on the band’s charisma, falling somewhere between the droll bounce of Axemen’s countrymen Tall Dwarfs and the more stream-of-consciousness Swell Maps songs. (Emphasis on the “tend to,” though, if only because Three Virgins is 88 minutes long and is therefore destined to include some downtime, but the hilarious single-mindedness required to craft an entire double LP in the league of Three Virgins is to be commended regardless.)

While their Flying Nun contemporaries were crafting songs with relatively clear-cut roots in pop, punk and noise, Axemen were paving new routes into all three. While their results might not reach the transcendent heights of The Clean or The Verlaines, their charming lack of ambition and rickety, fuck-it mentality created something else entirely; misogynist ads and traditional song structures be damned.

By Joe Bernardi

Click Image for readable text

George Harrison’s post-Beatles output is overrated and The Monkees are criminally underrated. At least that is the case according to William Daymond from The Pickups. The Christchurch three-piece gave us an email interview with UTR recently and talked a lot about The Beatles, The Beach Boys and the aforementioned Monkees. There are definitely worse things to have a conversation about.

First of all, introduce yourselves & your bandmates.

The core trio of The Pickups are myself (William Daymond) on vocals and guitar, Jared Kelly on bass and Isaac Mawson on drums, although we have had extra members and special guests join us over the years.

Tell us the epic tale of your creation…

Isaac and I met at high school in our 6th form year in early 2000, when we were both 16. By the end of the year we were rehearsing on a regular basis as a two-piece, and spent most of the following year writing new material and getting tighter as a band.

We first played live at the Wunderbar in Lyttelton on 23 March 2002 under the name The Twin Towers (we named ourselves this, believe it or not, on September 10, 2001, as a reference to us being a two piece). We continued to play for the rest of the year, although at some point we changed our name to The Distractions. We took most of 2003 off while I played with Adam McGrath in The Sweethearts (a sort of early version of The Eastern).

We started playing as a two piece again under the name The Pickups in October 2003, however it was soon blatantly obvious to us that whilst being a two piece was a good idea in theory, we needed a bass player to fill out the sound, and we started looking for a potential candidate. It wasn’t till mid 2004 that we met Jared Kelly, who had recently moved to Christchurch from Timaru. By late 2004 we were rehearsing as a three piece, and played our first live show as a three piece on 9 October 2004 at Mainstreet Cafe, Christchurch.

Over the next three years we played live on a very regular basis, developing and working at our reputation as a good live band with well written songs, and for a period (September 2005 to April 2006) were joined by Isaac’s then girlfriend Bri Yaakoup on keyboards, who left us to concentrate on her involvement in Frase + Bri. We recorded most of our set in January 2007 with Marcus Winstanely at All Plastic Studios, however due to unforeseen delays involving mixing, mastering and completing the artwork the album was only able to be pressed in April this year (for example, when it came to mixing, due toconflicting time schedules we could only meet up every Sunday. On average we were able to mix one song per session, and with there being 14 songs to mix, and in some instances there ended being 5 or 6 different completed mixes of a song, the whole mixing process ended up taking over 4 months to complete).

In July 2007 we were put on temporary hiatus due to Isaac moving to Wellington, however with both Jared and I relocating to Wellington this year we have started to rehearse and play live again to promote the new album, and also to write new material. We will tour nationwide later on this year.

Do you think Christchurch has been a stimulating place to make music?

I found Christchurch to be a satisfactory and adequate place to develop as a band; I would have never described the town itself as “stimulating” in any shape or form.

Describe the defining moments that made you want to make music:

Listening to the Beatles for the first time when I was five made me want to play the guitar. Seeing Paul McCartney live when I was nine made me want to play live. Listening to Secret Box by The Chills when I was sixteen gave me the the confidence and impetus to write songs on a regular basis.

Apart from music, what else do you guys get up to?

Isaac and I play in a few other bands (ie. Cougar Cougar Cougar, Full Moon Fiasco, Red Country, Terror of the Deep, etc…) and we also go to university. Jared works full time.

What aisle would you slot into at your local record store?

If there was a Psychedelic Pop Rock section we would fit into that perfectly, but let’s face the facts, if you are a local band then you are going to be lumped in the “New Zealand / Local” section, regardless of what genre of music you make.

What artists have really got you excited lately?

This is a somewhat broad answer, but I relocated to Wellington in February, and in the three and a half months it took me to find a flat I had all my records and CD’s in storage, some of which I, up until then, listened to on a daily basis. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and when I finally found a flat and got all that material out of storage and checked out after nearly four months, to describe that as exciting is an understatement.

Describe the collaboration/writing process

In most cases I have the songs more or less finished by the time I present it to the band, however normally in rehearsal we will work on the structure of the song and make any changes there.

Dream collaboration?

Local: Martin Phillipps. International: Neil Young.

What’s the best thing about making music? Again, somewhat of a broad answer, but to see a song that you have written develop from just something you play around with in your room on guitar, then it being taught to the rest of the band, playing it live on a regular basis, recording it in a studio and then getting it preserved for eternity on replicated CD is a very satisfying and rewarding experience.

What gets you down about being in the music industry?

One thing about being a band in a small place like Christchurch is that it dosen’t really matter how good your songs are, how talented you are or how strong your work ethic is, basically if you are in a band the most important things are a) knowing the right people, and b) making music that is markateble in some shape or form. As a result I have seen some awesome bands get their noses turned up at because they either too old, don’t have the “correct” dress sense or don’t have good contacts. I have also seen some horrible bands get far more attention than they deserve simply because they are friends with the right people, and have a guest DJ with a pissfringe and a laptop computer.

Craziest on-stage antics experienced thus far?

I can think of a few; a very disgruntled local resident threw a chair at us midway through our first ever performance as a three piece with Jared (Mainstreet Café, Christchurch, 9 October 2004). As a result I had to write a 4 page report of the incident for the City Council. A very overweight and drunk dude in his 40′s with a long curly mullet and a novelty Jack Daniels jacket started heckling us at a performance at Al’s Bar, Christchurch in early 2006; Jared and I made a few offensive retorts back to him and he walked onstage with the presumed intention of picking a fight with us, however Al had to intervene at the last minute and kick the guy out.

Best concert you’ve ever been to?

When I was nine I saw Paul McCartney (with Linda on keyboards) live at Western Springs Auckland. It was awesome and unquestionably changed my life.

Who would you be willing to commit a serious offence for a chance to see live?

The Monkees (original 60’s lineup, with Nesmith). The Kinks, or at least the Davies brothers reunited on the same stage. The surviving members of The Beach Boys. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr together.

Name someone who’s really overrated in music.

George Harrison’s solo material. A close friend of mine and I listened to, in chronological order, the entire Beatles solo back catalogue and unquestionably George has the least to offer out of the four of them. The only good album that he ever released is All Things Must Pass, and even that is far too long.

And someone who’s criminally underrated?

I think The Monkees are unquestionably the most underrated band in music history. They have so many myths surrounding them that many ignorant music fans believe and turn their noses up at them, despite the fact they are responsible for some of the most enduring songs of the 20th century. Also Paul McCartney’s solo career / Wings.

The state of NZ music is:

It’s somewhat of a double edged sword. Whilst there are probably the more opportunities available to NZ musicians than there has ever been before, its also probably the most unoriginal it has ever been, with too many depressingly bad carbon copies of international based acts being played on the television and radio to fill the quota when far more original and unique material goes unnoticed. NZ On Air should get it’s act together too, did they really need to fund six Boh Runga videos over the period of a year when there are many other bands who can’t even afford to lay down their set in a basic studio let alone release something?

If I wasn’t doing this, I’d be:

A Lion Tamer.

Born in 1984, Daymond injects the vigour of youth into the unit and his infectious enthusiasm has infused the band with a new surge of energy – and ladies, believe me, the surge is working!

Well known as much for his extensive musical knowledge as for his work with The Pickups, Green Eyed Owl , Cougar Cougar Cougar, The Flying Sorcerers, The Steffan van Soest Hit Machine, Terror of the Deep (amongst others) , Daymond  adds his versatility and another layer of complexity to the steaming porridge that is the Axemen class of 2011.

Welcome Aboard!

by Amebic Sec Vet

In a brief email statement to fellow band-members after the group were offered a lucrative ground-breaking tour deal to Aussie and all points West, the Bobster wrote, and i quote:
” this is a no from me. Any other Axemen-related offers you may receive, please count me out, I am well & truly an ex-member.
regards, bob”

So, what gives?

What lurks in the heart of man so darkly the darkest parts of it make dark matter seem positively radiant?

Bob & Liz, 2009

What would make a precocious gawky dead-frightened teenage boy decide he could follow his dreams one day, then dash the dreams of everyone around him on a whim?

What makes one lad’s battle more worthy?
What makes one lad’s pal more swarthy?
What gives one the right to get down and dirty
Without even asking?

Girls bums are too big, girls can do anything
all you ten ants good for cooking and cleaning
i got nothin for you but i’ll give you what i got
best get your shots baby be sure to get ALL your shots

Bob is gone
long live Bob
now let’s go out and rock!

Season Finale Pt 3: universally praised

With an episode with the knife-edge cliffhanger to rival the ‘Who Shot JR?’ Dallas episode, the RICHY27ABLE  channel’s first season drew to a close on Tuesday 15 June with the much awaited SEASON FINALE.

Playing to tens of viewers stateside and countless on the Worldwide Web the series was universally acclaimed by critics and the across the Blogosphere and the Twitterverse.

The New York Times described the final episode as ‘Fellini-esque and quite superb’ while Egyptian dissident Hamand X tweeted “for 3 and a half minutes, the revolution stopped for 200 seconds there was no conflict :O”, as he shared his iPod screen with soldiers who minutes ago had been sniping at them but laid down their arms to join the rebels in another kind of revolution, the YouTube.

Fusil de Chasse: vaunted runaway indy hit

Adding to the speculation is the question mark over Bens participation in the next series following the runaway success on the independent circuit of his ‘Fusil de Chasse’ following its last minute inclusion as a short at Sundance this year. Whist Ben dismisses such rumors as speculation it was widely reported he was seen in long discussions with Redford following the screening.

By Mick Elborado

I thought smacking was illegal, but there I was standing between the dusty records and sheet music I’d started packing away, now handcuffed, and the hyped-up young cop, name, as always, unknown was saying ‘Just give me one ****** reason to smack you’ — the hand cuffs were not double locked, so they tightened — by the time we got to the cop-shop my would-be-smacking officer pointed out they should’ve been double-locked ‘to prevent them tightening’ — I told him I knew that. I also showed the two officers the deep grooves in my wrists.

But by then most of what I’ve collected over the years was debris — and the things I’d bought, been given, or created myself were gone forever.

Just some homeless c*nt with a bunch of junk?… Now I’m a hairsbreadth from homeless, but I can swear on a stack of bibles that I’ve easily prevented the incorrect release of a thousand times more tax than I can ever be grudgingly paid by WINZ for my remaining life as a benefit, or, if I’m cursed to live that long, and euthanasia isn’t mandatory, superannuation.

And while I was being paid peanuts for stopping big money getting incorrectly refunded ($24,000,000 from a trans-tasman imputation account on day one) I spent my money on stuff, rather than holidays, investments, or trying to get an extra 1% more than any other arsehole…

I’ve enjoyed watching the trivial way my lost stuff got reported by the NZPA and in the courts…

‘…he wanted to retrieve his hard drive’ one of the laughing demolition clowns told the cops for their provably false ‘statement of facts’.

Uh, no — a hard drive is just countless hours of work but I was once a reasonably infamous musician, so i was after my Peavey jazz classic amplifier with 14″ Black Widow speaker HP’d at $25 per week for two years, or the George van Epps ‘harmonic mechanisms for guitar’ I’d been workig through, or the two andband/perfect.strangers singles, one without a cover — or paintings given to me by artists getting more famous by the day, or autographed flying nun singles, auto’d on the day they came into CHCH by the people immortalised on ‘em, ’cause I used to hassle Roger at the record factory, and Roy and the wonderful women at EMI, or posters from ’81 to 95, or handicam footage of bands playing in the now probably destroyed christhurch dives like quadrophrenia, the subway, the dux de lux, or mint copies of most christchurch and dunedin music magazines ’81 to whenever (Garage, alley oop, sunbum, every secret thing, and all the one-offs that sold for $1 or less each. (something crunchy, daughters of darkness, the Knox comic-zine)

Oh yeah, and shit that I wrote, or transcribed, and some photos of dead or absent friends, and my estranged family. Or even my ornate City of Bristol birth certifcate. And the rip it up review of the one time, on a band tour, that I lit a flaming log and held it to my crotch (the unlit end closest to the crotch)

If you want to trivialise this, and say ‘Well at least you’re alive’, or get all red-faced, either with anger at a law-breaker, or embarrassment at your own part inallowing this to happen to anyone in Christchurch then here’s an exercise…

Look at your room — not your house, garage or car, just the room you’re in now, even if it’s the kitchen. Now imagine it’s lifted fifteen feet above the ground so it dangles a wee bit, out of reach, but still with your stuff (microwave, borrowed vacuum cleaner, clothes, video, power boxes, sellotape, shampoo, whatever) in plain sight, and accesible to others. Now watch for seven or eight weeks until a a giant hand crushes it, and no one is liable. Oh yeah, and you’re uninsured so you can’t start again.

So… Yeah — ‘at least you’re alive’ — I’d rather be dead — ever try getting money out of WINZ to replace a lost life — I worked, for thirty years, and suffered arsehole bosses and corporate bullshit and buzzwords, and taught too many mindless mindless loser work-’mates’ how tax actually worked, mainly to buy my books and records. Even though 99% of Christchurch would think my stuff was crap. It was christchurch crap. my crap.

Books — yeah well I’m poor now, my book budget since Inland Revenue tried screwing me up the arse for $14,000 in glass was $5.00 in a good week, invested in my favourite bookshop in…

First editions of the last three Pynchons, the works of Dave McGowan, and Daniel Hopsicker’s first two. An average of $50 per book — the last two I bought, ‘Sinister Forces – the Nine’, and ‘Unholy Alliance’ by Peter Lavenda were in the plastic cube I was packing when…

…well I wasn’t actually arrested — I was; verbally abused, laughed at by the demolition clowns, told the cop had taken a oath, and that I was in for a smack, and that I was causing busy people trouble, but as I pointed out as that cop and his partner (she just kept saying ‘Shut the fuck up’) finished having a leisurely laugh with the demolition clowns in the shakytown designer fluoro while the handcuffs bit in — ‘You haven’t actually told me I’m under arrest’

…this was as just before he started telling me I had a right to remain… silent, and (and not but) anything I said would be used in evidence against me. Maybe he said stacked, rather than used, but more likely he just thought it.

He then quoted the mental health act (year unknown) as the reason for my arrest. Me… with two (now three) certificates attesting to my sanity when examined. People might hate what I do and think, but it’s provably not due to any discernable mental health problem. Experts tend to be better at diagnosing that than non-experts.

Let’s see — I was also asked why I didn’t join a tribe, or leave NZ, if I disagreed with the law. And all the other insults I’ve now got used to. I pointed out to the cop that his brain wasn’t cut out for thinking as his statements were illogical.

Since then I’ve perused the misinformed comments in the equally misinformed on-line press articles, and have been accused of everything from trying to recover ‘kiddieporn’ (an anonymous coward’s comment) to ignoring proper procedure and not going through the correct channels.

I made enough contacts with ‘appropriate’ people to lose count. The only ones to actually help were the good people in the Porta-Comm offices at the art gallery.

The ones that didn’t gives a rat’s arse were the people in charge, including anyone on demolitions at the council, including Tiffany the third receptionist to hang up on me that morning a week or so before i was arrested with her inhumane ‘we can ignore what you say, and none of this is recorded’

That day, after that, again utterly furious with the inability of the council to listen, I went to the Art Gallery, and in a five-man USAR team led by Rene had the property checked to see if it was accesible. It wasn’t. I was told I could talk to the demolition team at the unknown date the building came down.

So those five USAR people wasted an hour or more each helping me. When they could have been USAR’ing more important things… …Bob Parker’s garden tools maybe — ’cause, as I yelled at the judge in court, if it was Bob Parker’s garden tools rather than my things then some c*nt would have rescued them intact (and probably by WestPac helicopter and on the front page of the press with him in a stinking and dustless orange jacket — mission accomplished? Bush did it on an aircraft carrier). It’s easy to forget Bob tried to stop rescue workers out at Kaiapoi, and the PM had to call him…

Or… Peter… the luckless guy at the Christchurch Council I rang who told me there were no after-hours numbers to deal with demolition matters, when I rang at 4:00 on the day before the Easter holiday, after leaving a message before 10:00 am that day asking to be called back with an idea of when the building would be demolished.

I was furious by the time I got to him, through yet another receptionist, but he assured me ‘the building isn’t on the list to be demolished’ and ‘it won’t be demolished as everyone’s taking a well-deserved break for Easter’ — either he or I mentioned that it would be inaccesible through that time so I then mentioned that if they started again on Tuesday the Easter break was meaningless in terms of accesibility to get my things — as always the conversation ended with his ‘I can’t promise anything, but you should be able to get your things…’

Oh yeah, and of course multiple emails and phone calls to property manager Pru at GoodGirls, trying to find out about a demolition date…

…and finally, at 7:00pm the night before, when I was in Lyttelton, Liz Harris, the owner, left a message saying the building’s being demolished at 9:00am tomorrow morning

So at 7:00pm — after a uncounted hours asking anyone that might know, I was actually given a D-date.

The time was too late to organise anything, storage, transport, helpers. Still, I have f***-all friends/family that would even bother to urinate on me if I was aflame. Asking someone for help with transport at 7pm the night before..? Hahahahaha! And ever tried hiring a truck or taxi on an invalid benefit (minus $33 per week for property damage), or getting free storage?

To get back to D-day…

Because of frustration and an inability to deal with the way New Zealand is today I take strong medication — heavily sedative — I wake up the next morning well after 9:00am

I get to the building site at 11:00 — the building is mainly in pieces but my room is intact with all the things easily salvageable. Here’s a pic of what can be done if someone wants to salvage things. Merivale shop, not a home for the marginal and nearly homeless.

The cordon… well this is where it and the law and the situation get really interesting…

I said to my lawyer in prison (after he explained that if I pleaded guilty I’d already served enough time — solitary confinement 23 hours a day in the at-risk unit at Paparoa Prison for 15 days — to be released), that I couldn’t remember actually seeing a cordon or any notices, but my camera was confiscated by the police — so I had no evidence of that.

So, this is what a Cordon looks like — and the legal definition, paraphrased from what the lawyer held, is that the scumbag in charge of earthquake action (Parker, Brownlee, or some other loser and clown) can delegate cordon-setting downward indefinitely, and apparently no public notice is required — so this is what a cordon looks like before you breach it. Be really careful, cause orange gates seem to be it. No notices, statements, tape, wire, people to tell you there’s a cordon — and I doubt there’s actually a notice anywhere in a public place, and probably no actual written paperwork — Cordon Bennett!

It’ll be interesting to see how anyone is supposed to know, rather than guess, where a cordon actually exists. My photograph shows at least one other, but unarrested, person (a person because of the lack of shakytown-designer-fluoro) was pretty damn near to being inside whatever cordon existed.

I walked, not ran across the debris, you’ll note that the quoted police witnesses that said ‘…he ran…’ are actually nowhere in sight in the first photograph as I approach the property. or the second photograph taken just as I see my room is still intact and salvageable and stopped taking pictures.

How the demo-clown witnesses knew ‘…i was trying to get my hard drive…’ is one of those evidentiary conundrums, I didn’t talk to any of them. And I certainly didn’t stop to banter. My experience to date is that if I’d asked to get my things from anyone with a bit of power I’d have been obstructed or told to p*** or f*** off.

So — the bullshit in Christchurch was and is worse than the liquefaction — and if the trembling don’t kill you the council will.

I now vomit everytime I hear an earthquake promo on the radio, or see a poster saying help is available or hear anyone with a bit of house damage moaning on a bus.

For the record — Further blog entries will deal with the various police, winz, council, court, etc, contacts — past, present and future — my memory is reasonable even without my papers — and for light relief, the absurdities and ignorance and fear encountered between ’79 and ’09 while I worked at, for, with and finally against Inland Revenue. Including a bit of taxation advice that’d cost you big bucks from a ‘cunsultant’…

Today’s fun… on Friday 10th June?

Leaving my current abode, a big lodge, early evening, and there’s a policeman on a mobile outside, presumably to the security staff, — I walk out the locking doors and as they are closing he reaches for the handle. I close it completely and the exchange, where I politely noted that either a warrant or security staff are more appropriate than an unforced entry ends…

Cop:Thanks

ME: You might need a warrant for entry.

Cop: Piss off

ME: Did you just tell me to piss off?

Cop: Go away. Just go away.

His mate just stands there with folded arms as I’m ordered to go away… from my own residence… the rego of their copmobile? CBT622

Make a complaint about this the proper way? A few weeks ago Hornby police station had no complaint brochures or forms and the kindly officer there was going to order them from central, but oddly enough the unhelpful guy at central the same day said there were no complaint forms, and that I could ‘ring the number in the Yellow pages’ this was after he sat down at his desk when he found that in Cleese-like fashion ‘..I wished to register a complaint’.

I’d gone in there to get a phone number left at the scene of my crime by a witness which I was told by the police would be withh my effects — I was handed a homemade official information request by the clown at the lost and found and absurdly asked whether I knew the names of the officers involved.

So I took the opportunity to pick up the application form for a firearm license, as they did have a few of those on the display, and I’d never really thought much about guns or even liked the idea of them until recently… I have no pension fund, no savings, no saleable assets, nothing to lose, am no longer afraid of jail, and I pay $33 per week until 2018 for some broken glass. A gun would be a real comfort and an asset for anyone with that future. Maybe I can get a WINZ loan to buy on from Gun City.

Earlier today, pre “Police Piss Off’ i was at WINZ, (full details of the absurd interview with Helen the trainee who went to her trainer for her information at a later date), Helen told me there was no formal way to complain, no actual complaint section or national area that I could write to, and that any complaints would go through the local manager.

Funny, seems like an odd way to complain about the consistently bad service at WINZ and the differences between the thoughts on the posters and brochures and the actual practice of the staff.

A manager (specially the kind that call me ‘Darling’ out at Rangiora when they mean arsehole) might be a little biased.

‘We will listen to you’. Yeah, Never mind the bollocks.

I mentioned MPs and Ministers to Helen and she said ‘…well, you can do that, if you really want to’ I explained that I knew that, but didn’t know if she was aware of it.

So, is it illegal to write about the facts of a life..? Can you lose a benefit blogging? Get put in the cells? I guess here’s the only way to find out.

Ain’t seen anyone else in Shakytown exposing the puss-filled scabs that everyone else assumes are business as usual.

And you won’t find a single reporter who has wanted to interview me. So any comments in the press about my latest ‘dangerous and bizarre’ exploit are from the police statements or the judge.

Here’s a-bitter that ‘balance’ you might read about as being essential to well-informed thought, vitriol intact.

And when I stop blogging than either it is illegal to diary my life, or my life (and the red-tape) is just fine. Guess which is more likely

DT, aka DZ, aka ME, aka NGM, aka way too many other aliaii. 10/06/11 AD.

