There are 17 videos missing from 1993, including two Hamilton bogan rock classics, early work from guys who’d go on to more success in Stellar and Splitter, and the return of Kiwi rock legend Larry Morris.
February 1993
There are no videos missing from February 1993! Hooray!
April 1993
Annie Crummer “Seven Waters”
“Seven Waters” sounds a little bit country and a little bit Polynesian. Nga Taonga offers this description of the video: “Annie Crummer sings “Seven Waters” on a stage with a coastal painting with interisland ferry backdrop. For the chorus she is joined, looking out the window at the rain, by Jacqui Clarke and another woman – and two men in a doorway.”
Director: Matt Palmer
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Ted Brown “If Ever You Need”
Fresh from winning Most Promising Male Vocalist at the 1993 New Zealand Music Awards, Ted Brown has the single “If You Ever Need”. Pagan Records boss Trevor Reekie described the song as “If ever there was a great song, “If Ever You Need” was it… of course no one would play it. Fuckers.”
Thorn “Same Things”
Andrew Thorne’s band Thorn had the song “Same Things”. It’s strangely hard to google, but I found the three-track CD single for sale on Ebay.
June 1993
August 1993
Exploding Poppies “Come See Me”
The Exploding Poppies won the 1992 Smokefreerockquest, and released “Come See Me”. It quotes the Swingers’ “Counting The Beat” intro, and is full of 1960s pop charms. I assume that NZ On Air music video funding was part of the prize package. Here’s the Exploding Poppies performing at the 1993 Canterbury final of the Rockquest. (Watch the whole show here – especially recommended if you enjoy ’90s teenz doing dodgy Nirvana impressions.)
Love & Violence “Turn To Me”
Hamilton band Love & Violence were an electronic group, and reworked an edgy older song into “Turn to Me” with more romantic lyrics. The Htown Wiki says the video was played on MTV, but the 1993 video predates the 1997 launch of MTV in New Zealand.
Director: Paul Swadel
My Conviction “Forgotten Face”
My Conviction was the earlier band of was Kurt Shanks who would later become a key part of Stellar. This was the second of their two funded songs.
October 1993
Blackjack “Spinning Wheel”
“Spinning Wheel” was the most popular single from these Hamilton bogan rock masters, charting at No.38. I highly recommend this homemade video for the song that includes interesting trivia about the band.
Mana Wahine “Wahine Ataahua”
And it’s hard to google Mana Wahine and their song “Wahine Ataahua”, due to the large number of webpages espousing the strong and/or beautiful women of the artist and song title.
The Brainchilds “Piece It Together”
The Brainchilds was centred around multi-instrumentalist Janet Roddick. “Piece It Together” is a horn-infused, jazzy tune about getting one’s life sorted. The video was directed by the photographer/film-maker Neil Pardington in conjunction with his frequent collaborator, producer Stuart McKenzie.
Directors: Neil Pardington
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Thorn “Horizon”
“Horizon” was the second of Thorn’s two funded videos. Andrew Thorn will show up again, in 1996 with his new band Splitter.
December 1993
Huckstep “Angel”
Huckstep (also known as Huckstep & Co) was the band of cover band journeyman Mark Huckstep. According to his official bio, the band “dominate[d] the club and pub scene for […] seven years. “Angel” is a competent blues rock ballad.
Larry Morris Band “Faster Than the Speed of Love”
Former ’60s teen pop idol Larry Morris returned with the Larry Morris Band (also known as LMB) and new sounds, including the grunty pop tune “Faster Than the Speed of Love”. And here’s another video from the same era, Larry and his band performing “Make a New Start Today”.
Holy Toledos “Mistakes In Remembering”
After being impressed by the Holy Toledos’ debut, I’m disappointing there’s no sign of “Mistakes in Remembering” online. It’s another good folk-pop-rock song, with some grunty vocal bits. It reached No.40 in the singles chart. The song was the opening track to their album Blood, which can be heard here.
Whisperscream “Walls”
Whisperscream were another group in the Hamilton bogan rock subgenre. “Walls” is a pop-rock tune with full-on vocal harmonies. I’m curious as to what this video would look like, mainly for the potential thrill of seeing a video set in Hamilton. The track was produced by troubled ex-AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd.
Instead…
Here’s something completely different. It’s Wise Women and Songs, a 1993 documentary where Jackie Clarke visits the Smokefree Composing Women’s Festival. (Why don’t they have events like this anymore? Well, 1993 was the centennial of women’s suffrage and there was funding galore for one-offs.)
Jackie talks to music video stars such as Moana, Jan Preston, Shona Laing, Janet Roddick, Mahinarangi Tocker, Hinewehi Mohi and Jan Hellriegel in order to learn their secrets of songwriting. And she has a go at it herself.
Dodgy VHS Rip of dodgy My Conviction vid can be seen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH-Bc9yARKo 🙂
Thanks! I’m not sure if I could have found that via regular search.