FINALLY! After a couple of years in the RE-making, the Axemen’s legendary dbl lp ’3 Virgins, 3 Virgins, 3 Visions’ (hereafter known simply as 3V’s) is available for order. Originally seeing the light of day on the Flying Nun label in 1985, 3V’s is a broad canvas of sound, seemingly channeling other likeminded cornerstones of fringe rumble such as ‘Trout Mask Replica’, ‘Exile On Main Stree’t & ‘Tago Mago’. Just like last time (remember?) this is a limited edition run of 600 & housed is a stunning full color gatefold sleeve. Prices are as follows;
20$ppd-US
24$ppd-Canada
30$ppd-Elsewhere

*LIMITED TIME OFFER*

Add to your order both previous Axemen titles; ‘Big Cheap Motel’ lp + Scary,Part III double lp for only 15$ more! No extra shipping cost either!That’s 3 more lp’s! What a bargain!
(Just make sure to mention when ordering).

Paypal to; sltrx@pil.net

*AND WHILE YOUR HERE*

Check out this AMAZING 3 Virgins promo film shot back in the day by Stu Kawowski & Lawrence Lens (Nux Vomica, Portage mastermind);

This story originally featured in The Press, Christchurch, on Friday, May 13th, 2011. Photo taken by and used courtesy of Lara Fair.

A Christchurch man says he now has “no past and no future” after being arrested for breaching a cordon to rescue possessions from his house as it was being demolished.

Police say a digger was already at work when David Jerrold Theobald went into his property to get his gear.

It is understood a demolition worker injured his foot on a spike during the incident, and Theobald was taken out of the building in the bucket of a digger. Theobald, 50, who performs under the stage name of Mick Elbarado, is a well respected local musician who is famed for his work with many acts, most notably New Zealand bands Scorched Earth Policy and The Terminals. He is also widely noted as owning one of the best archives of New Zealand music on vinyl, with parts of his massive and irreplaceable collection dating back well over 50 years. Flying Nun Records boss Roger Shepherd yesterday stated that “Mick had a huge collection of music, and an important archive of New Zealand music related ephemera.”

Today, the Theobald made a dramatic appearance before Judge Christopher Somerville to enter a not guilty plea to the charge of breaching the emergency cordon. It was his second Christchurch District Court appearance, held inside Christchurch Men’s Prison.

Judge Somerville said he favoured a further remand in custody because Theobald remained so angry.

Duty solicitor Phillip Allan suggested a further remand for a week for Theobald so that an application could be made for his release on bail.

The judge spoke to Theobald very carefully, calling him by his first name, but the response was an immediate outburst.

Theobald said he had “crossed the line to get my stuff when the building was being demolished”.

“I’m very angry, and I’ll be angry for the rest of my life. I have no past and no future now.”

When the judge spoke about what an appropriate penalty would be for a cordon-breach charge, Theobald replied: “I have already had the appropriate penalty over the last fortnight.”

He then walked in to a corner of the courtroom where he faced into the wall but called out that he wanted to plead not guilty and call evidence.

Prison officers told him to stop swearing.

A forensic psychiatric report has concluded Theobald was not unwell with any mental health disorder.

He was remanded in custody for another court appearance on May 20.

Any readers of this blog wishing to provide messages of support to Theobald and assistance for his plight can contact him via this address:

David Jerrold Theobald
℅ Christchurch Men’s Prison
Private Bag 4726
Christchurch.

Being neither here nor there isn’t just a fence-sitting compromise or a sign of indecisiveness, a smite on yr character, but a real fact of life for most people in most things. For the busy, toiling away to scrape up the rent then coming home to tend the kids thinking time is an unattainable luxury… for the idle rich and the idle poor it is a boring chore… in reality it is the most valuable thing that can be imagined.

I received my $2.53 APRA cheque today, after selling my house to raise enough money to comp bob and tour the US a couple of years back. CNN commandeered my song for their sports section. Bob didn’t credit me for the iconic one-note guitar bit in ‘nutsack’. He calls me a few months before saying he’s upset he thinks his girlfriend is cheating on him then proceeds to chase ass and drugs across the states using her money while she takes his kids to her dads funeral back in NZ. But thats what being edgy is about… its only a crime (sic) if its boring. And sometimes it is.

Luckily some people can rise above it and live worthwhile lives, slaves to no-one and no thing. Most can’t. Some can only dream about it. Suicide is a copout. Life is worth living if you don’t shit all over everything of true value and value everything which is true shit.

the axemen are the Schrödingers cat of New Zealand music primarily because they are in an unreachable zone, a sensory Tardis of existence packaged neatly into an extended singularity, from which all greatness would extend on observation but to do so would freeze their work in a ‘snapshot’ , a single frame of a neverending movie.

Enjoy the trailer but stay on the channel.

THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE QUESTIONNAIRE: George D. Henderson of the Puddle

Kawowski’s vain effort to bake the original 7″ masters in a food-dehydrator, and transfer digitally proved unacceptable to his high standards of aural sensitivity. With the upwards nodding approval of the other 2/3 of the legendary flat-city triad, Steve ‘n Bob, together with the blessing of the sage Siltbreeze label boss T. J. Lax, Germany’s and possibly the world’s pre-eminate ‘needle drop’ exponent Thomas Hartlage of SHADOKS™ was contracted to place his own virgin pressing of the original 1986 pressing onto his unspeakably expensive transcription system, the result being a beautifully crafted replica with all aspects and nuances of the tricky trio’s debut vinyl of PQ (pre-quake) ChCh yesteryear. Not sufficiently content with this scintillating facsimile, the 24bit WAVs were broadbanded south to a dijkside upstairs warehouse near Amsterdam, where the legendary FIR International wove his mastering magic upon the 22 tracks, and soon after Mark at Prairie Cat Mastering in Illinois had manifested the four sides of the 88 minute set in shiny, shiny lacquer.

An announcement will be made shortly regarding worldwide availability of these waxy widgets. Keep watching here, and AXEMEN on Facebook.

Stop Press: In a generous 11th hour gesture, Shadoks & Fir International donated 60% of the mastering costs to the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal. In fact the whole exercise of re-releasing Three Virgins is all about the music, as the small 2nd edition pressing run will only produce 600 copies, and not return much of a profit to Siltbreeze’s hungry shareholders. The Axemen are very cognizant of this fact and super-appreciative of everyone’s efforts and generosity all round.

More to come…

Please visit. thanks andrew.

News has broken of the death of Tony Peake. Tony was a central figure in the Christchurch punk and post-punk scenes.

I had the good fortune to catch up with him in Christchurch in 1994 where he was up to his eyeballs opening a new dance club. Despite that he made time for an interview. One of my favourites of that particular research mission. He was warm and open and honest and you can’t ask for more than that. I was curious about his role in punk and The Newtones whose two singles and compilation tracks were (and are) era favourites. You can download Tony’s Newtones’ track Christchurch part 2 here. The resulting story was printed in Social End Product in 1995 and is reproduced here. The Newtones’ Mark Brooks remembers the times here.

After The Newtones broke up Tony was a member of Yen and then a dance club organiser and DJ. He also booked the Gladstone and was a keen promoter of post-punk groups.

Simon Grigg shares some memories here. Check the comments as well.

There is a compact album worth of songs he was involved with out there waiting to be compiled together with three Newtones videos and TV footage of Tony fronting The Vandals.

RIP Tony. You made a difference.

Live and on Record

The Newtones – New Way – Class of ’81 – Propeller Records comp. LP – March 1981.
An early piece of sound shaping and sampling. The Newtones’ new way.

The Newtones – Paint the Town Red/ China/ Christchurch part 2/ Santa Anna – The Newtones – Newtones Music 7” EP – Recorded by Fred Kramer and Arnie Van Bussell at Nightshift Studios in Christchurch. Number 13 in June 1981. One week in chart.
Their debut EP, simply called The Newtones, documented the Christchurch trio’s rise from early punk roots in The Vauxhalls, The Vandals, Aliens and Street of Flowers with a stinging version of the Flowers’ China, a Tony Peake song echoing the aggression of the punk years and hinting at his love of sixties psychedelia. and the flanged pop/ rock of Mark Brooks’ Paint The Town Red; an effortless Christchurch anthem.

The Newtones – My World/ Incidentially Dreaming – Newtones Music 7”. Recorded by Fred Kramer and Arnie Van Bussell at Nightshift Studios in Christchurch. Number 47 on 24 January 1982. One week in chart.
More street pop from the prolific Newtones. My World is a Mark Brooks song taken for a long stroll by Brooks’ bass, Martin Archbold’s drums and Tony Peake’s guitar. Incidentially Dreaming is a wispy love song with airy Peake guitar.

Dates (The Newtones play all shows): August ’80 – Star and Garter. 13. September ’80 – XTC. Christchurch Town Hall. 12. December ’80 – Playthings. Solitudes. Canterbury University. 12. January ’81 – Volkswagens. 25 Cents. Androidss. Christchurch Arts Centre. 8. Techtones. 3ZM concert. QE 2 Park. 9. Victor Dimisich Band. System X. Christchurch Arts Centre. 14. Gladstone. 21. 22. 23. 24. March ’81 – Playthings. Gladstone. 12. 13. 14. Ballon D’Essai. Gladstone. 23. 24. 25. April ’81 – Class of 81 Show. Newmatics. Screaming Meemees. Blam Blam Blam. Gladstone. 20. May ’81 – Gladstone. 7. 8. 9. June ’81 – Volkswagens. Gladstone. 11. 12. 13. Gladstone. 25. 26. 27. August ’81 – Gladstone. 27. 28. 29. October ’81 – Gladstone. 15. 16. 17. Androidss. Playthings. Ritchie Venus and The Blue Beetles. Gladstone. 26. November ’81 – Shoreline. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. aft. 14. Playthings. Mainly Spaniards. Star and Garter. 19. 20. 21. January ’82 – Terraces. Gladstone. 7. 8. 9. February ’82 – The Clean. Ballon D’Essai. Tall Dwarfs. Canterbury University. 6. Star and Garter. 12. 13.

copyright – Andrew Schmidt – 2005

Dr. Martin Cooper, inventor of the cellphone

a song by steve mccabe

the doctors on speed dial
i’m making amends for
all the things i did to you

i may pretend to be all hard nosed but sometimes what can you do

the movies come out
its all comin out
has a persil shine

hungry enzymes and hungry hippos
they’ll both eat you alive
]]> http://theaxemen.org/2010/09/26/the-doctors-on-speed-dial/feed/ 0 noisyland The Doctor's on Speed Dial Dr. Martin Cooper http://theaxemen.org/2010/09/25/spaceman-coming-to-earth/ http://theaxemen.org/2010/09/25/spaceman-coming-to-earth/#comments Fri, 24 Sep 2010 11:57:34 +0000 steve mccabe http://theaxemen.wordpress.com/?p=4861 ]]>

spaceman.coming.to.earth

a song by steve mccabe

lights on a sycamore tree
lit up like a christmas tree
what will the spaceman see when he comes to land?

a fight with a hand to hand expert
you’re bound to end up in the dirt
but its vile and sick to not give the spaceman a rousing hand

spaceman.coming.to.earth
spaceman.coming.to.earth

not used as yet:

a fine spectacle he made splashing down in the ocean
so much emotion
lollipop guards stand over the crossing like its a hooplah table
not just another drop in the ocean

coincidence is purely accidental
standing guard obviously wants it all

spaceman.breath.in
spaceman.breath.out
its in your best interests, its what its all about
]]> http://theaxemen.org/2010/09/25/spaceman-coming-to-earth/feed/ 6 noisyland spaceman.coming.to.earth http://theaxemen.org/2010/09/08/shooting-blanks/ http://theaxemen.org/2010/09/08/shooting-blanks/#comments Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:17:12 +0000 steve mccabe http://theaxemen.wordpress.com/?p=4799 ]]> i never shot more than blanks
you should be saying thanks
not sorry desperado
wild about the tyke

wildfire in the place of worship
let me ride
i will drive
fire engine on the skids

don’t forget your skid lid
and put the trash out before the kids handle it
and decide to panhandle it
in the corridor

its a horror filled shooting galley
deadbeat kate and allie
lying in the alley
bullet wounds thru their heads

back and to the left
no-one has yet improved on zapruder
please release the tapes
its an all nite party

goo goo ga joob
walrus is a de-tusked shadow
firing blanks still in a sated way
satan’s sway piles the cash onto the millenium.

chile miners got more reason to be out of their mind
reason don’t come lightly
Officer Dibble couldn’t have detected this
This cheese is swiss and i know longer know what love is.

its full of holes
but sir its guyere
i don’t care where its grown, its full of holes
like the bulletholes in my skin, they do get in

mrs marsh, your concept is dated
but they do get in regardless
fluoride is hated in every state
hey aren’t you the mrs marsh i DATED?

chalk and cheese
chewy, chrunchy
anything vaguely rug-munchy
somebody, replace the monkey

whenever yr ready theres a firebrand ready
a fine fire brand ready to burn and beat me
keister-meisters haven’t got a prayer
i’m taking dares, burning considerate until the next fire.

goldfinger
breathing deeply till the next fire.
its a funeral pyre
shine my niggah,don’t bleed for me.

workin for the class

he’s a hardy hard habit to break

I’ll meet you at eight

by the lake

and when you pull up don’t forget to brake

(not like the last screwup who forgot to apply his brakes)

Bald-win!  paedophile at the rock’n'roll high school

hangin round the gym just to get an eyeful

panties sometimes stockings sometimes petite brassieres

the i think he’s got what he’s looking for clear

he’s the bald one, the only baldwin worth his salt

and i love him with every  figure of my soul

but i’m only a man can’t you understand it takes a minimum of two to tango

Smouldering Love God Alec Baldwin weighs in

my mans in the outfield buying yellowcake

but its cream, tangerine, lemon ivy

harangued by caramel thats a sticky mix i see I tweeted the bird sanctuary

they told me you had flown the coop

no biggie for tupac and biggie smalls

they’ll be the biggest rappers of them all …the… twittersphere… full of nudgerigars
oh what a collossal waste

Life is pretty cheap but for the frozen cheap wasters!

gorillaform contenders, suedehead boots downout racists

steer, queers, souvenirs, novelties, party tricks

wait, you dropped your phony dog poo back there in the sticks! because 1984 is over
i predict
the earth will have a grand opening party

and while all crumbles and the earth spits and swallows

a little girl waits.
give her fifty dollars.
she don’t need fitty cent
she need fitty dollah
]]> http://theaxemen.org/2010/05/25/1984-is-over/feed/ 0 noisyland Smouldering Love God Alec Baldwin weighs in http://theaxemen.org/2010/05/22/the-illustrated-steve-mccabe-songbook-entry0/ http://theaxemen.org/2010/05/22/the-illustrated-steve-mccabe-songbook-entry0/#comments Sat, 22 May 2010 07:38:45 +0000 steve mccabe http://theaxemen.wordpress.com/?p=4660 ]]>

TOO LOOSE TO TREK

Don’t let your genie loose in midstream

its horses for courses if you know what i mean

600 lb gorilla in a barr-brady suit

slick hair matted up like superglue

WTF? A rough-shod genie caught unawares and aloof in midstream ... "Hark!"

The critical mass runneth over

like a jehovas witness on gwynneth paltrow

looks like jealous bitchiness has the reins again

because when the rains come it looks like stormy weather again

Platos brain: hmm, perfect forms eh?

A 600lb Gorilla in a Barr-Brady suit - An Officer and a Gentleman

Google Translate: Aye Carumba! not this shit again!

Too loose to hang on to the reins!

when the rains come you will have mush for brains

if you keep your mind open

there’ll be bad brains rising from these tired remains!

Always counting chickens before they’re hatched

always have to steal my kisses down in the hatch

but your 6 ton ape is wearing falsies and a wig

and thats not real hair in his ear, its an earwig

Miss Peggy Lee

Workin class man, no rod, bow or rifle

liable for libel, won’t give you an eyeful

of baubles, bangles and bronzed love beads

Can you tell me how to get to Simian Street?

Simian Street - scimitars ahoist

Janis Joplins unkempt 60's Love Beads for sale - as used in the original ad

We’ll take the most rank cab that you got

handsome is as handsome does

this charming man has a hand in his glove

Charming... This is charming, man - bloody priceless!!

What he’s doing i couldn’t say

but he sure scared those pigeons away.

ooh yeah, but he sure scared those pigeons away.

hey hey, he scared those pigeons away.

HEARTBREAK HOTEL – TRUTH OR LEGEND?

Courtney Cox and Myley Cyrus tell of all night circus romp!
]]> http://theaxemen.org/2010/05/22/the-illustrated-steve-mccabe-songbook-entry0/feed/ 2 noisyland A rough-shod genie caught unawares and aloof in midstream ... "Hark!" Platos brain: hmm, perfect forms eh? 600lb Gorilla in a Barr-Brady suit Google Translate: Aye Carumba! not this shit again! Miss Peggy Lee Simian Street Love Beads for Sale This is charming, man - bloody priceless http://theaxemen.org/2010/04/29/miley-makes-a-big-impression-on-axemen/ http://theaxemen.org/2010/04/29/miley-makes-a-big-impression-on-axemen/#comments Thu, 29 Apr 2010 04:54:12 +0000 steve mccabe http://theaxemen.wordpress.com/?p=4632 ]]> I often wondered if the stories they print on these pages are true or just made up by a bunch of horny youths frustrated at not getting any action – that is, until we went thru Nashville and met ‘the wild one’, Miley Cyrus.

The saga began when we had some time to kill, no idea where Miley lived but knew this was her home town, and were fast running out of gas. We cruised around for a while before parking up in a downtown gas station.

Miley and Bob - quit hustlin me, bitch!

“My turn to clean the car, lads!” Bob yelled enthusiastically, half-leaping, half tumbling out of the car then emphatically throwing off his shirt to expose his gleaming pecs. Steve bristled visibly as Bob manfully grabbed the hose, adjusted his nozzle and let loose with an intense  spurt of sudsy foam.

“Hey shut the door asshole!” yelled Dragan, awoken by the sudden presence of the foamy liquid on his face. “Thank god ..it was… just a… dream!” he said semi-coherently, slamming the door as he regained full consciousness, while smearing the foam over his chest, pausing occasionally to lick his fingers and let out a quiet moan, and humming a few bars of ‘Karma chameleon’ before sinking back into a deep sleep.

“I just got the number for Miley boys!” Stu yelled, swaggering out of the gas station. “I got it right here on my phone! Its made for low light so i can’t actually see it out here, I’ll just nip into the toilet and write it on my hand! Anyone got a pen? i can change it but it says it needs to dowload the latest os updates first and one of my apps still uses system 8.5.0.7! I think i can probably just jailbreak it and run both systems, even if it voids my warranty.” Steve handed him the pen.

When he came out Bob was giving the car a final chamois down, and was pausing, rivulets of sweat drizzling down his chest, to pull out and light a cigarette.

Mylie and Billy Ray - achin for it

“Someone lookin for Miley?”

The owner of that instantly recognizable Nashville drawl grabbed the cigarette out of bobs fingers, took a puff and then returned it to bob, as if it had never left his mouth.

We instantly recognised Billy Ray’s surly drawl, hacking cough awkward limp and bulging Calvin Kleins, which on this day protruded as if he were hiding a couple of souvenir tennis balls from the last Williams Sisters final.

“Looks like you guys got a bunch of achey breaky hearts!” he sneered, spitting a drawlful of tobacco onto the carpet – at this point, 5 seconds or so of of canned laughter/applause came thru the P.A. in the dressing room.

“Hell that always happens when i mention the Achey Breaky [he paused to wait for the applause to die down] – i had it written into my contract when i was young and foolish and now i can’t seem to get it unwritten…. the dangdest thing. almost having some kind o pact with the devil himself.”

Stu and Miley, AKA 'Smiley'

“Anyway” he scoffed, snapping himself out of his thoughts back to his cockier past, before Miley, before Hannah, “You boys looking for Miley or Hannah? cos I can tell you now that Miley’s gonna cost a lot more than Hannah, being a virgin and suchforth – Hannah just your typical skanky ho, but Miley… well she’s somethin else”

“Well we just came to see Miley” chirped Stu.

He may as well have had a roll of “Admit One” tickets and a flashlight the way he ushered us into the seedy underbelly of Nashville, and we were ready to get season reentrys until dragan, the sensible one, pointed out we were leaving Tennessee tomorrow.

Miley Cyrus Night and Day Tour

“Maybe we can do Miley today and Hannah tomorrow” suggested Dragan.

“We gotta be in Fresno, St Paul tomorrow by 1400 EST for frikks sake!” said Stu “-Stat!”.

“Thats Ok, I’m not driving so i can rest all day tomorrow” said Bob.

'Miley' and Dragan

After evaluating all the options, including some tempting Miley/Hannah lookalikes who somewhat repulsively class themselves by age (‘I am good Miley from ages 11-12!‘ – see left‘; ‘you will find i am replicating well the Hannah Montana from Series 3! You will not be disappointed if you  have learnt all the catchphrases and characters!’,'i will give good hannah to meet your budget, ma’am!”;”I am the cheapest hannah around! I have all my certificates!”), and after some heated debate, we decided to do the Miley Cyrus Night and Day Tour.

Well… What a day and Oh, what a nite that was!

Miley Cyrus , Axemen ham it up on the red carpet

The Red Carpet Walk (Miley seemed to prefer calling it a ‘ride’) was the first real insight into Miley’s world. Among the glitz and glamour of the A-list celebrities rolling up to collect their awards, drink their fill, and try to eke a meal out of the tiny portions of food provided (Madonna: “Hey Lady! I think you gave me Kate Moss’s portion! I think even she would be lickin her lips and rollin up for seconds!)

We got our meal – Don’t think it did our cause any harm having Meatloaf and Buster Bloodvessel at our table

Reprinted from http://mysterex.blogspot.com/2008/08/heavenly-bodies.html

It’s Kiwi rock myth now how Chris Knox pulled Cadbury’s Chocolate factory mate, Mick Dawson, a star gazing long haired English ex-pat, into his seminal Dunedin punk outfit, The Enemy, to play bass. A group in which Dawson never quite fitted. Picture by Chris Knox.

Dawson could write a great song. He’d done so in The Enemy – I Don’t Mind, Silly Girl, 15, Swimming Pool, and Cold Meat – songs he took with him on his departure in November 1978 to The Heavenly Bodies, his part-time Dunedin 1960s covers group formed with fellow former folkie Kim Barron, London SS guitarist Myles White, and drummer Neil Dobier.

The Heavenly Bodies had played The Enemy’s farewell party in October 1978 at the Coronation Hall as the BOFs reportedly “destroying The Enemy” before Dawson departed for Auckland.

That’s not how Dunedin rock writer Roy Colbert remembers it. “They didn’t blow The Enemy off the stage at Coronation Hall, Maori Hill, that was part of a Kay/Tannock vendetta against Chris Knox. The Bodies were fun, but didn’t even finish some of their songs. The Enemy blew everybody off the stage in those days, including bands who weren’t even in the country.

“Heavenly Bodies I never really cared for tho Mick is a good mate. They always seemed to argue all the time and backstab each other when they came to me in the store. They never AGREED on stuff. Once I remember them deciding to cover a Stones song – they did mainly covers – and the Mick side of the band wanted to do 1960s Stones and the younger side wanted to do late 1970s Stones so they finished choosing a Stones song from in between both preferred eras – I think it was Brown Sugar. That kinda summed them up for me.”

Mick’s new mob couldn’t work the Cook, Dunedin’s biggest venue, at first, because of The Enemy connection playing instead at the Prince of Wales. They picked up a following quickly in the southern city for their hot set of Enemy songs, new originals, and British rock classics, and won rave reviews in Rip It Up from home town boosters George Kay and DJ Keith Tannock. “Heavenly Bodies with old Enemy Mick Dawson in the driver’s seat recently gave an impressive performance of sixties standards, originals, and old Enemy songs. They do Enemy better than The Enemy. This band deserves to be top billed at any pub,” they gushed.

Heavenly Bodies were in Christchurch in May 1979 playing the Dux De Lux before stepping out with the rest of the new Dunedin crop at the Beneficiaries Hall. In August they entered 4ZB’s studio to record tracks for a three song maxi-single. Tracks were 15, which The Enemy had played, and All Those Years, both Dawson originals.

The next month they announced they were looking for keyboard player. Bevan Hudson filled the gap with guitar in late 1979. When Dawson’s old mates The Enemy came to town as Toy Love for a week at the Captain Cook they played a showcase at the Town Hall Concert Chamber with The Same, Bored Games, Heavenly Bodies, and Christchurch’s Androidss.

Heavenly Bodies were back in the studio soon after to capture Jealousy, Sophisticated, By The Sea and Inside Out.

There were mini-tours to Queenstown, Timaru and the Gladstone and Hillsborough in Christchurch. They placed third in the 4X0 Battle of the Bands in January 1980 after a popular performance, and blew The Boomtown Rats off the stage in the Town Hall in May 1980. The same month playing Christchurch’s Gladstone. An indifferent B52s support followed.

Amidst onstage violence, Heavenly Bodies, split in September 1980 with Mick leaving for Sydney, Australia. Their video of Back Home still scheduled for Radio With Pictures play. Another track from the same session, You’re So Foolish, a fine Dawson stutter rocker, was a standout song on the But We Can Write Songs Okay Dunedin rock n roll anthology released in 1996.

Mick was back in Dunedin in April 1981 replacing Selwyn Findley in Broken Models, who released two Mick Dawson songs also played by Heavenly Bodies – By The Sea and Inside Out on the Custard Records label (their own).

At their best they were a group who “provided a bridge between the ageless chestnuts of the 1960s with the vital contemporary energy of the time,” fan George Kay wrote. You’re So Foolish is ample evidence of that.

When this story was written Kim Barron was the manager of Liquorland in Gore. Myles White was an accountant at Glendermid House, Dunedin. Neil Dobier was also still in Dunedin. Mick Dawson lived in Petersham, Sydney. He never answered my letters preferring to maintain a Phil-Judd like silence. Peace Mick.

Heavenly Bodies – known recordings
15, All Those Years – 4ZB Studio, Dunedin – August 1979

Jealousy, Sophisticated, All Those Years, By The Sea, Inside Out, You’re So Foolish, Back Home – November 1979

Video

Heavenly Bodies – Back Home – 1980

Dates (Heavenly Bodies play all shows): May ’79 – Dux de Lux. June ’79 – Mosgiel. Here Come the Weekend Punks – The Clean. Bored Games. Beneficiaries Hall. Dunedin. September ’79 – Dux de Lux. 7. 8. October ’79 – Captain Cook. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. November ’79 – Hillsborough. 7. Lion Tavern. 15. 16. 17. Captain Cook. 21. 22. 23. 24. January ’80 – Captain Cook. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. Battle of The Bands. Town Hall. 29. Downtown Tavern. 30. 31. February ’80 – Downtown Tavern. 1. 2. March ’80 – Lion Tavern. 1. Captain Cook. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Lion Tavern. 7. 8. Captain Cook. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. Hatchcover. 28. 29. 30. April ’80 – Gladstone. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Captain Cook. 19. May ’80 – Gladstone. The Boomtown Rats. June ’80 – Law Courts. 6. 7. The Clean. Captain Cook. 11. 12. 13. 14. The Clean. Law Courts. Dunedin. 21. July ’80 – Shoreline. 2. 3. 4. Captain Cook. 18. 19. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. B52s. August ’80 – Toy Love. Bored Games. The Same. Concert Chambers. Dunedin. 24. September ’80 – Captain Cook. 10. 11. 12. 13.

Axemen Dirty Laundry Liquid - makes the laundry even dirtier!

As, sadly, Stu and Bob aren’t talking to me and there are obviously some communication issues and I suspect they somehow feel wronged, I thought I would get the ball rolling and air the grievances I have about what was otherwise a fantastic and unforgettable US Tour, my lifelong dream and something which I would do again in an instant.

I would love to get any comments from other touring bands and perhaps even Stu and Bob themselves.

Don’t get me wrong, I had a great time and I feel my life is actually now complete and I don’t feel I need to prove myself to anyone ever again; I am grateful for that and appreciate all that everyone put into it – it does irk me however that the person citing (correctly) that communication is the key to us getting on in future is ignoring his own advice.

Anyway, for the benefit of anyone else who ends up in this situation, these are my Top 12 Grievances (in no particular order)

Steves Top 12 US Tour Crimes

1. [bb] carrying illicit drugs in the touring vehicle without informing drivers. This could result in drug convictions and deportation for the perpetrator, but also could implicate the driver for smuggling across state borders, a federal offence. Take your own risks, but don’t drag everyone else down with you.
2. [sk] demanding payment for gig in Santa Cruz he didn’t play at because of illness when he knew it was coming out of my pocket.
3. [ds] saying stu was a shit drummer. not good for confidence and cohesion at a time when he was down
4. [sm] drinking and ‘wrecking’ a couple of gigs (isn’t that considered ‘normal’ axemen behaviour? in the old days sober gigs were in the minority…)
5. [bb] partying and smoking so much hooch and cigarettes bb was hoarse and unable to sing for 2 or 3 gigs on the east coast (again, ‘normal’…?)
6. [sk] whinging in the tour van about temperature, music, health, etc. – grating after a few days.
7. [ds] sleeping at merch table
8. [sm] getting shitty at bob for trying to get his rocks off with some girl in Austen and saying that if he went off I wouldn’t come and pick him up ([sk] would no doubt have agreed to do this despite us both knowing bb’s longterm girlfriend – “they might have an arrangement…”) if he went off with her.
9. [sm] calling bb’s longterm girlfriend in NZ (just back from taking his kids to his dads funeral in dunedin) to ask if they had an arrangement (nope, although bb had mentioned a couple of days before leaving that he might sleep with other people) and to ask what she wanted me to do (“don’t give him any more money, i’ve already given him $2000″) then refusing to pick him up in the morning after i told him i wouldn’t the nite before.
10. [bb] wandering off and losing cellphone so was not contactable in large cities where there were tight deadlines so we had to wait around and/or go find him.
11. [sk] trying to hide the fact that bb passed out in NY from not controlling his diabetes due to being so out of it he forgot to take insulin
12. [sk] taking credit for arranging tour and paying for rental car – thats fine if you’re trying to impress the ladies, but not trying to lord it over other bandmembers

hope this is useful, my therapist said it would be helpful to me to itemise my grievances – i can feel the good already! thanks guys! love ya!

Punt of Derry Castle Survivors

Main Auckland Island to the Firth of Thames
Get me off this ship of fools!
The ferry’s legendary its a primary focus
The more you take on the more you got to lose

Get in the punt of Derry Castle survivors
I am alive. I will survive, believe me!
Get off the grass you bunch of part-timers
Breath in the Word, then bleed for me or bleed me!

I think he wants to focus now!
Wish he’d take the photo first
its a photo finish, just ask Matt
and all the survivors behind him

Irons in the fire , a burning desire
still haven’t found what i’m looking for
satanic verses in unreadable languages
aren’t really verses at all!

Get in the punt of Derry Castle Survivors
Their names be unfamiliar, but your grandchildren knows it
Livin for the city is workin for the man
i just wanna live for the working class man

The song, its wrong, sorry to waste your time
tumbling fumbling mixture of words
Kilkenny seperatists citing the punt
everybody has to take a punt!

Anyone who had a heart wouldn’t want to break one
Could it be you haven’t got a heart
Grab a martial arts leaflet, please do take one
Sufferin’ for our our art

Back-Story
kindly reprinted from http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/castaways/2/3

Pic: Here a punt is being removed from the Rose Island boatshed in 1973 for safe keeping in a weatherproof museum at Erebus Cove. The survivors of the Derry Castle built themselves this wooden punt to sail from Enderby Island, where their ship was wrecked, to the provision depot on the main Auckland Island.

Kings and serfs alighted, they flitted from island to island.

Being boat-based, these beatnik boatniks assumed the asinine affinity incorporation as expected of a corporate cultural construct, with a hierarchy that has signoff requirements and some bureaucracy to deal with should it become fashionable , common sense or as a last resort go to back to the traditional skills.

kia kaha kapai ai

Steve,  S.M.A.

I met Mark at Pyrmont Squats in Sydney somewhere around 1982. He jumped through my window because he heard me playing Bob Marley on my record player and wanted to listen as well. That was the beginning of a wild adventure for the next 14-15 years.

Mark was a wordsmith rather than a great musician (in my opinion)…he was a good guitarist though and loved to entertain people with his music. I was drawn to his enthusiasm to life and I liked what he was doing musically because he was different. Different to musicians I had met before him because he wasn’t trying to be Bob Dylan or Neil Young , but was very experimental…(eg; making a beat with a typewriter’s clicking keys) which is something I discovered about most of the Kiwis I met in Oz, they all seemed to believe in themselves in that their creativity was as relevant as, if not more relevant than anything that was in the mainstream.  I was from Papua New Guinea and the music there was very mainstream or traditional PNG, so this was very refreshing to me.

Blase Plag 1983

Not long after meeting, Mark and I set off in a Holden station wagon and started to make our way around Australia, busking wherever we needed to. First stop 1983 at a small tobacco  farm in a place called “Smoko” in Nth East Victoria, where we picked tobacco  and recorded poetry and music in our caravan with a Washburn steel string and a cardboard suitcase as a drum. That was the beginning of “Blase Plag” (Blase Plaguerism) whereby we did similar things to what George H was talking about in one blog – reading from HP Lovecraft or excerpts from other books while making bizarre sounds.

Next stop was Adelaide for a year, 1984.

Mark still wrote a lot but played very little and was becoming more and more interested in politics and became a real crusader for the underdog. The two of us became very involved in the Unemployed Movement whereby we ran a radio program (giving tips to  people  on how to survive on the dole), a soup kitchen and a gourmet restaurant for the unwaged and we became advocates  at our local Community Centre.

However amongst the serious stuff Mark still managed to “do his thang” and was constantly developing new personas with which to perform by. His favourite one at the time was donning a tradespersons jacket and a yellow hardhat. He would carry an old leather doctors satchel that had a hammer and lots of nails. He would then walk down the main street and hammer a nail into each telegraph pole (they were all wooden back then) until he got to the end of the street ,and would then walk back removing each one, and putting them back into his satchel, as he went. I was usually following – at a distance – and filming the reactions of people.

At our “Gourmet Restaurant” ,Mark would wear a plastic Moose head on his back and serve people backwards. One evening we heard rumour that a Health Inspector was coming to dinner, but  we wouldn’t  know who it was. Mark was unimpressed with the method of spying, so he served our pet kitten (alive) to each table with the food to weed the guy out. It worked and the Inspector closed the kitchen down. That was the impulsive person that he was.

Adelaide produced “The Tickled Pinks” which was Mark, myself, Peter Hall Jones and Briar Humphreys – a one-off recording/cassingle about drunken debauchery.

After Adelaide came Perth for a  year – 1985.  No music was made in Perth, just solid politics….anti nukes, aboriginal land-rights, peace, youth rights and socialism was flavour of the year.

Mark went back to Wellington,New Zealand early 1986. I followed a few months later and Mark had  already  established  himself in the music scene he’d left behind some 5 or 6 years earlier. Kevin Hawkins was now Screamin’ K Hawkins, Jessica Walker had Electric Church, Jude Horner and Merlene (?) were the Geisha Girls. There was the Brothers Gorgonzola and Sparky’s Magic Baton. Many people’s names I have forgotten so I have not mentioned them in the bands. Please forgive me if I have forgotten you.

Citizens of No Land (CONL) 1987-8

Our band was Citizens of No Land (CONL), which was Mark Thomas, Mark Crawford and myself on guitars, Lisa Beech on Violin and Flute and at one stage Anna Meihana backing vocals. Most of our songs were original numbers and were largely protest songs.We weren’t a commercial band and we played mostly at benefit gigs for minority groups or for causes.Mark always said at the beginning of each gig ;”We are Citizens of No Land, because the ownership of this land is based on Colonial Oppression, therefore we fight oppression in the hope that we may become,Citizens of This Land.” http://www.youtube.com/user/nasusselams#p/a/u/0/tog6K8n88mM

Soaring Eagle 1990-2

Following Wellington we moved to Marlborough and lived in various houses. Our two sons , Anton  http://www.myspace.com/antonpatuthomas and Ringo were born in Blenheim, and so was  Soaring Eagle. This was an interesting body of work as it was largely Mark playing solo and experimenting a lot with poetry/rap/and rhyme. All of it was recorded on our old ghetto blaster at home and is interspersed with talking kiddies and saucepans clanging because daily life had to go on around the creative endeavours.

Sharkface 1993-96

It was in Nelson that Mark became known as Sharkface both on and off-stage. He was well known amongst the literary circles as a performer and poet who never held back his words and thoughts and presented them in a way completely unique to Mark.

In 1993  he released  a Cassingle (No CD’s yet) called Voices from the Village Idiot with his band Manic Blather (Nathan Judge on bass, Richard Lambert drums, Mark gat and vox).

Live at The Art Centre, Nelson

1994 saw Mark as part of a theatre group  under the direction of Kim Merry (now deceased) and Donna Chapman through the  Nelson Community Arts Centre and Creative New Zealand. That year also saw him in a short film produced by the Nelson Media Studies Group of Nelson Polytech, called Jude goes to Whakatu. He also provided the backing track. This can be seen on  http://www.youtube.com/user/nasusselams#p/a/u/2/QFUkC88u6kA

Mark played with many different Nelson muso’s. He had a very sharp mind and could pull off spontaneous raps easily which made him a  great entertainer. A video performance of him with a few of the local Maori fellas called “Sharkface at The Watchtower” is on you tube @   http://www.youtube.com/user/nasusselams

1995 was Crimson Blood Spit which was with Nathan Judge again as bass player and a variety of drummers.

1996 I had formed my own band Morrigan http://www.myspace.com/eusselams and Mark and I were just discussing having a joint gig. Sadly it never came about. He passed away March 16th 1996.

In 2001 I produced, with the help of Dave White, a compilation CD of Mark’s music called, Sharkface – The Farces of Vitriol. This was a selection of music from each era that I had known his music, dating 1980 to 1995. It has been distributed to National Archives, National Library and Radio New Zealand, so it remains a recorded part of New Zealand musical history.

cf: http://theaxemen.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/ird-door-smasher-had-warned-of-terrorism/

Man angry at IRS crashes plane into building

As 2009 comes to a close, The House List’s writers and photographers (and editor) take a look back at the year that was. Check back tomorrow for our year-end photo gallery.

My Top Five 7″ Tour Singles

I’ve always loved that for the price of a drink, bands sometimes go the extra distance for their tour and press 7″ vinyl that you really can’t get anywhere else but at the merch table.

1. Times New Viking/Axemen, Tour Single
I love Times New Viking’s no-fi melodic messiness, and they save the great experimental stuff for their B-sides. I got this at their Mercury Lounge show. That it was a split with New Zealand legends the Axemen was even better. Only later did I find out each band covered the other’s songs and they hand-colored every copy! It’s that combination of paying homage to this influential band and introducing people through their reinterpretations that makes this an easy No. 1.

2. Jeff Novak, “Home Sweet Home” Single
I recognized Stephen Braren of Cheap Time behind the table after the Jay Reatard show at Music Hall of Williamsburg, and I got Jeff Novak’s long sold-out single from Reatard’s Shattered Records. I actually ended up contacting Novak after this and talked with him for my own blog.

3. Black Dice, “Chocolate Cherry” Tour Single
Black Dice have just a handful of singles from quite a few years ago, so when I saw them at The Bowery Ballroom, I was just looking out of habit. But this unlabeled single ended up being from Catsup Plate, which put out the insane Animal Collective LP box set this year. Both unreleased tracks were a departure—almost funk and with recognizable vocal samples! Truly weird.

4. Make a Mess Records, “Brilliant Colors” Single
I went to see Nodzzz and Wavves at the Underground Lounge on the Upper West Side. I managed to talk to Eric Butterworth from Nodzzz, who had just pressed a single on his label, Make a Mess Records. This ended up being one of my favorites of the year. Simple, stripped-down female-fronted No Wave punk pop.

5. The Balkans, “C++” Tour Single
I caught the Balkans at a new space in Brooklyn called Little Field. Woody Shortridge had pressed a single-sided 7″ at home, and I had to see it for myself. He pours them in his apartment and you get a really crazy-looking handmade single with the lowest of low-fi sound. And it helps that the track is great too. —Jason Dean, writer

HEALTH, Times New Viking, Axemen, Teenage Cool Kids

Friday, November 6,at The Lounge on Elm Street

By Daniel Rodrigue

Published on November 04, 2009 at 10:05am

In what’s likely to be remembered as one of the best Dallas shows of ’09, Los Angeles’ Health and Ohio’s Times New Viking will share a bill in town before heading off to Austin for Fun Fun Fun Fest. And, for each of these acts, 2009 has already been a good year. For Times New Viking, 2009 has seen the band release its second post-Stiltbreeze Records album on Matador. Health, meanwhile, released Get Color as a follow-up to the band’s brilliant 2007 self-titled debut. And since both bands’ records have garnered enough positive reviews that they seem destined to pop up on many a best-albums-of-the-year list, it’s fitting that the show would also feature a local act of the same caliber.

To help open the show, show promoter Parade of Flesh has booked Denton‘s Teenage Cool Kids, which has just returned to the region after a three-month international tour in support of Foreign Lands—the band’s best work to date and a clear front-runner for best local release of 2009.

All three acts are known for their unforgettable, kinetic live shows, so the bill’s already an explosive powder keg of a night even without adding Kiwi-pop/punk act Axemen.

===============================================

Reprinted from: http://philmangone.com

Phil Mangone

Great night of live music at the Lounge on Elm Street in Dallas. Parade of Flesh presented Health, Times New Viking, The Axemen, and Teenage Cool Kids. Times New Viking was kind enough to do a post show photo session.

Times New Viking / The Axemen @ Maxwell’s

So I neglected to post pictures and thoughts on the Times New Viking gig at Maxwell’s two weekends ago. Nothing much to report from the show, although I was a little surprised how small the crowd was for a somewhat name act. In any event, drummer Adam Elliott, with a fresh haircut, announced to the crowd at the start, “We have 16 songs, this is No. 1″. I thought, “well, this should be done in 32 minutes.” Almost, it was around 45 minutes. These cats don’t mess around. After the 16th song, they were out the door. They must have other plans post-show. I don’t blame them, sometimes I feel a need to get out of Hoboken on a Friday night.

The Ohio band’s latest release on Matador is Born Again Revisited. It’s no-fi hotness compacted into a 35-minutes of fuzz, buzz and screams. I wouldn’t expect anything less.

Previously:

• T.N.V. played Siren Festival in 2008.
• This year, they did a co-headlining tour with Vivian Girls

The Axemen of New Zealand are your straight forward retro garage rock band. The only thing to note is that their lead singer reminded me of Patton Oswalt. Wackity Smackity Dooooo

The collection is fascinating and is kindly on loan from Kawowski’s private library, and I feel it gives a revealing insight into the psyche of the typical American Axemen fan.

]]> http://theaxemen.org/2010/01/01/collection-of-objects-thrown-to-stu-kawowski-onstage-while-on-tour/feed/ 0 noisyland img_5320scale3 80-brick-phone turd 020 blundstone_46_480 dentures DSC_0073 cane Underpants tn_old_telephone st_DSC_0076 spectacles-006 shoes MPSZS imperial_state_crown pink_dildo below_the_knee_bloomers_eyelet_lg http://theaxemen.org/2010/01/01/gig-preamblecommentary-123-pleasant-street-morgantown-club-frills-axemen-times-new-viking/ http://theaxemen.org/2010/01/01/gig-preamblecommentary-123-pleasant-street-morgantown-club-frills-axemen-times-new-viking/#comments Fri, 01 Jan 2010 04:54:18 +0000 steve mccabe http://theaxemen.wordpress.com/?p=4355 ]]> Posted by:  Tactic Beeves Millet

Bob Brannigan, 123 Pleasant Street

We were slightly apprehensive about playing in Morgantown, West Virginia, a student town which didn’t seem particularly on our tour path, just before thanksgiving when many of the students would have gone home.
We needn’t have worried.

Axemen, 123 Pleasant Street, Morgantown - l-r: steve mccabe, stu kawowski, dragan stojanovic, bob brannigan

Great venue, great people, one of the most generous drink tabs we encountered (up there with Memphis) – 8 drink tickets each band member and free sodas for drivers/non drinkers so the extra tickets split between the drinkers – on this occasion – Steve and Bob…

Steve McCabe (Axemen), Rich Johnson (Club Frills)

Harriet Tubman, Pleasant Street, Morgantown

Sticker Wall, Pleasant Street, Morgantown

Dragan works on Steve's Telecaster, Morgantown

The spoils of war: drinks bracelets on Steve's arm, Morgantown

Honourable mention also goes to the Black Bear Cafe across the road on Pleasant Street where we had some great burritos and Beth’s vegan diet and Dragans abhorrence and intolerance for gluten products were admirably catered for with minimal fuss.

Morgantown is also clos to the hometown of Dusty White, erstwhile TNV sound engineer, and the stomping ground of one of three acts we played with who payed homage to the Axemen by covering one of our songs ‘Beware the train of thought’ (the others being Times New Viking who played ‘Rocks in my Heart’ a couple times and Dave Diarrhea in Chicago).

Times New Viking, 123 Pleasant Street, Morgantown l-r Beth, Adam, Jared

To these guys especially, and all the support bands who shortened their sets to squeeze us in we give thanks, in the name of the father, the son and the holy ghost!

Times New Viking, Hallelujah The Hills, and The Axemen @ Great Scott in Boston (Pics/Review)

Times New Viking with Hallelujah the Hills and the Axemen

Great Scott (Boston, Mass.), Saturday, Nov. 21

Newly signed to Matador and veterans of Siltbreeze, the Columbus, Ohio-based Times New Viking brought its stripped-down to the raw, garage blast to Boston. Imagine a songbook based on the pure distillation of “Louie, Louie,” boiled down to a sticky black lump, with a dash of strychine via the Sonics, perfect for singing along (or, better, shouting along). Boston’s own Hallelujah the Hills wrapped up a five week tour and were tighter than Glenn Beck’s throbbing forehead vein. The band has improved much since I saw it play, opening for Silver Jews in 2008. The band played a good passel of songs with tons of energy. Opening honors were handled by New Zealand’s the Axemen, making what I believe is their first ever trip to tour the States, despite being founded in 1981. They are not the “Dunedin Sound” type of band, so don’t go expecting jangly pop like the stuff by the Chills. It was a multi-headed beast of garage rock, some ’60s-influenced numbers and even a hardcore tune tossed into the mix.

When: Sat., Nov. 28, 9:30 p.m. 2009
Price: $7 suggested donation

WFMU Recording Studio, NYC

WFMU Recording Studio, NYC

“Nutsack” was written in Los Angeles by Dragan Stojanovic & Bob Brannigan October 2009, inspired by Ice Cube rapping about his nutsack and busting a nut

More video...

blasting out of our KIA sound system on the LA freeways, oh and seeing squirrels in the parks all over USA, and the fact we lived out of nutsacks from Wholefoods for 5 weeks on our 7,000 mile tour.

Brannigan and Kawowski with Brian Turner

Kawowski videoed the event and pounded the skins while McCabe added his two-bit guitar part, as WFMU’s Brian Turner, Jason Sigal and Alex Yockey provided the lads with a fantastic opportunity to record a snapshot of a typical set from their recent US tour while they were in New York in November 2009. An inspiration to lovers everywhere.

The full show can be heard here…

Post by Mecca Be Vets

Sushi King in action in E20 test kitchen

Living and working in a smaller space gives one the chance to evaluate many innovative and space saving tools, given the limited kitchen area and restricted prep-room, some economy and conservation of preparation area in the areas of both menu (Roast Turkey, Glazed Ham and Side of Lamb are not ideal in the 9″ x 6″ Test Kitchen space, epecially as the main oven is a toast ‘n’ grill, perfectly adequate for one, with slow cooker and compact microwave as adjuncts).

Check out the Sushi King at Sushiking.co.nz!

As an avid small-kitchen chef,I revel in anything which allows for using a limited food preparation area – japanese and other high density population areas invite and incoct such dishes and ingenious food processing tool inventors are only too happy to come to the party with clever, practical, and economical inventions such as the SUSHI KING ^TM which, with its offbeat ‘squaring the circle’ build-a-traditional-japanese-food-preparation-device-using-new-zealand-native-timber approach, would seem on the surface to be an oddity, a curiosity piece, the archetypal square peg in a rond hole, but somehow (oddly or not) it makes perfect sense and performs its intended function out of the box, as advertised, to the n^th degree.

Sushi King - Hip to be Square

I’m Steve McCabe, and I like a tasty fish. With my life-threatening heart condition, and as an international rockstar with a substantial fanbase to whom I am still at times a fickle golden calflike idol, when i get a hankering for some pescine produce I look for an oily fish.

Sometimes I can’t get, can’t afford, or don’t feel like the brazen archetype heart-healthy, Omega-3-ridden, bulging with healthiness, stamina and proud fish-oil air of authority and entitlement,  healthy as a nutsack on heat hovering over a supersized bowl of garden Caesar Salad, breathing in the sweet nectar of toasting sesame seeds while trying to decide between the smoked or non-smoked salmon fillet, on the rye or on the pumpernickel….

Trevally Fillets

The flesh is darker in colour when raw but once cooked the flesh turns brilliant white. It has a full flavour with a medium to firm texture. A high-oil fish suitable for a wide range of preparations.

Ave Sangria - con los pescados

…Thats when I reach for Trevally & Sangria Snacks, Bar Snacks, Gel Rockets and Fantasy Fizz – there’s something for everyone!

From the far-off hills to the kids and their cheap thrills, a party’s not a party till you’re full of beans!

Reprinted from: http://worldofwumme.blogspot.com/2009/11/thnxgvng-with-axemen.html

Additional photos by Axemen

There’s always something unimaginably comforting about heading home for Thanksgiving (or for that matter heading home on any number of select weekends throughout the year). But the gluttony and relaxation that persists on this particular holiday can not be overlooked.

I wasn’t as much worried about their settling into to a quintessential suburban ritual, as I was anxious how my parents might react to having America’s collector scum wet-dream tour (add one drummer from TNV to the mix) make a two-day stop in Troy.

Thanksgiving, Columbus OH

I shouldn’t have had any reservations. Patti and Jeff should get a medal for their hosting abilities. I never knew how liberal my parents actually are (now only if they’d align that mentality with their politics) until I saw them nurturing a gluten free meal for ol’ Dragan. But I digress.

Thanksgiving, Columbus OH

If you’re looking for tragic tales of drunken tirades and streaking through the town square or foul-mouthed kiwis looting the curio cabinet and tagging the doilies with pen knives – you aren’t going to find it here. Axemen are gentlemen. And though they may not be used to our ultra-consumer, warm and fuzzy, football coma shenanigans, they fit right in as adopted Elliotts.

If so anti-climatic, then why the post? Well, it was the well of anomaly that occurred at Troy, Ohio’s pre-eminent 18-35 yr. old hangout, The Brewery, the night before, which prompted this rant. Beyond simply wanting to tie one on in downtown Troy, beyond meeting up with an absent Justin Smith, beyond even the slightest want of nostalgic conversation with past peers whom I have nothing to converse, was a triple bill of Miami County’s finest “music.” Even then, the event of the week at the bar “everyone” goes to was pretty much split between dated booty music (first floor) and townie hard-lucks (second floor) and hardly a soul in the room with the stage, and the real instruments, and the performers. Still, it was a oddly intriguing trio of bands, going from karaoke rural gangsta’ rap to two-man Ween influenced mayhem, to standard issue thrash-emo-speed metal sludge.

Low Budget was first, featuring some kid who used to play basketball with my bro at the Lincoln Center back in the early ‘90s, replete with two hype men. They wore t-shirts emblazoned with Low Budget (were those made at the Troy Sports Center?) and hats reading the same. I thought the name was clever and their rhymes mighty inventive for what seemed like freestyle over the Ipod. In fact it reminded me most of another swang “low” duo from Cali, Low Profile, who went on to become W.C. and the Maad Circlen (a personal favorite). It did get tiresome, overwrought, and something I was happy stopped before it was too late. While I encourage all hip-hop troupes trying to make it in small town America (Teenage Soldiers R.I.P.), I would have liked to have seen them add some regional flavor to their oeuvre. I don’t know exactly what that would entail. In Columbus it’s a working-man, blue-collar, everyone’s invited atmosphere – so would this be sub-Columbus, or even sub-Springfield? I bet the gangsters thrive in Piqua. Explore there. Where’s Shane Darner when you need him?

Next up was the biggest surprise of the night. Electric Banana hail from Dayton, but seem to play most of their gigs at various submarine houses around Troy. Like the Weens, Chromeos, and Party Dreams that have come before them – most of what they do is borne of goofing and can only elicit good times, no heavy-handed criticism here. I’m sure if I were privy to the inane lyrics (I’m sure I heard “pussy” mentioned more than thrice) I wouldn’t have been as thrilled, and if they weren’t serving up PBR tallboys (just like home) I probably wouldn’t be expounding about their simple genius – but both factors were in place and the antics of Jimmy Spade, the mohawk-clad frontman of the two, made for a stellar evening. It was rudimentary funk worship and novel hip-hop in a stoner metal package, but they played it to perfection, knew how to work the “crowd” and had catchy melodies to off-set any whiff of scatology. I want them to come to Columbus, soon.

The last band of the evening could be wrapped up in one song. Through an Ocean of Plagues do what they do well, do it tight, and do it frenetic…..but I wasn’t in any kind of mood after the insanity of Electric Banana. I mean, c’mon, how you can take a band like this seriously? From their one sheet:

The phrase “Through an Ocean of Plagues” metaphorically describes the route humanity takes on its journey to self-destruction. Civilization evolves by consuming and destroying, usurping its power through the contamination and eventual erasure of its competitors. Rather than coexisting, Nature is enslaved, dissolved, and forgotten. Such is the legacy of future generations, once humankind has siphoned the last of the Earth’s resources. Without a target for destruction, we turn our sights to our own demise.

This rural Ohio quintet addresses these issues, translating the impending onslaught of disease, war, and social deconstruction into a medium by which they may express their opinions. The music is brutal, though it still retains a melodious quality meant to remind the listener that social harmony is lost but not forgotten. The live performance of the music parallels its subject matter, brutally portraying the bands frustration and outrage.

I did overhear the lead singer at 3 AM telling his friend he was headed home to “get fucked and fucked,” which I can only assume means he was continuing his quest for drugs and sex. So that was entertaining. But with all of this music, the highlight of the evening? — HUGH KELLY, smartest man on earth.

Axemen play in Columbus

But this was all about Axemen, right? Goodness. They played the Friday after the gorging in Columbus.

Axemen are gentlemen

I’m a bit out of words to go on and describe them, but it’s likely they showed a few “shitgaze” (sic) signifiers throughout their entire set of crust blues and the purest of kiwi protest/prank garage rock – but it all had the guise of a professional band playing like it was the last show of the tour.

This is how you do it. Release the Three Virgins already. I don’t have it yet. Three [3??? - LSM] of the most delightful men I’ve ever had the chance to meet.

Here’s hoping it gets this hopping over Christmas.

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=191255993910

Note: CD material is available from http://sleekbott.com

The Axemen, sans McCabe, sans Stojanovic, plus Turner, WFMU, 2009

Artist: Axemen
Title: Scary! Part III
Label: Siltbreeze
Long known underground stars from New Zealand, The Axemen are now gaining some well-deserved notoriety here in the States thanks to one of our finest labels, Siltbreeze. Tom Lax has again exhibited sterling musical sense in [repressing - sic.] – re-pressing “Scary! Part III” and “Big Cheap Motel.”

Steve McCabe with Shonen Knife, Fun Fun Fun Fest, Austin TX 2009

And while it’s not an easy task trying to pin down their sound, especially considering the variety of their entire discography (much less the territorial span of music on this release), I’ll give it a shot.

On my first listening, I immediately drew a comparison to Royal Trux, but that was basically drawn from the majority of vocals on the record, featuring some of the coolest, junked-out vox either before or after the Trux hit the scene.

AXEMEN - cool it with the pool boy

From the get-go, the song “Heart Bullet” features some insanely fucked up vocals and word play. Unlike a lot of New Zealand music, the vocals are uncharacteristically mixed up and not buried in the instrumentation. It kind of paradoxically makes the voice seem like another instrument—I’m at a loss finding (other than Herrema) anyone to compare the vocals to while maintaining any real dignity. Suffice it to say that they’re easily in the upper echelon of all rock vox, and it’s continued across both wunnerfuly screwed tracks on the double LP set.

2009: 300% Sikh & Tyred

Though the music is varied, you never get the feeling that the album was thrown together as pieces. As incoherent and absurd as it is, the record has a marvelous cohesion, at times overtly a downer, such as the track “10 Miles (as the crow flies)” and other points like the near-sinister, hardcore influenced “Join the R.A.F.”

The Mirror News by Vince Carmody, DJ at Chapel Hill's Local 506 Club

It’s near-put impossible to fix these fellers into any genre, and that’s a damn good thing. Not only that, it’s a fucking difficult thing to pull off convincingly, yet the Axemen do so with, well what’s the write word, grace? How about ‘instinct?’ That seems more apropos. It’s an instinct which speaks more to an overall aesthetic than does it any attempt to play this or that style of music.

This one of the strangest records ever sludged to wax, and it’s caused that compulsive collector in my to try and track down any and all of their recordings, which, from what I’ve read, is going to be a formidable task. This is no surprise since they formed around 1981 and have recorded pretty consistently since, and even through the broad spectrum of music the venerable Flying Nun label have pressed over the years, The Axemen stand totally on their own. Flying Nun wasn’t their only label over the years—there have been several, but as an American touchstone, it’s appropriate to mention them as one of the better-known imprints to bring up.

Sickie Stojanovic, 123 Pleasant Street, Morgantown, West Virginia

All I can tell you is that, even on this one double LP, influences include American hardcore and DIY, Beefheart (though nothing obvious springs to mind at the outset), a sort of Zappaesque sense of humor, bizarre synth music, employ of loops and on and on.

The Axemen are their own entity. The only downside to this is that it took so long for an American pressing to go down. I’ve heard that they’ve met with largely great critical press on their recent tour of the U.S. One can only hope that it continues and that we see them again very soon.

P. Somniferum

Times New Viking / Axemen tour single

Picked this up last night at the TNV show at Mercury Lounge with the Axemen…my friend Pat told me to look out for a tour only single at the merch table, and there it was.
Does a band with the power of Matador behind it have to press a split single, hand color the xerox sleeve and inscribe the inner label for their US tour with the Axemen? HELL NO.
But they did it anyway.

I have to admire this.
Plus they set out to educate an audience to a NZ band that probably deserves more due that I’ve never come across before, I’m always up for that.

Didn’t know anything about the Axemen before they went on other than the brief mentions at Siltblog after their reissue by Tom of a huge part of their back catalog.

I stood there watching thinking, ‘I’m sure these guys are important’ especially to the first few rows. I’ve been reading about their protest albums/accident (crash) into some government office in NZ, they weren’t in it for the money obviously.

I can respect anyone touring 20+ years later etc…but it just wasn’t my thing. The one time they got me was an insane hardcore blast, but honestly they didn’t seem happy about it. Have to dive further into the Siltbreeze catalog.
They cover each other on this thing which I wasn’t expecting at all.

The Axemen track on the single ‘SIcKh & TYRED’ is a great interpretation of the track from the TNV Stay Awake EP. I’m into it when they replicate the back and forth Beth Adam vocals. Sounds good.

They have to feel pretty cool that these guys covered one of their tracks for this. I honestly had no idea until I played it this morning.

Times New Viking on the other side cover ‘Rocks in my Heart’ by the Axemen. Which includes the lyric ‘Sick and Tired’ also I noticed…weird. They make this song fit into their catalog, emphasizing the pop chords and immediacy, all with just a touch their special fuzz. Excellent…can’t believe this really. I am honored guys. It’s too much.

Here’s Jared working on the covers…

Reprinted from: http://www.soundonthesound.com/tag/axemen/

The Daily Choice: Times New Viking – Rocks In My Heart

reprinted from: http://www.123pleasantstreet.com/misc/history/4

Page 4: The Underground Railroad, the Dry House, and the Underground, 1982-1990 

In 1982, 123 (the stage room) and 125 (the upper room) became the home to a vibrant Morgantown music community with the opening of The Underground Railroad (URR), largely conceived and operated by the now-legendary (in Morgantown, at least) Marsha Ferber.

Marsha and a group of friends with a common interest in music and a distaste for the status quo of the early 1980s spawned the idea of a bar where music was the binding force bringing together all types of people in a peaceful atmosphere.

The Underground Railroad’s name came from her desire to have a place where people could “find their way to freedom,” by interacting and listening to music without regard to skin color, dress, sexuality, hair style, or ideas. Harriet Tubman, the heroine of the real Underground Railroad, was painted on the wall of 123 and came to symbolize the bar’s concept of basic equality among all people.

The bar reflected Marsha’s idealism, her politics, and her taste in music. To help things out, at nearly the same time U92 (the WVU student radio station) went on the air with an alternative format and began supporting local music, while the student newspaper, the DA, began to follow happenings and shows at the bar with interest. To complete the circle an independent record store on High Street called Backstreet Records began carrying local music in conjunction with stuff you couldn’t find anywhere else. Morgantown’s underground music scene was born.

The Underground Railroad specialized in music-inspired fun, with healthy doses of art and politics which emanated an energy that invigorated Morgantown. It was the Reagan years after all, and there was revolution in the air among those not of the conservative mind-set.

There had always been local bands and artists in Morgantown, but the arrival of a venue which supported them on a long-term basis inspired a flowering of original music, art, and nearly anything else people wanted to put on the stage or the walls. Moreover, beginning with a show by Bo Diddley in January 1985, nationally known bands started showing up on the URR stage at an ever-increasing rate. The Dry House, an all-ages venue, opened in the lower room in 1985. The Brick Row building was showing its age by this time, but it became a place that drew people back again and again.
[Note: During URR days the liquor bar was in the stage room. The upper room was turned into a vegetarian eatery (during the day) and bar area at night. The Blue Ribbon Restaurant, two doors up from 123 in what is now The Adventure's Edge store, was a standard visit for Undergrounders after long nights of music.]

The Daily Athenaeum, April 24, 1986

In the spring of 1988, the pivotal Morgantown band Th’ Inbred broke up, and student favorites Shank Swing and the Divots called it quits also. Still, April of 1988 was like any other month at the Underground RR, with a bevy of bands playing. This changed on April 25, the day owner Marsha Ferber walked out of the bar and disappeared without a trace. She was never seen again. Marsha was reported missing but the police, her family, and her friends never turned up any substantial leads to her whereabouts either dead or alive. Like Elvis, one can still hear rumours of Marsha sightings from ex-Morgantownies around the world. The case is still open.

An article about Marsha’s Disappearance from the DA, 1988

“Duff’s Band List,” 1989

The employees kept the venue running for another year but it closed, along with The Dry House, seemingly for good, in late May of 1989, one year after Marsha’s disappearance. In January, 1990, the bar changed hands and reopened as “The Underground.” The Underground only lasted about 6 months, when the bar changed hands again.

November 24, 2009

New Zealand’s Axemen at WFMU (MP3′s)

Posted by Brian Turner on November 24, 2009 at 06:27 PM in Brian Turner’s Posts, MP3s, Music, Video Clips | Permalink

posted by Brian Howard on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 11:34 am

CONCERT REVIEW: Times New Viking, The Axemen, The Mad Scene @ Kung Fu Necktie, 11/15

This is our second set, like Phish.

Sunday night shows are always a tough sell, but the four-band bill including U.S. Girls (who we’ll be up front and cop to not getting to the club in time to see) was as can’t-miss a show for indie rockers of a certain age as you’ll find. A healthy crowd of 40 or so (in their 40s or so?) crammed into tiny Kung Fu Necktie and watched as New Zealand ex-pat/Clean vet Hamish Kilgour and Lisa Siegel led The Mad Scene through a set of murky Kiwi-style noise rockers rife with alternating strumming and distorted jabs. That’s the thing about New Zealand: even their poppier indie pop is prone, at any second, to spiral into fits of SY-style noise fests. Kilgour, who apparently had lost his guitar strap, spent the first few numbers seated on the floor at the side of the stage — largely invisible to all but the front row — with a microphone stand angled down toward him, creating a scenario where the vocals seemed to be emanating from nowhere. Siegel eventually lent the singer her bass strap and Kilgour finsihed the set standing erect.  Stu Kowowski of the legendary Axemen (who’d take the stage next), sat in on drums for the set and was joined by Adam Elliott, drummer for headliners Times New Viking, for a set-closing number where both drummers pounded on the kit.

Then came The Axemen, a New Zealand noise/punk outfit on their first tour of the U.S. despite first slithering from of the antipodean ooze in 1981 in protest of the South African rugby team’s tour of the islands. Led by an apparently intoxicated Steve McCabe, the four-piece chugged through a set of classics, including a few choice numbers from Scary! Pt. III (a 1989 cassette that’s been recently re-released on vinyl by Philly’s Siltbreeze). The band, rounded out by guitarist/singer Bob Brannigan and in this incarnation bassist Dragan Stojanovic (the band’s lineup aside from the three core members has been in constant flux), turned in a rough-around-the-edges set (thanks mostly to McCabe’s inspired/drunken flailing) that alternated between all-out chaos and more crafted blues-rock tigned numbers that created as many questions as it answered. What must it have been like to watch this unit over the years, and what were these grizzled vets like in their younger, angrier days? A newer song that might be titled “Do You Wanna Be My Slave,” suggests the band’s as ascerbic as ever.

Photo | Brian Howard

McCabe (left) and Brannigan of The Axemen.

Though The Axemen were indeed the rare treat that made this lineup a can’t-miss, Times New Viking was the main course. The Columbus-based trio have, since bursting on the scene with 2005’s Dig Yourself (which got the long-dormant Siltbreeze back in business) have honed a style that’s equal parts hooks cacophony, a slicing wail crossed with mistimed engine on overdrive. Keyboardist Beth Murphy’s vocals remain shouted and defiantly off key. Jared Phillips‘ guitar parts are piercing and devastating. Elliott’s drumming and singing are wound tight and delivered fast. They eschewed the typical set-encore structure for a two-set program that may have somehow crammed 30 songs into their hour on stage.  It was exhilirating, ear-spitting, and so life-affirming.

David Jerrold Theobald will have to pay for less than a third of the $41,500 damage he caused in his ram-raid protest at the Christchurch offices of the Inland Revenue Department.

The 48-year-old remained disarmingly frank to the end, when he was sentenced by Judge Jane McMeeken in the Christchurch District Court today.

When she began sentencing him for driving his car through two sets of glass doors at the department’s offices, he corrected her, explaining that it was actually three sets.

“Don’t interrupt me,” said the judge.

She ordered him to do 300 hours of community work and imposed reparation totalling $13,000 to the owners of the building and the department. She also disqualified him from driving for nine months.

Theobald, who has now lost his job after working for the department for 25 years, had pleaded guilty to charges of reckless driving and intentional damage.

He is now a sickness beneficiary but hoped to get more work. His ram-raid in his car at 6.30am on a Saturday was a protest about his ongoing employment dispute with the department.

He will struggle to pay the reparations, even though he is single, has no children, and has been working for 25 years, because he has only about $1000 in assets.

He lives in a rental property and has no car.

“What have you spent your money on?” the judge wanted to know.

Theobald explained that he had been generous to people.

Defence counsel Simon Clay explained that there was a medical background to the case. Theobald’s actions had been a protest gesture. He had never been in trouble with the law, but had difficulties with his employer. He had checked to ensure there would be no-one in the offices when he made his protest.

Judge McMeeken said Theobald had believed for some reason that what had been happening gave him the right to damage property, but the building did not just belong to the department.

“You need to understand that it is one thing to protest, but it is quite another thing to deliberately, and intentionally, and wantonly destroy property especially when the property is not directly related to the organisation you had a gripe with.”

Ordering the reparation payment, she said: “The possibility of you making payment in full seems to me to be extremely remote, but you must realise there are consequences from your actions. You are going to have to budget wisely.”

The man who drove his car through glass doors at the Inland Revenue Department building in Christchurch says he warned the department about terrorism but it had no security measures in place.

David Jerrold Theobald, 47, of St Albans, pleaded guilty in the Christchurch District Court today to charges of intentional damage and reckless driving.

He had worked at the Inland Revenue for 25 years and has said he had a long running employment dispute with the department.

In the summary of facts read to the court, Theobald told the police that he had warned the department about terrorism but they had no security measures there.

He drove his Mazda 626 through the foyer of the building in Cashel Street at 6.30am on a Saturday.

He crashed through two sets of glass doors and smashed a third.

Defence counsel Simon Clay asked Judge Stephen Erber to request a pre-sentence report for the November 17 sentencing.

Judge Erber ordered a reparation report and a pre-sentence report, and prohibited Theobald from driving while he was on bail.

- NZPA

A disgruntled Inland Revenue employee who quit spectacularly by driving his car through the doors of the tax department’s Christchurch building has been handed a hefty sentence of community work and ordered to pay $13,000 in reparations.

David Theobald, 48, took his dissatisfaction with his employer of 25 years straight to the front counter at 6.30am on August 15.

He crept his Mazda 626 up to the Inland Revenue building on Cashel St and, after making sure no staff were present, slowly drove through three sets of plate-glass doors causing more than $40,000 in damage.

Theobald, a long-time Christchurch musician whose stage name is Mick Elborado, admitted the crime, quipping to police when they arrived: “It’s OK officer, I work here.”

Photos of his exploits quickly emerged on the website of his band, The Axemen, and a Mick Elborado is Innocent page was set up on Facebook.

Theobald pleaded guilty and yesterday was sentenced in the Christchurch District Court by Judge Jane McMeeken.

Defence lawyer Simon Clay said Theobald’s actions were in the nature of a protest, the culmination of a conflict at work that had lasted for some time.

There was a medical background to the offending, he said.

Theobald had checked there was no risk to any staff and smashed the windows early on a Saturday. He had been “disarmingly frank” with police, admitting his crime at the first opportunity.

The judge wanted to know why Theobald, a worker for 25 years, had no assets and no savings to make reparations.

He said he spent his money on drinks for friends and “being generous”.

The judge said Theobald deliberately drove through plate-glass doors. His actions were completely inappropriate. “It’s one thing to protest, it’s quite another thing to deliberately and wantonly destroy property.”

The building’s owner, Rapaki Property Group, sought reparation of $27,000; Inland Revenue sought $14,500. The judge sentenced Theobald to 300 hours community work. Reparations of $8000 to Rapaki and $5000 to Inland Revenue were ordered at $20 per week from Theobald’s sickness benefit.

Axemen – Scary! Pt. III 2xLP (Siltbreeze/Sleekbott)

SCARY! pt 111 - Axemen

So the Axemen finally make it to the United States to tour, and one of the local weeklies lists them as “Axeman.”

Figures, right?

Nobody who’s in a position to know has influence enough to care. Tom Lax coulda bought a very decent used car with the ca$hola he’s sunken into this beyond-insane reissue program for New Zealand’s most divisive band – even so far as to have dug up two never-heard-‘em cassettes for the introductory offers, guaranteed to chase away even seasoned listeners.

Lifting up out of the muck that was Big Cheap Motel, this four-sider thankfully doesn’t give way to clarity, though some would claim it’d give birth to Blankdoggin’, as few of the ‘90s lo-fi oligarchy would have touched a synth or a sampler, let alone subjected them to the levels of abuse that Stevie McCabe offers up all over here.

Approximately 150 people will hear a serious Dirty Faces connection to the flotsam here; more will liken it to Royal Trux in their scum/disassociative phase, and that’s fine.

Here was – and is – a band that is continually in protest mode, against common sense if not a social or political cause … fuck, one of their auxiliary members drove his ride into the glass doors of the Kiwi tax office, and from all accounts, he’s free to walk on American soil as I write this. Does anyone in New Zealand want to swap places with me?

I’ve heard too many good things and am ready to throw away my life in the USA. This 1989 release is nothing but endless ur-jammin’ on some rudimentary melody, jive talkin’ monologue, screechin’ and sneerin’, occasionally stumbling onto a higher truth and really just content to slag off anyone that comes near it.

You don’t have to like it, or even respect it, because it was made to chase you and everybody else away. I respect that Lax puts out a pop record the likes of the Mantles or Eat Skull, but isn’t afraid to keep truckin’ in the weirdness like this charcoal nug. Still waiting on Three Virgins, and more eloquent thoughts from Wood Beez. (http://www.siltbreeze.com)
(Doug Mosurock)

Times New Viking/The Axemen, Talking Head Club, Baltimore, MD 11/14/09

Reprinted from:

http://nogiftforthegab.blogspot.com/2009/11/times-new-vikingthe-axemen-talking-head.html

Sonar (Talking Head), Baltimore

The other night I was told, that since I have never left the country I know nothing about what constitutes good taste. I was also told that I was a loser for listening to Pavement. With that being said, I went to Baltimore on Saturday to see a band, who clearly must be shitty, and hung out with a bunch of other losers.

Beth, Times New Viking - the object of the reviewers wild desire

Times New Viking, Baltimore

Everyone was into it. There was more moving around at this show then at anything else I’ve seen all year, for the most part.

There was this one girl, and she seemed really tapped into the whole thing. She swayed and spun her way through every song. I think she had her eyes closed, but it didn’t really matter because the way she was dancing it was like an act of surrender. It was like what Nietzsche had described. She was on the edge of the proverbial cliff, but instead of being frightened or concerned, she was reveling in the chaos.

Loving every minute of it, and dancing like it would never stop. It’s how I generally feel on the inside, but since I’m such an uncouth deadbeat unfit for the public, it’s better for me to just keep my head down and try not to piss anyone off.

Times New Viking, The Axemen, Royal Bangs

Reprinted from: http://www.livefrommemphis.com/memphis/memphismusicnews/1218-times-new-viking-the-axemen-royal-bangs-at-hi-tone-cafe

Venue: The Hi-Tone Cafe http://www.hitonememphis.com/calendar.php

The Hi-Tone, Memphis

NOVEMBER 9, 2009

Reprinted from: http://www.livefrommemphis.com/submitevent/details/2638-times-new-viking-the-axemen-royal-bangs

Doors Open: 8:00 PM

Starts: 9:00 PM

Age Restriction: 18+ Ages

$7.00 / Day of Show Price: $10.00 General Admission
Royal Bangs | 10:00 PM
http://www.myspace.com/royalbangs
Insound Staff Pick – 2008! Royal Bangs are a five-piece rock band from Knoxville, Tennessee. We Breed Champions is the band’s first full-length offering on Audio Eagle Records. Angular, dueling guitar melodies dance around manic, start-stop rhythms and are crowned by the earnest, pushed-to-the-breaking-point vocals of frontman Ryan Schaeffer. Or whatever. They have been compared to Modest Mouse, TV on the Radio, Architecture in Helsinki, etc, etc.

The Axemen | 11:00 PM
http://www.myspace.com/nemexa
The Axemen is a New Zealand band formed around 1981 in protest against the South African Springbok rugby team tour of New Zealand, a tour which created great controversy, especially as was in contradiction to New Zealand’s obligations under the Gleneagles Agreement.

The Axemen played in Chch Cathedral 1981 in response to the Springbok tour.

They also played at the protests for homosexual law reform in 1983, with member Little Stevie McCabe being severely beaten up in the Cathedral Square, Christchurch, toilets.

The Axemen’s founding members, Bob Brannigan, Little Stevie McCabe and Stu Kawowski had played in various bands, apart and together, in the South Island cities of Christchurch and Dunedin, but cohesed in reaction to Sprinkbok rugby tour.

Before Bob Brannigan and Steve McCabe met, Steve was playing in a two-piece band at Cashmere High School called The Gorillas with Peter Rees, evolving comix maestro and classical guitarist.

Brannigan and McCabe met through a mutual friend and played gigs in Christchurch and Dunedin under many names including The Whining Plums, Hey, We’re Wolves and The Twins in the early ’80s. It was at a Twins gig at the notorious Empire Tavern in Dunedin in 1983 where Stu Kawowski was first unable to control himself and leapt on stage to commandeer the bongoes, instantly adding another dimension to the unit.

Art School Photography graduate, photography guru, filmmaker, artist [1] , promotional maverick and explosives expert Kawowski was playing drums with Above Ground, Bill Direen’s band at the time he met the other members of the Axemen and soon ’joined’ the Axemen as a permanent fixture.

Brannigan, McCabe and Kawowski remain to this day the ’core’ of the Axemen, however many New Zealand musicians played with them over the years as guest / transient / semi-permanent members, making their influence and the influences they assimilated (like the borg) an important breeding ground and virtual swap-meet of ideas and influence in Kiwi music circles.

In February 2009, US record label Siltbreeze re-released the Axemen’s 1984 protest album :Big Cheap Motel” [2] on 12″ vinyl. Originally the album was released as a cassette packaged in a small bubble-sleeve with a straw, mimicking the milk drink “Big M” that the album was aimed at. The Axemen were invited to play at Christchurch’s “Summertimes” Festival in January 1984, a public music stage set up in Hagley Park. The band was shocked by the large-scale sexist “Big M” advertising surrounding the main stage, and decided to write a suite of protest songs about how the Christchurch City Council had “sold out” to the “Big M” sexist marketing. The Axemen recorded the concert, as well as studio versions of their songs and released a 45 min cassette entitled, “Big Cheap Motel”

Times New Viking | 12:00 PM
http://www.myspace.com/timesnewviking
Much like ’90s indie darlings Guided By Voices, Times New Viking are a noisy, lo-fi indie rock band from Ohio who made the leap from the long-running indie Siltbreeze Records to the higher profile Matador label.

Unlike Guided By Voices, whose hissy, distortion-heavy sound masked a knack for traditional ’60s-influenced pop hooks and surreal lyrical wordplay, this Columbus trio favor a more purely noisy and punk derived sound and minimalist, deliberately repetitive lyrics.

Times New Viking (the band name an obscure and meaningless pun on the name of the popular typeface Times New Roman) formed in Columbus in 2004, when art school students Adam Elliott, Beth Murphy and Jared Phillips spontaneously decided to form a band while hanging out in a local rock club.

Murphy and Phillips, who had no musical training between them, took over keyboards and guitar respectively, while the marginally more skilled Elliott played drums. (Elliott and Murphy both sing, often together though rarely in harmony.)

Debut album Dig Yourself was released on Siltbreeze in 2005, followed by Times New Viking Present the Paisley Reich in 2007. (The CD version of this album includes the six tracks from a pair of limited edition vinyl-only EPs released prior to the album.) Generally approving reviews and regular touring, including a stint opening for Yo La Tengo and performances at indie cred-builder festivals Coachella and SXSW, raised the band’s profile, and they made the jump from Siltbreeze to Matador for 2008’s Rip It Off, 16 breathless tracks in less than 31 minutes produced by Ohio noise-rock godfather Mike Hummel of Mike Rep and the Quotas.

Venue

Venue:

Hi-Tone Cafe –   Website

Street:

1913 Poplar Ave.

ZIP:

38104

City:

Memphis

State:

TN

Country:

Description

http://reviews.citypaper.net/articles/2009/11/12/times-new-viking-the-axemen

noise/punk

You could think of The Axemen as New Zealand’s answer to The Dead Kennedys. The reckless, shattered lo-fi art punk band formed in Dunedin in 1981 in protest of then-apartheid South Africa’s Springboks rugby team tour of the islands, and has raged ever since. Stu Kawowski, Bob Brannigan and Little Stevie McCabe have shuffled through a panoply of guest members over the years, and the result is a catalog that’s essentially a petri dish of virulent, smashed-up angst. Philly label Siltbreeze has recently re-released, in vinyl-only pressings of 500, two of the band’s early classics — Big Cheap Motel (an impromptu festival set protesting the fest sponsor’s sexist advertising) and the mammoth double album Scary! Pt. III. Consider this a statement show for resurgent Siltbreeze impresario T.J. Lax, who was not only responsible for discovering headliners Times New Viking (pictured) but more than likely had a hand in luring Kiwi expats The Mad Scene down from NYC for the evening.

Sun., Nov. 15, 8 p.m., $10, with The Mad Scene and U.S. Girls, Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 866-468-7619, kungfunecktie.com.

 

Tags: axemen, Times New Viking

The Mirror News by Vince Carmody, DJ at Chapel Hill's Local 506 Club

Poster courtesy of http://vinciple.blogspot.com/

The Hi-Tone - Elvis's Dojo

Playing in Elvis’s old dojo was always gonna be a tall order. For a bunch of middle-class kiwis with a passion for rock’n'roll, Memphis is a trigger-word for what can be so right and also so wrong in the genre – the full spectrum of green lily-livered-nigger-music-lovin southern boy with just the right amount mixture of sass, sasparilla, and god-given ass and hips.

These coloureds don't run!

Thankfully it was an awesome gig and elvis even made an appearance and winked at me, he dug it i know…

He kissed me – and it felt like a punch….

Quote generator:

“i gotta say i was “

* shocked

* disgusted

* enthralled

* appalled

with your lastest show in the US.

I was expecting the unexpected, with the proviso that i was forewarned that the act was going to be unpredictable and the attitude factor would play a good part in what would eventuate into the axemen’s set, very much a reflection of the local conditions and atmosphere, once we can establish a base anywhere

don’t be cruel… to a heart thats true

We have been privileged enough to sample some of the best goddam nuts the US has to offer, and the boys digged em so much they wrote a song about it.

‘Nutsack’ has become the trailblazing anthem for the axemen’s debut us tour with its unguarded gargantuan thrust, a melody worthy of methusela for its longevity properties, the lyrics reminding one of Baez in her Dylanesque – Poe phase, plus a backbeat Ringo would kill for, the uncompromising one-note guitar overlayin the verses topped off with the cream on the pudding, the triple-X chorus of Brannigan, Stojanovic & McCabe  every 8 bars or so.

“It shall be the killer single in 2010″ – Nostradamus

"I Think He Wants to Focus!"

the lads sail into perfect storm conditions...

As the mythics in Valhalla prophesied, the four axemen were once again reunited in the new world, with all the dignity and indignities which applied.

Slowly but surely coming sharply into focus, as if from a dream Bob and Dragan emerged from the highly pressurised, sterile environment of he plane into the highly pressurized, puerile environment of L.A.

As if metatmorphosing from a dream of waldorf salads, pumpkin pie and some garbanzo beans.

Steve visibly winced when he saw the “Please be gentle with the girl from Yentl!” bumper sticker on his guitar case – It was plain as the nose on yer face it would take these gringos a while to socialize.

30 October 2009

Santa Cruz Gig pre-nup

Times New Viking, The Axemen, The Happy Hollows
Times New Viking The Axemen The Axemen is a New Zealand band formed around 1981 in protest against the South African Springbok rugby team tour of New Zealand, a tour which created great controversy, especially as was in contradiction to New Zealand’s obligations under the Gleneagles Agreement. The Axemen played in Chch Cathedral 1981 in response to the Springbok tour. They also played at the protests for homosexual law reform in 1983, with member Little Stevie McCabe being severely beaten up in the Cathedral Square, Christchurch, toilets. The Axemen’s founding members, Bob Brannigan, Little Stevie McCabe and Stu Kawowski had played in various bands, apart and together, in the South Island cities of Christchurch and Dunedin, but cohesed in reaction to Sprinkbok rugby tour. Before Bob Brannigan and Steve McCabe met, Steve was playing in a two-piece band at Cashmere High School called The Gorillas with Peter Rees, evolving comix maestro and classical guitarist. Brannigan and McCabe met through a mutual friend and played gigs in Christchurch and Dunedin under many names including The Whining Plums, Hey, We’re Wolves and The Twins in the early ’80s. It was at a Twins gig at the notorious Empire Tavern in Dunedin in 1983 where Stu Kawowski was first unable to control himself and leapt on stage to commandeer the bongoes, instantly adding another dimension to the unit. Art School Photography graduate, photography guru, filmmaker, artist [1] , promotional maverick and explosives expert Kawowski was playing drums with Above Ground, Bill Direen’s band at the time he met the other members of the Axemen and soon ‘joined’ the Axemen as a permanent fixture. Brannigan, McCabe and Kawowski remain to this day the ‘core’ of the Axemen, however many New Zealand musicians played with them over the years as guest / transient / semi-permanent members, making their influence and the influences they assimilated (like the borg) an important breeding ground and virtual swap-meet of ideas and influence in Kiwi music circles. In February 2009, US record label Siltbreeze re-released the Axemen’s 1984 protest album :Big Cheap Motel” [2] on 12″ vinyl. Originally the album was released as a cassette packaged in a small bubble-sleeve with a straw, mimicking the milk drink “Big M” that the album was aimed at. The Axemen were invited to play at Christchurch’s “Summertimes” Festival in January 1984, a public music stage set up in Hagley Park. The band was shocked by the large-scale sexist “Big M” advertising surrounding the main stage, and decided to write a suite of protest songs about how the Christchurch City Council had “sold out” to the “Big M” sexist marketing. The Axemen recorded the concert, as well as studio versions of their songs and released a 45 min cassette entitled, “Big Cheap Motel” The Happy Hollows “The Happy Hollows have a lot of weapons in their arsenal, but chief among them is vocalist/guitarist Sarah Negahdari. ‘Faces,’ from the forthcoming Spells, gives Negahdari the perfect chance to show off her Polly Harvey-meets-Kim Deal croon.” — Magnet Magazine “A killer hybrid of Kim Deal, PJ Harvey and Emily Haines. Negahdari has the guitar chops, explosive energy and winning sense of humor that should make The Happy Hollows one of the more interesting bands of our new millennium’s next decade.” — Wired Magazine “A pugilistic mix of stinging guitars, turbulent rhythms, and shouted vocals. Alternates between childlike experimentation and ferocious firestorm.” — Los Angeles Times The much-anticipated and highly acclaimed debut album by Los Angeles trio The Happy Hollows officially hits streets today, October 6th, 2009. The album, Spells (listen/order here) is a culmination of their work with producer and former Mighty Lemon Drops guitarist David Newton (The Little Ones, The Blood Arm), who also produced the group’s 2008 EP Imaginary. In support of the album, The Happy Hollows will be performing a string of East Coast dates surrounding their CMJ New Music Marathon showcases. The band will then headline a residency at Spaceland in Los Angeles throughout November. Please see complete dates below. The young group’s infectious and irreverent noise-pop has earned considerable following up and down the west coast, with their energetic and charismatic performances. Vocalist/guitarist Sarah Negahdari wields ominous riffs and finger-tapped arpeggios while singing with a cherubic-yet-mischievous grin. Meanwhile, the agile rhythm section of Charles Mahoney (bass/vocals) and Chris Hernandez (drums/vocals) vault and lunge with precision. Wired Magazine recently described Negahdari as “a killer hybrid of Kim Deal, PJ Harvey and Emily Haines” and added that “Negahdari has the guitar chops, explosive energy and winning sense of humor that should make The Happy Hollows one of the more interesting bands of our new millennium’s next decade.” The BBC picked them as a band to watch for 2009, the Los Angeles Times has described the group’s sound as a “pugilistic mix of stinging guitars, turbulent rhythms, and shouted vocals” that “alternates between childlike experimentation and ferocious firestorm.” AllMusic wrote that the band’s “appeal is immediate” and LAist has labeled them “a must see!” The Happy Hollows’ catchy yet dissonant sound is influenced by genres as disparate as 90′s college rock, garage punk, art rock, and 80′s pop. The band combines innovative song structures, surreal lyrics, and fiercely adept instrumentation to recreate reality into a jagged panorama of vibrant, kaleidoscopic collage. Listening to their music, one cannot help but see visions of a place oddly askew from the world we experience everyday, a parallel universe that is at once whimsical, demented, and ferocious. Having born and bred their band in various corners of the L.A. music scene since forming 2006, The Happy Hollows played their first shows in Japanese restaurants, laundromats, and small local clubs. In their first year as a band, they snuck into a studio at night and, in two sessions, recorded Bunnies and Bombs, an EP that attracted the attention of the L.A.’s underground music scene. After seeing them play a show, established L.A. heroes Silversun Pickups asked The Happy Hollows to open for them at The Wiltern and The Fillmore. In 2008, fellow art-rock outfit Deerhoof invited the Hollows to open for them on their album release shows at The Avalon and The Great American Music Hall. ONLINE TICKETS
View The Happy Hollows myspace site View TNV ‘Move To California’ video
8pm doors, 9pm show $10

1x Gibson Epiphone “tobacco starburst” electric guitar (US$275) with soft black Gibson travel case (US$150)

1x Aria Pro 2 bass guitar (white body, rosewood neck) in Ibanez hard case brown (US$750 serial No. in NZ)

STUART PAGE EQUIPMENT STOLEN

1x Bolex SBM 16mm camera Nr. 305828 (US$2000 approx)

1x Switar 10mm ƒ1.6 lens SN 1069999 (US$650 approx)

1x Switar 25mm ƒ1.4 lens S/N 974399 (US$450 approx)

1x small suitacse with wheels and handle similar to:

TravelPro 4070820-10 20-Inch Rollaboard Suiter Suitcase $175

Panasonic DMC GH1 accessories: charger, AC adapter, cables etc… approx US$200

de-a49c charger

K2CJ2DA00008 AC cable

DC cable VEKON98

AV cable K1HA14CD0001

USB cable K1HA14AD0001

CD-ROM software

Body cap VKF4385

lens rear cap VFC4315

Lens storage bag VFC4430

1x Panasonic LX2 battery charger $30.00

1x Wiebetech Ultradock

31205-2409-0000 UltraDock v4, FW800/FW400/eSATA/USB, access IDE or SATA drives, US power plug US$199

1x Hitachi 2TB SATA hard drive US$184.99

1x SEAGATE 1TB SATA hard-drive US$89.99

1x SEAGATE 320GB serial ATA notebook drive

1x Vantec NST-285S2 BK 2.5″ hard drive case  US$18.95

1x SABRENT EC-UEIS7 3.5″ hard drive case

1x power strip (NZ) 4 outlets US$10

Various US->NZ power adapters $100

Various firewire cables, 6pin and 9pin $100

1x Manfrotto clamp/ball-joint-camera attachment NZ$200

1x Manfrotto tripod 745B MDEVE TRIPOD BLACK, fitted with 1x 128LP MICRO FLUID VIDEO HEAD Approx NZ$600

1x Philips Electric shaver 8240 8200 Series NZ$399.00

1x Medium suitcase hard-sided Approx. US$100

Personal items (Stu):

1x “OMEN” brand (Hamburg, Germany)  light blue jersey wool US$300

1x Rodd & Gunn black moleskin trousers (NZ$159.00)

1x Icebreaker top greay NZ$64.99

3x Icebreaker BOXER BRIEF WITH FLY NZ$120

4x Icebreaker socks Hiker Heavy crew NZ$18.99 x3 NZ$57.00

1x MARMOT MEN’S PRECIP JACKET NZ$279.00

1x NORTH FACE MEN’S NUPTSE JACKET $399

2x pairs all cotton sox $NZ40

6x various t-shirts NZ$120

6x “SHUSTAK “DVDs NZ$120

OTHER:

3 dozen T-shirts Lime green in carrier bag US$75 shirts, US$97 printing

Stu checks if Kurt Vile has that 20 bucks he owes him

A lot happening since last post.

We got the touring wagon sorted, a late model (2010 even) KIA minivan with 6 seats and a GPS unit we are calling ‘Suzie’.

Grow Yor Own Media, Atwater Village, L.A. Grow Your Own Media - http://gyomedia.com The Touring Van - 'Kia Car Ha', AKA 'Ludwig', AKA 'The Korean Paean', AKA 'Herbie', AKA 'Pork Pie', AKA 'The Seoul Train'

Went down to the garment district and picked out some fluro lime green t-shirts to get printed up for tour with a facsimile of one of the original designs for an early gig in dunedin by a guy with a small screenprinting shop just outside central L.A.

Word came in from Aussie when we drifted in tonite that Bob missed his plane to Sydney (layover on way to L.A.) due to an AK transport malfunction but had rebooked on another two hrs later and was now safely ensconced on the L.A. flight.

No word from Dragan who is supposed to be joining Bob in Sydney from Wellington before the pair travel on to L.A. together, so can only assume no news is good news until we hear further…

Steve Humann, Ava Downtown L.A. Steve Humann in lime fluro Axemen T, Stu Kawowski Is that a giant pizza or are you just pleased to see me? That guy takes the cake

Picked up Steve Humann’s kid Ava from school, took them over to the Halloween Carnival the next day, picked up the shirts and caught a couple of gigs, Kurt Vile and Jello Biafra with his new band The Guantanamo School of Medicine.

Eating at least 3 meals a day, Humann is a walking directory of L.A. food joints!

I get the feeling Suzie is a little jealous of him as she only wants to please us but Humann has the insider knowledge of the good eating and shopping locations without us having to punch the zip code into him. Hope we don’t piss her off too much before we hit the road…

Caught a couple of gigs, Kurt Vile at Spaceland and Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine at the El Ray Theatre on Wilshire Blvd.

Kurt Vile, Spaceland Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, El Ray Theatre, L.A.

Our string of good luck with parking in L.A. (mostly due to broken meters) came to an abrupt halt at Spaceland when we got a traffic violation ticket for parking in an obscurely signposted Residents Permit parking zone… we will contest it claiming kiwi ignorance of course.
Fiddle-de-di, tomorrow is another day… picking up Bob and Dragan at LAX tomorrow at 5.00PM local time.

Went round to Steve’s ex’s to drop off Ava and partake of the biggest pizza either of us have ever seen, a celebration for SH’s birthday…

The L.A. Stroll – Origins

Not being a big city for walkers, it is culturally interesting the latest dance craze here involves participants walking round in a circle – by the end of the gig, quite possibly the longest walk the auience member has done since the last mosh-able gig they attended.

According to our authority on the subject (Humann, fount of all L.A. knowledge), the dance developed from L.A. punks getting bored with pogo-ing in the 80′s and becoming fascinated with skanking when one of their number returned from England in the early 80′s having mastered skanking, the dance style favoured by Ska groups of the time vaguely resembling jogging on the spot.

Steve and Stu tuck into some tasty Mexican

In Humann terms  (or, as the saying goes, ‘As the Humann Flies’), as soon as the punks realised they could ‘inadvertantly’ hit and kick crowd members and claim they were only dancing (in some versions of the story, this was also the origin of the Bowie classic “John I’m only dancing”, the gay overtones added to embellish the story later when it became fashionable once again to be gay), it took off and spread like a California wildfire through the 80′s and has disappeared and reappeared in one guise or another throughout the decades since.

I must say the latest incarnation to me had a sense of ‘slothiness’ to it which perhaps does the high-energy music which it often accompanies a disservice in that the performer will often build more of a sweat than the audience.

The ‘L.A. Stroll’ dance – looks suspiciously like walking around in a circle to me….

...Jimmy shows us how its done

Ol' Fuck-pants takes a break from strollin'

JB has a little merch. left for the next gig

an album of unreleased Sleek Bott recordings from the 1983-1985 cache

JACKSON CREEK
from the THREE VIRGINS sessions, Christchurch, April 1985

OM – STORY OF UNIVERSAL LOVE
from the Feast of Flesh rehearsal, Dunedin, March 1984
(not the same version that appears on A SCAR IS BORN);
features keyboards by George D. Henderson

MOULDIE (LEG STORY) full version live
from the Gladstone, Christchurch, Dec. 31, 1983
—a 2-minute excerpt from this same take featured on the CD version of THE SOUTH DUNEDIN SOUND, as well as on the AGRO/BAIRD BASS-OFF collection (where it appeared alongside another live take recorded 2 nights later at the same pub); includes Arthur Sheep on sax & the 3rd-eye guest guitar of Gordo Baird’s brother, B. B. Ryan.

DO OR DIE
from the THREE VIRGINS sessions, Christchurch, April 1985

THE HOLLYWOOD SINGER
live at the Star & Garter, Christchurch, June 1984

YE GODS!!
live at Lisa Preston’s birthday party, Christchurch, November 1984

GIMME ROOM #2
from the THREE VIRGINS sessions, Christchurch, April 1985

THE ORDER OF ERRED WAYS
live at Lisa Preston’s birthday party, Christchurch, November 1984

LIVING, LIVING & DYING
live at Lisa Preston’s birthday party, Christchurch, November 1984

THE GREATEST POP ON EARTH
sounds like Christchurch, July-August 1985

BRAIN ONE IAMBENT 1 Music for public toilets
live at the Arts Centre, Christchurch, June 1984

PUT THE IRON ON/TEQUILA
from the THREE VIRGINS sessions, Christchurch, April 1985

GIMME ROOM
from the THREE VIRGINS sessions, Christchurch, April 1985

*   *   *

an axemen anno XXV rediscovery series production
specially compiled & released on the eve of their first US tour, 2009

]]> http://theaxemen.org/2009/10/25/axemen-the-order-of-erred-ways/feed/ 0 noisyland erredWays1 850400 State Trinity 840414a Feast-O-Flesh 1 831231b Gladstone 840615c Star&Garter1 841102 Party II the next day 850708 July-August 840613 State of the Art 850406a Trinity Of Fire 850406b Battle Of Egos bobAxemenWanganui SleekBottlabel3 http://theaxemen.org/2009/10/25/our-shining-path-to-delighted-states/ http://theaxemen.org/2009/10/25/our-shining-path-to-delighted-states/#comments Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:33:46 +0000 steve mccabe http://theaxemen.wordpress.com/?p=3801 ]]> Today’s excerpt is from an acknowledged American classic:

Scientists believe America was discovered by Erik the Red, the world’s first communist, sometime in the After Dark Ages. Erik and his viking shipmates, all called Erik, outsmarted Royal Danish revenue collectors – whose exorbitant tax on Danishes had crippled the North Sea sweet pastry industry and resulted, in 1066, in the Diet of Scones – by masquerading as Scandinavian women. “Jühü, taxmänner! Wir lieben euch langseim! Ich am Erika!” became the catchcry of the wouldbe viqueen sirens; henceforth the mythical country of the bearded lady protoMarxists became known as am-Erika. The revenue men, already hardened after months at sea, gripped their stiff longswords. Suddenly seamen spurted from the ship in great foaming gouts…

author Walt “Slim” Whitmon & his famous book

The Touring wagon - Kia Car Ha

Well we got the touring wagon today, no Siennas available but we got a KIA 2010 model with 1400 Miles on it and a GPS – now thats what I call golden!

Kawowski & McCabe - Takin' Care of Business

Capitalism: a Love Story

Having got that sorted out we took it for a spin out to Hollywood Forever to see Johnny Ramone’s grave and the Hollywood sign for photo shoot, picked up Humann’s kid Ava, went book-grazing and caught a movie…

The iconic Axemen sign in the Hollwood Hills

Stoop Boy Stoop Kawowski on the stoop

Car Ha the Kia - ooh la la... GPS, USB, MP3, AXE

Stu Kawowski, Steve Humann, the late Johnny Ramone at Hollywood Forever

Steve bones up on some reading

Down on Sunset

Having now taken command of Los Angeles, and whilst allowing trade to continue as normal albeit under ein military regime, this is 2000 and some harrowing but major exceptions to the rule have decided, independent of the fully sanctioned and streets away, predictably, from where the real action was happening.

Hollywood 'n' Fry's

Notably, Stu and Steve (on behalf of the axemen as a partially available whole, or soul ['The choice is yours, you tithe your 10% to your local rich-ass and you're in line for the throne" struck out Pedro, his fb) buoyed by her decision to put a modicum of their eggs in one basket (as a causation equation and bearing in mind dragan and bob are initiated and primed to enter the arena at an unspecified yet predetermined time)

This first episode I call 'WHITEY'

Science is fuck-all. We each have our own Memphis. We are all Elvis. Who the fuck are you? - Steve Humann, thats who!

Checked out rental cars.  Some horseless carriages yippeeing up and restless, no doubt riled up by the host with the most, the antagonist, the chip mother, the screaming, breathing Grimm brother, th senseless one they don’t talk about, thy slipped a micky finn to one of those guys, who gives a fuck who.

HOWEVER

All Souls is an equal-fate non-soul-discriminatory story, primarily but not solely based on the sole premise that the soul’s sole is imprinted indelibly on the soul of the holy fisherman, the weeping fisher, the fishing weeper, the weeper who never fishes, across the river directly from the fisher who never weeps…
Ginger the sliced ginger guy grunts as he psycles off another few slices of ginger for the solely soulless. “Otherwise it’d be for the birds!” he quips, the word ‘birds’ rhyming with the oft-used-advertising phrase ‘dis iz forda boids’!, mostly famous for accentuating the long vowel sound in the 60′s.

Day 3 – We are off to Burbank Airport to check out rental vans.  stop.

Stu Kawowski, Ak Airport

After yet another sleepless nite the time was finally here to get on board the U.S. ass-kicking train, destination Kick Some Ass, USA, with just long enough a stopover in Aussie to knock back a coupla cold ones.

Stu and Steve, forward scouts for the touring party proper headed off one week in advance to suss the terrain, check out transportation for tour, ogle and purchase electronic goods, check the cuisine, generally reconnoitre and give our credit cards a test run.

Our first cuppa coffee for the day and the news is out....

First leg to Sydney take off at 0915 hrs, a cuppa java and HEY PRESTO the news is out – the much-vaunted tour has officially commenced!

Steve, Britney, Stu on VA-1

Panasonic GH1

After waiting round for Tracie about an hour we called Kirsten and we went out to her pad in Newtown, walked into town for lunch then caught the train in Sydney to visit Ted and pick up Stu’s camera, the awesome Panasonic GH-1, got a few more< snaps and then back to Newtown to pick up Kirstens kid from school, and head down the pub for a beer – a must-do activity when in Aussie

Kirsten, Stu, Ted in Sydney

Stu, Steve - pub life, Newtown, Sydney

Stu and Taylor, underage massage specialist

Steve, Stu, Tracie, Sydney Airport

Mon-Oct-26

391 mi – about 5 hours 55 mins (up to 7 hours 20 mins in traffic)

Sacramento, CA

Tue-Oct-27, Sacramento, CA – Luigi’s Fungarden

86.7 mi – about 1 hour 30 mins (up to 2 hours 10 mins in traffic)

San Francisco, CA

Thu-Oct-29 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill confirmed

72.8 mi – about 1 hour 18 mins (up to 1 hour 40 mins in traffic)

Santa Cruz, CA

Fri-Oct-30 Santa Cruz, CA Crepe Place

US-101 S 367 mi 6 hours 5 mins (7 hours 20 mins in traffic)

or I-5 S 348 mi 5 hours 43 mins

Los Angeles, CA

Sun-Nov-01 Los Angeles, CA Echoplex/Part Time Punks

373 mi – about 5 hours 27 mins (up to 7 hours 0 mins in traffic)

Irvine, CA

Mon-Nov-02 Acrobatics Every Day / UC Irvine

I-5 S 41.7 mi – 40 mins (2 hours 10 mins in traffic)

Phoenix, AZ

Tue-Nov-03 Phoenix, AZ Modified Arts

I-10 E 1,066 mi 15 hours 7 mins

Dallas, TX

Fri-Nov-06 Dallas, TX The Lounge on Elm St

221 mi – about 3 hours 41 mins

Austin, TX

Sat-Nov-07, Axemen TBA, TNV playing Fun Fun Fun Festival

I-30 E 647 mi 9 hours 44 mins

Memphis, TN

Mon-Nov-09 Memphis, TN Hi Tone

US-78 E 237 mi 3 hours 54 mins

Birmingham, AL

Wed-Nov-11 Birmingham, AL Bottletree

146 mi – about 2 hours 22 mins

Atlanta, GA

Thu-Nov-12 Atlanta, GA Star Bar

I-85 N 382 mi 6 hours 2 mins

Carrboro, NC

Fri-Nov-13 Carrboro, NC Local 506

I-85 N 312 mi 5 hours 26 mins

Baltimore, MD

Sat-Nov-14 DC / Baltimore Otto Bar

98.3 mi – about 1 hour 55 mins

Philadelphia, PA

Sun-Nov-15 Philadelphia, PA Kung Fu Necktie

I-95 N 96.8 mi 1 hour 52 mins (2 hours 20 mins in traffic)

New York

Wed-Nov-18 NY Mercury Lounge

4.1 mi – about 13 mins

Brooklyn, NJ

Tue-Nov-19 NY NY Union Pool

Flatbush Ave 9.9 mi 30 mins

Hoboken, NJ

Fri-Nov-20. Maxwells

I-95 N 219 mi 3 hours 59 mins (4 hours 50 mins in traffic)

Boston, MA

Sat-Nov-21 Boston MA, Great Scott

I-81 S 779 mi 12 hours 42 mins

Morgantown, WV 123 Pleasant Street

Mon-Nov 23, Morgantown, WV 123 Pleasant Street

I-78 E 381 mi 6 hours 25 mins

Columbus, OH

Fri-Nov 27, Columbus, OH – TBC

205 mi – about 3 hours 15 mins

Chicago, Il

Sat-Nov-28, Chicago, Il – (instore & gig) venues TBC

I-70 W – 354 mi 5 hours 31 mins

New York

I-80 E 788 mi 12 hours 16 mins

TOTAL: Approx 7000 miles

Chicks @ Chicks

If anyone was laying bets on to see who could be chosen to charm this gloomy yet cheerful neck of the woods the odds would probably not have had good pile of winnings had they invested in the dynamic pairing of those vehemently and unapologetically wizened old geezers [The Axemen] with the relatively youthful and still bouncy and vibrant Auckland-based chick and bloke combo [The Hairdos] at the South of the South Islands premiere music venue CHICKS Hotel in Port Chalmers.

The Location

Chicks - One Nite Only - gizza ticket bro!

Port Chalmers, the idyllic Southern town is of course just a sunny breeze away from that mestasising brooding musical hub of the South, South Dunedin, poorer of the two Dunedins group, and allegedly the inspiration behind Gaylene^tm‘s epic poem DUNEDIN.

SD, having spread its gull wings over the Octagon and smearing its majestic leaves outwards in order to imperfectly carpet the rest of the polygonal submetropolis that is Dunedin proper, or ‘the Dunedin Interface’, as hungry commuters wait to devour their buses, taxis and the famous trams and trains bustling through the hurdy-gurdy streets, the better to transport the throngs who have drawn the magic lots to go out and visit the poor cousins in the Charming Port just a stones throw away, has of course now become a touchstone for all visitors interested in getting a taste of the ‘olde’ Dunedin sound and the sights and smells of the city which at once enthralled and appalled those who uptook them in those heady days of the 80′s.

The People

Leila, Luk

You Can't Touch This! .... Stu's photo-timer is glaringly unaware of the 5-second rule - Steve and Marty's only too aware...

The axemen / hairdos combo has been firing up dancefloors across the island nation of nz since time immemorial (or at least for most of the year 2009) however this was the inaugural trip to the mainland for the follically annointed trio and the first visit across the rubicon of the mighty Kilmog for their adze-wielding cohorts in a number of years.

One of the big touring surprises for 2009 has to be the visit of New Zealand’s legendary Axemen to U.S. shores. The band began in Christchurch in 1981 and stood somewhat aside of the pop path exhibited by much of the the Flying Nun label roster, but are without doubt one of the more fascinating Kiwi exports. Various live shows and releases displayed a loose but virulent amalgamation of avant-garage, Half Japanese style sax primitivism, confusion, and general air of maladjusted greatness.

They’ve got two reissues “Big Cheap Motel” and “Scary!” out now on Siltbreeze, and are hitting the road coast to coast with Times New Viking. You can catch them in the NYC area November 18th at Mercury Lounge, 19th at Union Pool, and 20th at Maxwells in Hoboken!

Wunderbar, Lyttelton Sept 24th

Green Eyed Owl

Green Eyed Owl - send Chills down your spine

First up Green Eyed Owl , named from a line from a Chills song, which hints at the direction / audience type they are aiming at [finicky bread thieves whov'e kicked more band members out than Andrew Mehrtens kicked penalties???] They got the look and a tight performance, playing a variety of styles, William Daymond’s trademark Beatles bowl-cut looking not a hair out of place and offset nicely by his chequered scarf, all of which reeked style.

Stu Kawowski, Mick Elborado, Axemen, 2009 Stu Kawowski (L) and 'The New Stu' Liz Hairdo (R)... bitter rivals on the skins, but best of buddies off the stage; Stuck in the middle: Renee Barrance, Luke Stimpson

The Axemen

Next up to the plate were the Axemen. Steve having played at the Wunderbar recently with Matt Middleton (accompanied by Loliners backline Mick Elborado and Russel Covini) they were soon down to business in the classic 3-piece lineup of McCabe, Brannigan and Kawowski and giving the tiny crowd their all in their first post-Liz Hairdo gig of recent times… in fact their first gig together in about two months…

The Axemen pared back their sound as though it were a gleaming knife slicing throgh a perfect unblemished avocado, McCabe even pausing to metaphorically stoop down, pluck a hair from his head and proceed to (metaphorically once again) chop it in half with the sound coming from the speakers – i know you could argue that were it extra sharp one could cut it all the way down the middle lengthyways, but to be honest I’ve never been one to split hairs…

Axemen / Hairdos at Volcano Radio, Lyttelton September 2009 l-r:StuK,RenB,LukeS,LizM,BobB,SteveS

Rifling through their gander-bag of songs old and new, as is their wont of late in preparation for their upcoming tour (“Let No Song Remain Unplayed!” McCabe was heard to malevonantly whisper during a break in the proceedings). Hooking through their hookladen hits like Dr Hook in a velcro factory the guys effortlessly pulled off a lean, tight rock show with very little fat on it (“I’m gonna need a cheeseburger after this!” Bob quipped). Steve’s one-note Michael Jackson tribute guitar solo concept is developing and sounding better at each performance. A pleasant surprise to see Bob Brannigan behind the wheel of a full-fledged, fullsize axe once again, having recently been heavily into playing keyboards and ukulele. And as for drums, you could set your watch by Kawowski as usual – in fact it is not widely known that the term ‘New York Minute’  refers to and is defined as “the space between beats in the drum trill at the beginning of  ‘Animals Have Rights Too’ “ (recently re-released on the Scary! double LP -  Silt Breeze);

Liz Mathews, Hairdos

The Hairdos

And now for those erstwhile barely-out-of-their-teens “I was the first punk in the incubator” angry young people rocking their wayout of the slums and grey streets of Grey Lynn and now to Chch and Lyttelton where the small but feisty crowd generate enough spirited banter and appreciative sounds to emulate a crowd of at least twice the actual size the numbers would indicate.

The Hairdos played a typical highly energised set giving Lyttelton the honour of being the first South Island town to get a taste of the Hairdos, a badge of honour the hardy individuals who made the effort to come along will remember for a lifetime and have many a bartab settled by a buddy coming up to them and saying “Please Great Uncle Steve, you were there – please will you tell us once more about the time you saw the Hairdos the first time they played at the WunderBar in Lyttelton?”

As usual the band follow their high-minded democratic principles and the singing is shared equally between the 3 members, Renee, Luke and Liz.

Al’s Bar, Christchurch Sept 25

In Video: Big Cheap Motel, Ming Shoe Scene

In Video: Ghost Picnic

AXEMEN, HAIRDOS, NOBBQ – WHAMMY BAR, AUCKLAND NZ, NOVEMBER 16 2009

Axemen, Hairdos, xNOBBQx - 16 September 2009, Whammy Bar, Auckland

The AXEMEN, or in keeping with their ‘Fair Trade’ and Consumer Guarantees Act commitments more correctly adopting the AXEMIN moniker due to the last minute substitution of teen heartthrob Liz Hairdo on drums in Stu’s place for these gigs while Stu down in the South Island hustling his film and other projects.

For the two-nite Auckland stand featuring two of their stalwart Silt Breeze sidekicks on different nites – xNOBBQx from Brisbane on Wednesday nite at the Whammy bar to a tiny but enthusiastic crowd (think next time they should bring the BBQ – their attempts to show their disdain for the grill so loved by kiwis and aussies alike did nothing to endear them to those in the crowd hungry for prawns, shrimp, hot-dogs, tofu burgers and rock’n'roll).

xNOBBQx: non Flaming Aussies Axemin feat. Liz Hairdo as The New Stu

“Even a sausage sizzle would have been nice” one veteran punter (who looked as if he’d seen more than a few sausage sizzles up close and personally in his time) lamented later.

Fortunately for Auckland, the erstwhile and awesome HAIRDOS and ageing (but still with all their faculties since getting their fillings removed and not using aluminium cooking pots) Axemin emerged as crowd favourites to redeem the evening – It should be noted since playing gigs with the Hairdos in recent times, the Axemin have appeared to be getting noticeably and palpably younger at each gig, following the infusion of post-teen spirit exuded by that band and their followers, in an alarmingly, almost Dorian Gray kind of way.

Liz Hairdo & Bob Brannigan: Bringing feminine mystique back to the Axemin at the Whammy Bar

Sandwiched around xNOBBQx like so much white on rye, the Hairdos played first.  Switching their Stranglers / B52s sound mix across to ‘more Stranglers’ setting for the evening (fuzzier and dirtier) the Hairdos played a punchy, poppy,  plucky set in their inimitable enthusiastic style, going almost the entire set without a fight – I think that is a record, I know people who go to Hairdos gigs just for the fights, and occasionally run a book on them.

Liz shows Stu how its done - look ma, no sticks!

Energetic and snappy as always, the Hairdos style contrasted vividly with xNOBBQx‘s ethereal meandering soundscapes. Conjuring images of aborigines standing on one foot on the outback, tossing a boomerang, blowing a digeridoo and watching re-runs of Evonne Goolagong at the French Open in 1971, these straight-edge ‘stralians evoked images of an eery gum-tree-lined outback road, a camel your only friend.

Next the Axemin. Fresh from being on the door in the early part of the evening Steve and Bob virtually bounded to the stage. the role of Stu for the evening was taken by the gal Auckland society is calling ‘the New Stu’, the Hairdos own Liz Hairdo. After just one practice ‘Stu-do’ and the lads went out and effortlessly knocked it to the pint-sized crowd, and Liz H did perhaps the best impression of Stu I’ve seen since I copped an eyeful of him practicing under his fisheye ceiling mirror (the “objects may be larger than they appear” sticker remaining proudly intact).

AXEMEN, PUMICE, PINK REASON – THE HIGH SEAS, AUCKLAND, NZ NOVEMBER 19 2009

The Axemen feat ‘The New Stu’ (Liz Hairdo): filling in for Stu Kawowski for 2 Auckland engagements: This Video from THE HIGH SEAS, Beresford Street, Auckland, 19 Sept 2009

The AXEMEN, chafing at the bit to meet up with and play for their Silt Breeze stablemates The Pink Reason sidled up first for the High Seas gig in Beresford Streed, Newton Auckland. Just a stones throw from the infamous toilets and a brisk walk to K Rd, the surroundings as well as the gig really gave those cornfed Colombus boys something to write home about. Bristling from their successful (artistically if not commercially) Wednesday nite gig Bob and Stu once again gave it their all and Liz NewStu literally never missed a beat.

Once again another noteperfect evening of axemen rockola, if anything enhanced by the injection of some new drumming blood, like stem cells called in to mend a hole.

Pink Reason, 'Gnarley' Bob Brannigan, at The High Seas

PUMICE next came on playing a bunch of songs on ‘treated’ guitar with white noise, radio frequencies and memorable lines such as ‘half price for half a chicken’, obviously calling on the audience to metaphorically extend their minds and go outside their aural comfort zones, yet coming back full circle, maybe to bite you on the bum, maybe to serenade you. Mesmeric.

PINK REASON played an immaculate spooky and at times delicate set, sounding quite at home in the intimate venue of the High Seas, the venue tonite showcasing its flexibility as a band venue for artistes playing a wide range of different musical styles. These guys represent the cutting edge of indie rock in America at the moment and they are good buddies with our touring partners on our US tour, Times New Viking. Columbus, Ohio has produced some fine musicians, along with the strapping muscular farmboys [with six-pack abs and rivulets of sweat rolling down the bulging veins and following the smooth curve of  their oversized triceps before evaporating away to nothing - are we keepng this in?] it is famous for!

A much better turnout on Friday at the High Seas than the Whammy Bar on a rainy Wednesday I must say…

The Spunks recorded in Auckland, Dec. 2008

Spunks Theme

Portaloo Sunset

Axemen, Hairdos, xNOBBQx - 16 September 2009, Whammy Bar, Auckland DONE

Axemen, Pumice, Pink Reason 16 September 2008

Axemen, Hairdos, with special guests Green Eyed Owl (chch, lyttelton) - Scary Motel Mini Tour, Wunderbar 24, Volcano Radio, Als Bar Sept 2009

Axemen, Hairdos, with special guests Green Eyed Owl (chch, lyttelton) & Wolfskull (pt chalmers) - Scary Motel Mini Tour, Wunderbar, Volcano Radio, Als Bar, Chicks 24 Sept- 1 Oct 2009

Click to download hi-res PDF of SCARY! MOTEL tour poster

UPDATED OCT 24 2009! NEW DATES SEE BELOW….

The Axemen, in cahoots with Times New Viking /Ground Control Touring /Silt Breeze / Matador / Sleek Bott Records proudly announce the much vaunted US TOUR has now been confirmed!

View Latest Itinerary / Buy Tickets…

View Tour Map

• Tue-Oct-27 Sacramento, CA Luigi’s Fungarden
• Thu-Oct-29 San Francisco, CA  Bottom of the Hill
• Fri-Oct-30 Santa Cruz, CA Crepe Place
• Sun-Nov-01 Los Angeles, CA Echoplex (Part Time Punks)
• Mon-Nov-02 Irvine, CA Acrobatics Everyday/UC Irvine
• Tue-Nov-03 Phoenix, AZ Modified Arts
• Wed-Nov-04 El Paso, TX Black Market
• Fri-Nov-06 Dallas, TX The Lounge on Elm St.
• Sat-Nov-07 Austin, TX Broken Neck
• Mon-Nov-09 Memphis, TN Hi-Tone
• Tue-Nov-10 Florence, AL The Black Owl
• Wed-Nov-11 Birmingham, AL Bottletree
• Thu-Nov-12 Atlanta, GA Star Bar
• Fri-Nov-13 Chapel HIll, NC Local 506
• Sat-Nov-14 Baltimore, MD  Otto Bar
• Sun-Nov-15 Philadelphia, PA Kung Fu Necktie
• Wed-Nov-18 New York, NY  Mercury Lounge
• Thu-Nov-19 Brooklyn, NY Union Pool
• Fri-Nov-20 Hoboken, NJ Maxwell’s
• Sat-Nov-21 Boston, MA Great Scott
• Mon-Nov 23 Morgantown, WV 123 Pleasant Street
• Nov 27 Columbus OH, Oldfield’s On High
• Nov 28 Chicago, Il Permanent Records instore
• Nov 28 Chicago Il, Cave space (all ages)

http://indymedia.org.nz/article/77588/dave-drives-work

Dave Theobald has worked at Inland Revenue’s Christchurch office for the last 20 years. His work is valued, he is a highly intelligent literate man. And he has problems with mental illness, something the TV ads tell us happens to 10% of the population.

He was diagnosed paranoid after self referring himself to a doctor. Because of the medication his work output became low. Dave was assigned a colleague within the department and this is where the real problems began.

This unqualified colleague would make her own “diagnosis” based on ‘OOh I don’t like the look of your eyes, I think you’re a bit mad today’ and other such remarks. On this basis she would insist on visits to the doctor where she sat in attendance and would insist on Dave’s medication being changed, often with adverse side affects to Dave.

On one occasion shortly after being assigned, when Dave was off work for a week and enquiring whether he had any money and being told he had $800 for emergencies, she proceeded to borrow first $300 then another $500 off Dave till “next payday”. The money wasn’t repaid for a year until Dave insisted.

Another episode illustrates the stress Dave was under.

Dave: “I had gone through a particularly trying time, after being assaulted in my own home by gang prospects and burgled twice by my next door neighbours.”

The colleague insisted on driving him to Psych Emergency.The diagnosing psychiatrist, asked to talk to her alone first. After speaking to her, the psychiatrist seemed very concerned and was insisting Dave be admitted for 3 weeks of residential psychiatric care at the local hospital. Dave already under stress from the burglaries and having to appear as a witness against the gang prospects was shocked.

The psychiatrist decided that even if Dave didn’t go to hospital he required three weeks off work, no annual leave, no sick leave, so totally unpaid and with no chance to prepare.

When Dave applied to sight the doctor’s notes he discovered his colleague in her private conversation with the psychiatrist had said blatant untruths such as ‘His house is filled with rotting food and swarming insects such as ants’ – Dave has photos of his house he’d taken at the same time, which although messy was quite habitable.

But do not get the impression that Dave is a charity case, somebody employed to demonstrate Inland Revenue’s commitment to human rights. He is a highly intelligent individual, very good at his job and insanely knowledgeable about tax. In a working environment where these extra stresses weren’t laden on him he is a productive and useful member of a team. His department in Inland Revenue was one of the more specialised, making decisions on very large refunds.

In workplace assessments over the three years these events occurred his overall marking was 106% out of an unattainable 120%. Exceptional results by anyone’s measure.

Dave is also a gifted multi-instrumentalist musician and has played keyboards for one of NZ’s top indie bands for the last 20 years.

In short Dave is a functional, valuable member of society, who recognises that he has a problem, but is well equipped to deal with it under normal circumstances.

Events finally came to a head last week when after Dave’s repeated efforts to have his colleague’s behaviour looked into, IR Management in Christchurch responded with a list of unachievable demands at a meeting on Friday:

1. Only working between 8:30 am and 6pm on whatever he was assigned which is basically the stuff nobody else could deal with. He was expected to clear up to 9 cases per hour, his section dealt with refunds of over $100,000. Previously Dave had been starting work at 10:30am (because his medication makes him drowsy first thing in the morning) and working till 7 or 8pm.

2. Dave has a 4 day week for mental health reasons, and if he was unable to work on any particular day because he was sick, he would swap the days around. The new edict from management demanded that he only take Wednesday off, any other day had to be leave without pay and a medical certificate would have to be provided by Dave. The reason given was for “structure and consistency”.

This regime would continue for a month and if Dave hadn’t met all targets by then it would be “formal discipline” time. Management referred to this unattainable plan as “moving forward”

How many times have we heard of management trying to get rid of “difficult” staff by assigning them impossible tasks so at the end they can sack them for non fulfillment?

In Dave’s case it was even more dangerous. After spending a sleepless night on Friday worrying about his future, and realising that while at the moment he was sane, he certainly wouldn’t be after a month worth of stress and sleep deprivation from worry about meeting these unattainable targets.

So in Dave’s own inimitable way he decided on Saturday to show his response to their demands and the stress IR were trying to put on him.

After checking the cleaners had left and the building was unoccupied, Dave drove his car through the plate glass windows of the Christchurch Inland Revenue Office and left it parked, lights on and surrounded by shattered glass, in the foyer.

Calmly waiting for the police to arrive, car keys in one hand, a copy of Emma Goldmans “Anarchism and other Essays” in the other Dave quipped to the arresting officers “It’s OK – I work here”
Conventional media has remained absolutely silent on reporting these events for two days, possibly because they feel uncomfortable about what has probably been presented by the cops and IR as the act of an unhinged person.

But this is *not* the act of an insane person – rather the actions of a man, confronted with abuses of power and a work regime designed to push him over the edge, to *protect* his own sanity and highlight the overwhelming wrongs and abuses perpertrated against him as an employee.

• Allegations of managerial incompetence in Inland Revenue / State Services
• Allegations of a culture of bullying in State Services, inhibiting the discussion, submission and implementation of any positive changes
• Inadequate dispute resolution outcomes where issues are raised leading to an unsatisfactory work environment
• Allegations of preferential treatment being given to the top echelons of taxpayers – old boys network
• Allegations of slanting of news stories on the state-owned television network to minimise damage to government infrastructure and make DJT look like a fruitcake by editing interview footage and moving the focus onto the damage to the building, and DJTs mental health rather than focusing on his reasoning for feeling that after 3 years of unresolved disputes he had exhausted all other avenues and had no choice but to take drastic action
• Allegations of a culture of wastefulness and excess in management at IRD
• Lack of accountability and public scrutiny of affairs in Inland Revenue

etc. etc.

Whether or not you are familiar with any or all of these issues you can still help by writing to your MPs saying that for a longterm (20 year) employee to take such drastic actions and feel that he had exhausted all other channels to try and resolve his dispute, there should be an independant enquiry into the management culture within State Services at the very least.

Some of the relevant Ministers are listed below, plus a link to a full list of MPs

*******************************************

TVNZ Complaints Form

Hon Tony Ryall
Ministerial Portfolios

• Minister of Health
• Minister of State Services

Contact Details
Email: tony.ryall@national.org.nz
Phone: (04)817 6804 (Parliament)
Phone: (07)5780175 (Electorate)

*******************************************

Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman

Ministerial Portfolios

• Minister of Immigration
• Minister of Broadcasting
• Associate Minister of Tourism
• Associate Minister of Health

Contact Details

Email: jonathan.coleman@national.org.nz
Website: www.jonathancoleman.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6818 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)4198021 (Electorate)

*******************************************

Hon Simon Power

Ministerial Portfolios

• Minister for Justice
• Minister for State Owned Enterprises
• Minister of Commerce
• Minister Responsible for the Law Commission
• Associate Minister of Finance
• Deputy Leader of the House

Contact Details

Email: simon.power@national.org.nz
Website: www.simonpower.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6803 (Parliament)
Phone: (06)3237253 (Electorate)

*******************************************

Hon Judith Collins
Ministerial Portfolios

• Minister of Police
• Minister of Corrections
• Minster of Veterans’ Affairs

Contact Details
Email: office@judithcollins.co.nz
Website: www.judithcollins.co.nz
Phone: (04)817 6806 (Parliament)
Phone: (09)2997426 (Electorate)

*******************************************

List of members of parliament and contact details as at 24 July 2009 [PDF 275k]

*********************************************

From Mick: “I’d like to add a comment at the top of Alastair’s letter that if every anyone’s begging, pleading, cajoling, screaming, crying for friends to help a simple testimonial or 1,000 of them would have done — Alastair also did what any moron would have done — complained to the broadcasting standards association — hands up who else thought of using the correct process first — I did for three years and that’s why I’m onmn bail and needing hospitalisation right now.”

By Alistair Galbraith

I’m sorry to bug you when you’re out of the country BUT
a very dear friend of mine has done something pretty newsworthy

David Theobald drove his car through 3 sets of plate-glass doors in to the IRD building in CHCH  on Saturday morning at 6.30 am (having checked with staff and cleaners to make sure no-one would be inside)
He did this to draw attention to a culture of waste,bullying, and “favours for the rich” within IRD
he has worked there for 20 years and had a 100% rating!
he has never been before the courts before and is 47 years old
He is highly intelligent and articulate yet the only news coverage was total crap on tv1 which described him as “a paranoid and depressive” and allowed him NOT ONE FULL SENTENCE.
His concerns, what his protest was about , were completely ignored!

One of the major issues he’d like to draw attention to
is the amount of time allocated for reviewing Refunds for more than $100,000. to trusts and business (9 per hour)
compared to the excessive attention paid to Refunds for low income brackets.

the lack of “public scrutiny” to which IRD are subject, despite it being a part of their charter that their work be carried out so as to be acceptable to the highest public scrutiny!
the culture of bullying within the department which prevents positive change.

the unfairness of fairly recent changes to the tax system.

IS THERE ANYONE STILL IN THE COUNTRY WHO IS NOT AFRAID TO LET THIS MAN TALK TO NEW ZEALAND ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON, WITHOUT CUTTING HIS WORDS TO MAKE HIM APPEAR MENTALLY ILL?

i WISH YOU WERE HERE, COS i’D TRUST YOU MORE THAN ANYONE TO INTERVIEW HIM

let me know if you can help, or anyone you know would pick up the story from its real angle – IRD failures – not “disgruntled employee”

My blood’s boiling, seen a lot of good people go down for silly things
but this is different – otherwise I really wouldn’t bug you

http://cryptome.org/0001/nz-tax-charade.htm

19 August 2009. Updated.

17 August 2009

There’s also penalising of low income taxpayers but almost no scrutiny of huge refunds going out the door — my job was to check refunds of over $100,000 and I was told on Friday to do this at the rate of 9 per hour, if that was the work given to me.

In this case it was me the payroll system failed to pay — twice — and they had no idea why and asked me to get a bank statement to prove I wasn’t paid as they thought I had been. Complaints got me nowhere, requests for information got me nowhere and finally four official information requests (our FOIA equivalent) resulted in either no information, or on the last day an extension could be requested in a well-defined form, simply a statement that I’d be charged NZ$38 per half hour, without specifying what would be provided, when, or even whether they’d search all night for non-existent info.

Basically the New Zealand Inland Revenue Department believes it’s above the law.

Our code of conduct states in the preamble that the actions of the department should be able to withstand the closest public scrutiny — however Inland Revenue doesn’t open itself to any scrutiny. In an effort to draw attention to this and a major abuse of process …

… I drove my car through the Christchurch NZ Inland Revenue’s closed front entrance, through two sets of glass doors, through the staff only door, then backed out into the foyer to wait for police.

You sure as hell wouldn’t know it from Google or the papers. It was on Saturday morning and it’s now Monday night.

I filmed an interview, across from the patched up hole, done by our local television station CTV. I popped in there today because I’m out on bail of NZ$500. In fact today they forgot to serve a tresspass order so I walked inside, showed my tag, and almost got access through to the staff only area. This is symptomatic of the place — I’ve dealt with stupidity by pointing it out when and where it occurs and can give you megabytes of examples because I just BCC’d myself in on the responses. Walking out with taxpayer information (which I haven’t done — I have absolute integrity with regard to taxpayers) would be as simple as photographing the terminal the information is on.

Some of this is comic, some serious, but all worthy of public discussion. However the NZ Inland Revenue while driving staff harder for less, doesn’t permit any discussion. Discussion at team meetings is cut off if the team leader can even understand it.

This all sounds surreal, but I’ve played music, my job supported that, and part of their action screwed with my music. So one group have added a webpage where we intend to put everything up relating to the crash.

A sample page is at:

http://theaxemen.wordpress.com/2009/08/17/mick-elborado-the-car-crash-set/

We’re taking the piss and they know it. But Inland revenue have some pretty heavy lawyers — they’ve just upped the charge to Criminal damage which is 7 years maximum.

Can you add this to the Cryptome Collection? I assume then it would be archived on the DVD and any gag orders redundant. I did everything I could through the system. The checks and balances that should catch incompetence or bias failed. Also the checks that should stop Carol, the bully mentioned above from calling staff native to the country ‘my little black jungle bunny’ and then claiming it was a joke. In fromt of maybe 20 staff who all look the other way. She also tried to get me committed but my sanity hopefully is reasonably evidenced by the fact I’m on bail and not in jail.

It’s late … I’m tired … far more of this if you want it, my stack of paer is about 6 feet high. I’ve been with the place 20 years and believe it’s time the public scrutiny test was applied. I’ll name names, give detailed analyses of abuses, failures, incompetence. If our media is too scared to deal with it I will pass it to you until I’m gagged. I’ve played this for laughs to keep sane and am proud of some of there responses and the fact they couldn’t fire me, and it was I that ”was the decider” as our HRSouls put it.

If my kinetic statement about ‘moving forward’ won’t do it, I invite you to. I’ll give you the information until I’m stopped, principally so the low income NZ taxpayers see that a tax system called fair by IRD certainly isn’t t fair to them

Cheers

Dave Theobald. (aka Mick Elborrado)

There’s also a picture. See he did make the local news.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/2765173/IRD-drove-me-to-this

A taxman driven around the bend by continuing work woes drove his car
through the building where he had worked for 25 years.

David Jerrold Theobald, 47, drove his Mazda 626 through the foyer of the
Christchurch Inland Revenue building on Cashel St at 6.30am on Saturday
after a three-year employment dispute.

He crashed through two sets of glass doors and smashed a third on the other
side of the foyer before coming to a stop.

Mr Theobald said he had gone to great lengths to avoid risk to any staff.

“I checked with the cleaners the night before to make sure no-one would be
in the building. I drove right up to the doors, looked both ways, then
slowly pushed forward till the doors broke.”

Mr Theobald said he was fed up with what he saw as concealment of workplace
bullying and incompetent management at Inland Revenue.

“This has been going on for three years, and now I’ve got four official
information requests in with them and they’re making that as onerous as
possible … This was just a way to make a gesture.”

He also wanted to highlight how easy it would be for someone with terrorist
intentions to ramraid the building with a truck full of explosives. “It’s
just another 9/11 waiting to happen.”

Mr Theobald is a fixture of the Christchurch music scene. He is known as
Mick Elborado when he plays with his band The Axemen and in other groups.

He appeared in Christchurch District Court yesterday charged with
intentional damage and reckless driving and was remanded on bail till August 31.

He told The Dominion Post he had not decided how he would plead, but was
prepared to accept the consequences of his actions.

Inland Revenue would not comment on the incident as it was before the court,
but Mr Theobald has received a letter from human resources head Patrick
Crawford.

In it, Mr Crawford said: “Information has come to my attention which
indicates that you may have intentionally driven a car through Inland
Revenue’s Christchurch building … I am concerned that your conduct may be
inconsistent with the Code of Conduct.”

Mr Theobald could face up to seven years in prison if found guilty of
criminal damage.

Hi John,

Want a story about news spin — TV1 (an NZ news station) are a bit clumsier at editing than the professionals.

Here’s the TV1 footage

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/disgruntled-employee-crashes-into-ird-building-2926890/video

All that information from a thirty minute plus interview — and camera stage directions — I think I must have spoke all of a hundred words in the newsbite — and the voice over described me — i certainly didn’t.

So let’s look at what happened today so people in NZ see how TV1′s news is spun.

Lisa Davies of TV1 news rang — I originally said where were you yesterday andprobably mentioned something about investigative journalism — the fact that NZ has no-one like Daniel Hopsicker is a national shame — anyway I said I’d meet her at Madras Cafe Bookshop — lovely place with lovely food. I ordered breakfast and they interrupted it. They apologised for that though.

Lisa then talked to me at length — we discussed numerous things including the way the rich (who I define as anyway with family trusts, loss attributing qualifying companies, and suchlike) are stopping the poor getting hospitals and education — we then filmed the segment completely disturbing the business of the cafe — I suggested they buy food — they bought coffees — If they don’t actually eat food maybe they could have given it to the people who follow the ‘Free Soup’ arrows in Latimer Square (to Christchurch’s shame).

Anyway look at what I personally say and do in the vid that link points at and read this:

1) 00:15 — ‘Dave let’s go through each of the photos on your camera one by one — no go back to that one’ — the actual photo on axeblog is at http://theaxemen.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/img_6421.jpg in its full glory — hmmm

2) 00:16 — that’s funny this looks like a home video — oh no it’s a professional cameraman (who knows a friend of mine so for once I’m not naming names) filming me holding my camera and either he or I are moving the camera — again the actual photo is up.

3) 00:17 ‘I feel pretty good actually’ — who knows what question was asked — could’ve been something sympathetic like ‘How do you feel after getting out of IRD after all those years of bullying’ or even ‘Dave ,me old friend, treat me as a confidant and tell me how you feel having barely eaten yesterday being able to buy that yummy empanada today’

We retook this shot two or three times because the cameraman wasn’t satisfied ‘higher, lower, tilt it a bit more to Lisa, Dave, yeah that’s fine’

4) 00:25 — hey that looks like it wasn’t a complete sentence ‘…at the end of my tether going for one last kamikaze move, this was a very carefully calcualted protest…’

Um a bit of context here Lisa — just put the whole sentence on the TV1 website or I’ll arrange for someone somewhere to find out what else you’ve put in less staunch peoples soundbites.

Let’s see did I say something like ‘{Instead of allowing my team leader Pip Lloyd and manager Yvonne van Grinsven to subject me to 4 weeks of pressure to achieve the impossible and putting me} at the end of my tether making one last kamikaze move, this was a very carefully calculated protest {when every other check and balance had failed to make an undeniable statement without hurting anyone}

I have no idea TV1 has the footage — so TV1 put up the whole thing say 20 seconds context either side of the soundbite if you’re too shit scared to broadcast what I told Lisa about massive abuse of the tax system — if your context in the soundbite is correct I’ll apologise in public, if it isn’t and you’ve distorted the one little bit of the interview you could (30 mins maybe) then I expect TV1 to either no longer use the word news in its ‘news’ coverage or as a fair compromise the TV1 Chief executive can donate an amount equal to his annual salary to Rape crisis and the Battered women’s refuge — I don’t think any rich men can find a way to benefit from those two and they really need the money.

00:37 ‘i-i Catharthic, I actually feel a great relief now’ — maybe ‘Dave my little innocent what did you say to the police straight after the crash’ Because I don’t feel that way now — it certainly isn’t a description of my current state.

My overwhelming feeling at the moment is a broadcast like the TV1 segment will drive (no pun intended) seriously unbalanced people or people with a grudge into similar acts — feeling that what I appear to have said in those tiny little bits reflects their own feelings. It doesn’t — I carefully read ‘The Psychology of Political Violence’ by Emma Goldman several times and even then I would have stopped if there was a person who could be harmed — even if it meant arrest. I’m pretty sure anyone unbalanced will not have similar concerns — I was already prepared to accept 50% of the responsibility if anyone died (along with the people responsible for closing off any more responses) — however now it’s 33% due to the TV1 spin — that feels better but I’ll still grieve, and apologise sincerely and personally, if anyone gets hurt by a deliberate car ramming incident.

00:39 — Newspaper shots under ‘catharthic’: ‘Dave you’ve got the paper on the table there, it’d be nice to get a shot of you reading it. Can you hold the paper a litte higher, no tilt it more toward me, now lookk at the photo, OK now the news item, look like you’re reading it for thefirst time, good’

I’d just bought the paper and was more interested in an article buried on page two suggesting shaming drunken drivers by publishing photos and names — I’m pretty sure I discussed that being a great idea to apply to white collar criminals, although in retrospect maybe they should do it for the criminals whole family if they took more tyhan $100,000 — might be just the disincentive they need.

00:41 ‘He describes himself as a paranoid and a depressive’ — um shouldn’t my voice be used to describe myself instead of Lisa’s, or even my doctor’s. I think my self description was I have had paranoia and depression, I take medication for it which works, I see my General Practitioner once every three months to obtain more medication (Venlafaxine and Quitiapine — we won’tr even look at the wiki article on discontinuation syndrome for Venlafaxine)

I’m currently not on any mental health registers or seeing anyone other than my GP and three police medical experts who had a very good understanding of mental illness talked to me at length to decide if I was paranoid or depressed. The record will show I crashed on the morning of Saturday and was released the same evening under my Brother’s recognizance.

Currently paranoid and depressed, Lisa? I don’t think so — I co-host a radio show most Thursdays, play music, and visit friends, I play trivial pursuit some Fridays, For f’k's sake I’m so depressed and paranoid that I’ve arranged and learn’t Bohemian Raphsody for solo guitar and can play it without looking at any prompts (starts with C6 so a different key, and needs a 5 string guitar) — um, I think I’m a fully functional member of society who can dissect a hack and spin job the night it’s played — unless I’m being paranoid here

So Lisa, as you said you had to get back urgently to edit this so you couldn’t buy food — You’ve set mental health in NZ back from where it was gradually getting seen as being acceptable and possibly given a person or maybe 1,000,000 of them with no previous reason to identify with a person on TV1 news every reason to take their car and crash it.

I showed you photos of the front of the barely scratched car. I talked with you at length in the pre-interview discussing all of this.

OK, detour, back to the video ‘says he was driven to it after a three year employment dispute with IRD’ — I’d imagine I cracked a wry smile with the word ‘driven’ — check Axeblog, you’ll see we’ve got a great sense of humour.

Oh that ‘employment dispute’? You didn’t really ask, Lisa, but in depth:

I have a record of depression (about once every ten years or so)

I self-referred myself to a doctor for paranoia, mainly — let’s see; Helicopter noises over the house at night, fleeting glimpses at the edge of peripheral vision, increased signification(?) — basically where every numberplate looks like a personalised numberplate, but part of that would go with the fact that Pynchon, Gaddis and Oakley Hall are my favourite authors.

Ah my outputs aren’t good and surprisingly I have trouble getting up occasionally. Let’s help him by assigning him someone everyone is shit-scared of (right up the line — all employees in CHCH in earshot of her voice will remember that the poor high ranking sod who dared to ask her not to call him Dick but to use Richard, was forever tagged with ‘Hello Richard not Dick’ when he visited. Maybe he enjoyed it. Anyway IRD NZ has a perfectly working Employee Assistance Program, usually you refer yourself, but according to the EAP website managers can refer staff who don’t wish to go on it if the referal is for behavioural or performance reasons.

Actually John — I’ll send this the way it is but I have my entire personal file on camera — put this up, I;ll send you the file (including psych reports) with my blessing to make ita lla vailable for downoad and I’ll carry on the story — eventaully returning to that video

Thanks heaps

Dave/Mick (work/Music)

(LSM — you konw the drill — blog it!)

(Mark — when I said I don’t like spin — this is to TV1 — the first interviewer and cameraman that messed me around. I have no problem CC’ing it to you)

John — this is becoming familiar!

Hey Lisa,

If they were interested in what I had to say they’d have heard it, rather than the guy whose glass I broke — analysis of the TV1 interview process including suggested poses for the guy thatr kinda new John on cryptome.org fairly shortly and I’ve very publically requested that TV1 at the same page add another video with 20 seconds context either side of each soundbite — double dare ya!

I’ve also pointed out publically that you were too cheap to even buy a pie from the poor shop that had to suffer the charade of getting ‘my side’ and losing business whileyou worked out just what you needed — I checked at MCB that you guys had paid for the drink, cause otherwise I would have.

More seriously — and this is also up in al ot of places — you should be aware I don’t mess around — if any unbalanced person does a copycat crash because they identify with a ‘Paranoid Depressive Kamikaze who needs catharsis’ I didn’t edit it and put it on National TV, you did.

I’m CC’ing this to cryptome.org — deal with it and start to learn what a reporter does. Or as I’ve already memed. Spin this ONE.

After talking with me, who went up against IR, you should quickly have realised not to mess with me — you did. Bad Mistrake.

Now about that stuff I said about massive abuse of the tax system by the wealthy. Donations, Imputation, Working for Families Credits, LAQC’s? Guess you’re a wannabe rich person.

Accountability/Transparency/Integrity it means something.

Bye

Dave

_________

On Wed, Aug 19, 2009 at 9:38 AM, Lisa Davies <Lisa.Davies[at]tvnz.co.nz> wrote:

Hi there,

I am really keen to catch up with David for an interview today – a lot of people are very interested to hear his version of what happened at the weekend!

Please get him to give me a call or email me his details?

Thanks heaps, Lisa

Lisa Davies
ONE NEWS – Reporter
[Phone numbers deleted]
lisa.davies[at]tvnz.co.nz

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Here’s a great one. Disgruntled employee of Inland Revenue (the Kiwi IRS) drives his car through the plate glass first floor windows of the IRD’s Christchurch Office, then tells the attending police officers that he had every intention of doing it.

IRD’s notification letter to David Theobald, the driver, is hilarious and depressing. The whole thing is documented here, including photos of the crash scene, the police report, and the letters from IRD to Theobald subsequent to the crash. Relevant excerpts:

The defendant admitted the facts as outlined and explained his actions stating ‘I had every intention to do that. I’ve thought about it and knew exactly what I was doing. I had warned them that someone could drive through there with a bomb in the car and create another 9-11, as they had no security measures.’

Seems pretty clear-cut. IRD’s response:

Commencement of an Employment Investigation

1. Information has come to my attention which indicates that you may have intentionally driven a vehicle through Inland Revenue’s Christchurch building on Saturday 15 August 2009. I am commencing an employment investigation in to this matter.

2. I am concerned that your conduct may be inconsistent with the Code of Conduct (contributing to a safe workplace and ensuring personal activities do not discredit Inland Revenue) and/or, the Standards of Integrity and Conduct, and/or your obligations to Inland Revenue, and that if substantiated, this conduct may amount to serious misconduct.

Suspension

3. Given the nature of the allegations I am considering whether, or not, suspension is appropriate. Your employment agreement provides for this to be on pay.

Wow.

ONE News – The Vehicle of David Jerrold Theobold

ONE News - The vehicle of David Jerrold Theobald

A disgruntled tax worker has left the Inland Revenue in no doubt about his feelings towards them after driving his car through the front door of their Christchurch building.

David Jerrold Theobald, 47, appeared in Christchurch District Court on Tuesday charged with intentional damage and reckless driving, after driving into the building at 6.30am on Saturday.

The pictures posted on his blog show a portrait of a man making a stand just moments after he ploughed through three plate glass doors parking his car in the Christchurch Inland Revenue reception.

“At the end of my tether going for one last kamikaze move – this was a very carefully calculated protest,” says Theobald.

It was so carefully calculated he says, he checked there would be nobody in the building at the time.

“It’s cathartic, I actually feel a great release now,” he says.

Theobald describes himself as paranoid, and a depressive. Having worked for the IRD for 25 years, he says he was driven to the protest after a three year employment dispute.

He said he was fed up with what he saw as concealment of workplace bullying and incompetent management at Inland Revenue.

“This has been going on for three years, and now I’ve got four official information requests in with them and they’re making that as onerous as possible … this was just a way to make a gesture.”

Theobald’s friend Ross Dixion says he has been under constant pressure.

“He has just been under repeated constant pressure where he felt like he was getting nowhere,” she says.

The IRD has no comment about the damage or the employment matters, but the owner of the now battle-scarred building has much to say.

“Beating up on the IRD’s a national sport. Most people see he act as something he has managed to carry out against the IRD but it’s actually against someone’s private property,” says building owner Simon Henry.

Theobald has documented the incident all online and says he would not do it again – unless pushed.

“I wouldn’t do it again, unless I went through three years of harassment the way I have with the IRD,” he says.

Theobald has been remanded on bail to reappear on August 31.

My alter ego’s actions seem entirely reasonable if has to deal with people who speak like this on a daily basis: 
“Information has come to my attention which indicates that you may have intentionally driven a car through Inland Revenue’s Christchurch building … I am concerned that your conduct may be inconsistent with the Code of Conduct.”
Not sure about the Mick Eldorado bit though 

Now if they had said your band was the Marlin Axeman ha! 

Will the real slim shady please stand up 
Yeah and doesn’t the statement by Mr Crawford epitomize the utter b.s. world he must live in.
Reckon David Theobald should now sue IRD, claim ACC, get over $1000 per week on benefits..

I’m a long time Inland Revenue NZ employee of 20 years I have many frustrations with incompetent managers, absolute waste of taxpayer money, illiterate team leaders ( ‘waist bin’ in team minutes is not a typo, it’s a spelling mistake), a workplace bully, Carol Buckenham, who has had extraordinary protection, even by my union delegates, failed payroll systems, failing tools, and last but not least a tax system which is designed to overdeduct tax, but which the IRD adverts sold as ‘you never have to file a tax return again’ allowing a company to set up a very succesful business giving people back the money the government hoped they wouldn’t claim …

There’s also penalising of low income taxpayers but almost no scrutiny of huge refunds going out the door — my job was to check refunds of over $100,000 and I was told on Friday to do this at the rate of 9 per hour, if that was the work given to me.

In this case it was me the payroll system failed to pay — twice — and they had no idea why and asked me to get a bank statement to prove I wasn’t paid as they thought I had been. Complaints got me nowhere, requests for information got me nowhere and finally four official information requests (our FOIA equivalent) resulted in either no information, or on the last day an extension could be requested in a well-defined form, simply a statement that I’d be charged NZ$38 per half hour, without specifying what would be provided, when, or even whether they’d search all night for non-existent info.

Basically the New Zealand Inland Revenue Department believes it’s above the law.

Our code of conduct states in the preamble that the actions of the department should be able to withstand the closest public scrutiny — however Inland Revenue doesn’t open itself to any scrutiny. In an effort to draw attention to this and a major abuse of process …

… I drove my car through the Christchurch NZ Inland Revenue’s closed front entrance, through two sets of glass doors, through the staff only door, then backed out into the foyer to wait for police.

You sure as hell wouldn’t know it from Google or the papers. It was on Saturday morning and it’s now Monday night.

I filmed an interview, across from the patched up hole, done by our local television station CTV. I popped in there today because I’m out on bail of NZ$500. In fact today they forgot to serve a tresspass order so I walked inside, showed my tag, and almost got access through to the staff only area. This is symptomatic of the place — I’ve dealt with stupidity by pointing it out when and where it occurs and can give you megabytes of examples because I just BCC’d myself in on the responses. Walking out with taxpayer information (which I haven’t done — I have absolute integrity with regard to taxpayers) would be as simple as photographing the terminal the information is on.

Some of this is comic, some serious, but all worthy of public discussion. However the NZ Inland Revenue while driving staff harder for less, doesn’t permit any discussion. Discussion at team meetings is cut off if the team leader can even understand it.

This all sounds surreal, but I’ve played music, my job supported that, and part of their action screwed with my music. So one group have added a webpage where we intend to put everything up relating to the crash.

A sample page is at:

http://theaxemen.wordpress.com/2009/08/17/mick-elborado-the-car-crash-set/

We’re taking the piss and they know it. But Inland revenue have some pretty heavy lawyers — they’ve just upped the charge to Criminal damage which is 7 years maximum.

Can you add this to the Cryptome Collection? I assume then it would be archived on the DVD and any gag orders redundant. I did everything I could through the system. The checks and balances that should catch incompetence or bias failed. Also the checks that should stop Carol, the bully mentioned above from calling staff native to the country ‘my little black jungle bunny’ and then claiming it was a joke. In fromt of maybe 20 staff who all look the other way. She also tried to get me committed but my sanity hopefully is reasonably evidenced by the fact I’m on bail and not in jail.

It’s late … I’m tired … far more of this if you want it, my stack of paer is about 6 feet high. I’ve been with the place 20 years and believe it’s time the public scrutiny test was applied. I’ll name names, give detailed analyses of abuses, failures, incompetence. If our media is too scared to deal with it I will pass it to you until I’m gagged. I’ve played this for laughs to keep sane and am proud of some of there responses and the fact they couldn’t fire me, and it was I that ”was the decider” as our HRSouls put it.

If my kinetic statement about ‘moving forward’ won’t do it, I invite you to. I’ll give you the information until I’m stopped, principally so the low income NZ taxpayers see that a tax system called fair by IRD certainly isn’t t fair to them

Cheers

Dave Theobald. (aka Mick Elborrado)

Reprinted From:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/2764914/IRD-drove-me-to-this

IRD drove me to this

By STACEY WOOD – The Dominion Post
19 August 2009

TAXBREAK: David Theobald said he was prepared to accept the consequences after driving his car into an IRD building.

A taxman driven around the bend by continuing work woes drove his car through the building where he had worked for 25 years.

David Jerrold Theobald, 47, drove his Mazda 626 through the foyer of the Christchurch Inland Revenue building on Cashel St at 6.30am on Saturday after a three-year employment dispute.

He crashed through two sets of glass doors and smashed a third on the other side of the foyer before coming to a stop.

Mr Theobald said he had gone to great lengths to avoid risk to any staff.

“I checked with the cleaners the night before to make sure no-one would be in the building. I drove right up to the doors, looked both ways, then slowly pushed forward till the doors broke.”

Mr Theobald said he was fed up with what he saw as concealment of workplace bullying and incompetent management at Inland Revenue.

“This has been going on for three years, and now I’ve got four official information requests in with them and they’re making that as onerous as possible … This was just a way to make a gesture.”

He also wanted to highlight how easy it would be for someone with terrorist intentions to ramraid the building with a truck full of explosives. “It’s just another 9/11 waiting to happen.”

Mr Theobald is a fixture of the Christchurch music scene. He is known as Mick Elborado when he plays with his band The Axemen and in other groups.

He appeared in Christchurch District Court yesterday charged with intentional damage and reckless driving and was remanded on bail till August 31.

He told The Dominion Post he had not decided how he would plead, but was prepared to accept the consequences of his actions.

Inland Revenue would not comment on the incident as it was before the court, but Mr Theobald has received a letter from human resources head Patrick Crawford.

In it, Mr Crawford said: “Information has come to my attention which indicates that you may have intentionally driven a car through Inland Revenue’s Christchurch building … I am concerned that your conduct may be inconsistent with the Code of Conduct.”

Mr Theobald could face up to seven years in prison if found guilty of criminal damage.
Reprinted from:
http://news.msn.co.nz/article.aspx?id=851637

Reprinted From The Christchurch Press, 19 August 2009
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch/2764971/Its-OK-officer-I-work-here/

“It’s OK Officer, I work here”

By IAN STEWARD – The Christchurch Press

DRIVE-IN: David Theobald poses for a self-portrait of himself with his car "parked'' inside IRD's Christchurch office.

A Christchurch tax worker fed up with his bosses has made a spectacular protest by driving his car through three plate-glass windows in the Inland Revenue building.

David Theobald, 47, a musician and 25-year Inland Revenue employee, posted photographs on the internet of his protest, which he made at 6.30am on Saturday. The pictures showed his car “parked” in the Cashel St building.

A blog accompanying the photos said Theobald, a long-time member of rock and punk band The Axemen, “decided he had had enough and wasn’t going to take it any more after years of abuse” from Inland Revenue.

“Driving into the place that had been his nemesis for the past 25 years, he felt an eerie calm as he took the final turnoff, revved the vehicle and drove through three plate-glass windows and into the reception area,” it said.

Theobald said he was careful not to trample broken glass into the department’s new carpet because “I didn’t want to get in trouble”.

He waited “calmly” for police and quipped when they arrived: “It’s OK officer, I work here.”

Theobald appeared in the Christchurch District Court yesterday charged with intentional damage and reckless driving.

He was re-arrested and his bail conditions were altered, ordering him to stay away from the Inland Revenue building, after he stood outside and sent text messages to his workmates “to show them I’m not in the loony bin”.

Theobald is known in music circles as Mick Elborado. He has played in several bands since the early 1980s.

A picture on the blogsite of Theobald and his Mazda 626 was captioned: “Mick at grand opening of Inland Revenue’s new 24hr drive-thru in Chch.”

An Inland Revenue spokeswoman yesterday confirmed the incident and said no-one had been hurt. The damage “did not compromise activities”, she said.

She declined to comment further.

Theobald posted the letter suspending him from work, written by a human resources manager, on the internet.

“Information has come to my attention which indicates that you may have intentionally driven a vehicle through Inland Revenue’s Christchurch building,” the manager wrote.

“I am concerned that your conduct may be inconsistent with the code of conduct.”

Theobald said his actions were the culmination of a three-year employment dispute centred on “workplace bullying”.

Theobald said he believed destruction of property was a last resort after all other checks and balances had failed. “I take all responsibility for these actions. You’ve got an evangelist on your hands here,” he said.

A founding member of The Axemen, Steve McCabe, began a Facebook support group for Theobald titled “Mick Elborado is innocent”. McCabe said Theobald was innocent because he had been provoked into the act by years of bureaucratic and institutional bullying.

Reprinted from NZPA, 19 August 2009
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/mp/5836958/man-in-court-after-driving-into-ird-building/

Man in court after driving into IRD building 

NZPA, NZPA August 19, 2009, 7:26 am

Click Pics for enlarged image…

ask the same of anyone awake or woken up.

1: appear in court and behave

2: walk to the crime scene gathering a motley crowd of the slightly curious hoping for more action.

3: make a very short speech calling upon tony mccone senior human resources officer to resign within 24 hours if he believes the actions of ir human resources staff will not withstand the main code of conduct test of ‘the closest public scrutiny’

4: advise that because of the results of his incompetence i require payment in front of ir at this time tomorrow.

5: advise that if he does not resign and he’s found to have sanctioned any actions which arouse public disgust it’s 10 times his salary or everything he owns except his home.

6: give the commisioner of inland revenue one week to hear whether all actions can withstand public scrutiny – if not the same thing.

7: the next steps escalate to ir shifting all its banking to Kiwibankor another bank with nz ownership no matter what the cost and if they work theres leverage to change the world. You all helped!

I bet this is the first plan for world undomination transmitted by txt, facebook and hopefully youtube, if anyone films it

- let’s see anyone shut down fcbk youtube and txting in one week.

If this crazy strategy works we all work 3 day weeks and live better, all meaning NZ and the world – if it gets shut down then it was already too late, but then any opposition will be visible.

All the planets are in line and they won’t be again – forget scrabble and soaps – just for a day or so.

Huge thanks to all:

special mention to Amy, Ange, Alex, Ros, Steve, Joanne, Peter Hall-Jones, my union, and Emma Goldman.

Show Your Support… join MICK ELBORADO IS INNOCENT now!

On Saturday August 16, 2009,  Axemen Taxman, grunty bass player and disgruntled employee Mick Elborado decided he had had enough and wasn’t  going to take it any more after years of abuse from the IRD.

Driving into the place that had been his nemesis for the past 25 years he felt an eery calm as he took the final turnoff, revved the vehicle and drove through 3 plate glass windows and into the reception area, then stepped from the car taking care not to trample the glass into the new carpet – “I didn’t want to get in trouble” – and calmly waited for the police to arrive.

On their arrival he quipped “Its OK officer, I work here!” as they cuffed him and hauled him away.

When asked for a quote about the split he cited musical differences and wanting to spend more time on his private projects – “My dentistry business is really picking up!” he chirpily quoted to one reporter.

It was fairly obvious robbery was not the motive, in fact as with many people that come through these doors he later noted he later checked his wallet and realised he had left with $150 less than what he came in with. “Even after all these years I still don’t know how they do that” he noted, shaking his head.

After 6 hours in the infamous Sydenham Prison he was put out on the street on bail with his brother Des.

We will be following his case with interest and keeping you posted.

Post: Amble Testicle Evict, with Micks Blessings

the puddle, live to air, radio volcano, lyttelton, one romantic gesture

and this one with different scenery – needs more mick though if you ask me….

The Puddle - better scenery in this vid... wish george the best after his stroke - oops sorry that was that other guy

i want you – i want you so bad its driving me mad its driving me mad

40 years ago today sgt pepper took this photo on abbey road, london…. the mysterious eggman and walrus sketches have faded over the years but have been enhanced using y2k technology… you be the judge…

the Beatles L-R - the eggman, the eggman, the walrus, john (the walrus was paul)

]]> http://theaxemen.org/2009/08/09/it-was-40-years-ago-today-abbey-road/feed/ 3 noisyland beatles_abbey_roadwalrusegg http://theaxemen.org/2009/08/08/gig-report-newtown-farewell-gig-ariki-st-aucklandfriday-august-7-bobs-birthday/ http://theaxemen.org/2009/08/08/gig-report-newtown-farewell-gig-ariki-st-aucklandfriday-august-7-bobs-birthday/#comments Sat, 08 Aug 2009 01:05:56 +0000 steve mccabe http://theaxemen.wordpress.com/?p=3088 ]]>  

Newtown - l-r {girl peeing in cup, probably not a pregnancy test} Greta, Kirsten- i am almost sure that goatee and moustache is fake...

Posted by : Beam Civet Sec

Ironically it was Bob who didn’t show on the very night of his birthday bash but fortunately Celia assumed the role of Bob admirably in the Axemen’s short but brief albeit cutdown and necessarily concise set later into the evening. Two exquisite songs Womin of Love and the trex classic Buick MacKane

But I digress, this was Newtown’s night as the lovebirds plan to head off to the US to seek their fame and fortune and we all of course wish them the best in their pursuit of the dream.

Ariki Street, Auckland

In some ways it was hard to disconnect the incestuous associations from the music in the lineup of bands on this night but this turned out to be a bonus for all involved as there was a general vibe of love and peace in the air uncommon to many a house party.

The Newtown, darkly lit video, but with great Alice Cooper bits - click for video

Newtown played first, followed by the Hissyfits then penultimately  the Axelmin (Stu, Celia & Steve) preceding the Hairdos, hosts of the party and friends of all.

Celia X... smouldering, small & feisty as usual on this nite

Celia X, TCB a few milliseconds before blacking my eye and leaving an intriguing TNUC welt on my forehead

More emotional upheaval for me, but thats rock’n'roll… celia and stu played fantastically and i was well satisfied with my guitaring and singing – unfortunately singing a bit quiet on the recording but thats the nature of da bidnis.

Thanks to Liz for the padded wall, I had a little bit of a sore back from being round at davey g’s and working on his dodgy wokstation.

probably contracted the swine flu sitting out in the back yard between sets, but frankly i don’t care – this is what its all about and i miss it and want more, once again.

no sex, no sax, but a great time nonetheless with great pals and a great evening which i wouldn’t trade for the world… thanks 2 all

great but darkly video here of womin of love/buick mccane (t.rex, ladies first)

all i can say is wow these are the good old days

(Click for radio without pictures) This is why video killed the radio star - axelmin, ariki st, auckland 7 august 2009, bobs 444th birthday, dancing on the ceiling LET THERE BE ROCK

can’t beat the original though- but i think we came close… almost simultaneously – they had better lighting, and vocal amplification, even in the 70′s with no guitar leads or mics….

T Rex - Buick MacKane - the original