December 2010: Shihad, Simon Spire, Six60, State of Mind, Steriogram, Street Chant, The Black Dahlias

The haunted mural, glowing in the dark, back to the old house, currency, along the coast, a glamorised kebab and a geek’s night out.

Continue reading December 2010: Shihad, Simon Spire, Six60, State of Mind, Steriogram, Street Chant, The Black Dahlias

October 2010: Savage, Seth Haapu, Shihad, Street Chant, Supermodel, Te Pamu, The Feelers

The proto-twerk, six shirts and one pair of trousers, a dystopian stilt hut, hanging out in the Coromandel, epic proggy drag race, down at the Mount, the ol’ band is back for one last gig.

Continue reading October 2010: Savage, Seth Haapu, Shihad, Street Chant, Supermodel, Te Pamu, The Feelers

June 2010: P-Money, PNC, Shihad, Six60, Sleeptalkers, Steriogram, Sweet & Irie

Trouble in the rubble, seductive wallpaper, a Möbius strip of Kiwi rock, over the top, the tide is high, and extreme doppelgängers.

Continue reading June 2010: P-Money, PNC, Shihad, Six60, Sleeptalkers, Steriogram, Sweet & Irie

August 2009: Shihad, Tahuna Breaks, The Black Seeds, The Lookie Loos, The Naked and Famous

The fans are blown away, a sweet lullaby, the newsreel, disintegration, and cutting to the beat.

Continue reading August 2009: Shihad, Tahuna Breaks, The Black Seeds, The Lookie Loos, The Naked and Famous

June 2008: Mareko, Nathan King, Nesian Mystik, Opensouls, Over the Atlantic, Shihad, Sweet & Irie

Raging against the machine, a boring road trip, high school musical, an ’80s celebration, a dark disco corner, rocking in a forest, fake tropics.
Continue reading June 2008: Mareko, Nathan King, Nesian Mystik, Opensouls, Over the Atlantic, Shihad, Sweet & Irie

April 2008: Rhombus, Scribe, Shihad, Simple Day, Solstate, Stu Strawbridge

Blackboard scribbles, a modern Pacific city, shockingly inoffensive, helping out with the lambs, the location that swallowed the band, and the most boring farm ever.
Continue reading April 2008: Rhombus, Scribe, Shihad, Simple Day, Solstate, Stu Strawbridge

December 2007: Motocade, Nesian Mystik, PNC, Scribe, Shihad, SideKickNick, SJD

Pro-wrestlers at the beach, the comfort of 101, circular motion, the grooviest show in town, nocturnal projections, an anatomy lesson.
Continue reading December 2007: Motocade, Nesian Mystik, PNC, Scribe, Shihad, SideKickNick, SJD

Pacifier “Home Again (Live)”

2003-pacifier-home-againThis live performance of “Home Again” was released to tie in with the band’s 2003 double album Pacifier Live, a collection of live recordings from live shows in New Zealand previously that year. It’s also the only video to be funded from the band’s Pacifier phase, with their record company otherwise picking up the tab.

The song choice feels like a treat for their core fan base in Australia and New Zealand who might have been feeling a little neglected after the band changed their name and ran off to America. What better way to win back fans than with a thrilling live video of the band’s most beloved song?

The band are keeping things very simple. They’re dressed in black and dark denim and the stage is lit with plain white lighting. I think this counts as making it all about the music, man. Though it doesn’t stop rockstar showmanship.

The video is cut together from at least two performance. This is evident as one has Jon with a t-shirt on, the other shirtless. He puts a lot into the performance, making it a thrilling and sweaty showcase, accented with rockstar leaps.

Near the end Jon goes for a wander, edging along the balcony, climbing down to the audience below, and crowd-surfing (or rather, swimming) his way back to the stage. The song has a new lyrics, “Yes, we’re coming home again” also serving as mission statement.

The video ends with Jon being a golden god on a speaker stack and/or being a golden god on the drum riser, in love with everything he does.

It feels like if there’s one thing Shihad can do really well, it’s playing “Home Again” to an audience full of New Zealanders. This video captures that. They might have less success with their other songs (would “Comfort Me” have got such a reaction?) but if they can make a theatre full of people feel happy for even just one song, that’s a good thing.

Best bit: Jon’s speedy swim across the top of the audience.

Next… left, right, straight ahead?

Missing videos from 2000

February 2000

Brett Sawyer “Supercool”

Another track from the elusive Brett Sawyer. His single “Supercool” has almost no digital traces, but there is a brief review by Graham Reid in the NZ Herald, where he accurately describes Sawyer’s album When It Happens as being “Not bad, but over the long haul not gripping.”

Joshna “Anything”

Joshna’s single “Anything” notably was written by New Zealand songwriter Pam Sheyne, best known for co-writing Christina Aguilera’s “Genie in a Bottle”. The song has a cool housey sound with undeniable pop chops.

Mary “Big Boy (Santa’s In Town)”

Mary contributed the gentle track “Big Boy (Santa’s In Town)” to Christmas on the Rocks a yuletide compilation of New Zealand indie artists. (It’s actually quite a good CD, by the way.)

Moana and the Tribe “Speak To Me”

Moana, having ditched the Moahunters and rebranded to Moana and the Tribe, has “Speak To Me” the first single off her third album “Rua”. It was, as Graham Reid noted in the Herald, a departure from the hip hop sounds of earlier albums and a move to the world music sound she’s known for today.

Suzanne Neumann “Lose Control”

Suzanne reports that the video for “Lose Control” was released and was played frequently on television. Unfortunately the video is not currently available online.

April 2000

Before Friday “Now”

Before Friday were a duo of Dean Chandler and Ben Bell-Booth. They had a few singles – including “Now” – before deciding that it would be better if Dean went solo with Ben as his manager.

Carly Binding “We Kissed”

“We Kissed” was originally intended as the first single off TrueBliss’s second album, and indeed the funding was originally given as a TrueBliss single. But but eventually Carly Binding left the group, taking her pop with her. Carly’s first solo single was “Alright with Me (Taking it Easy)” had its video funded in 2002, leaving the funding for “We Kissed” on the books for later use.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Dave Dobbyn “Just Add Water”

“Just Add Water” was the opening track from Dave Dobbyn’s 2000 album “Hopetown”. Here’s a live version with Bic Runga and Tim Finn.

Deep Obsession “I Surrender”

After their run of three number one singles, Deep Obsession weren’t able to keep up the same level of success. “I Surrender” was the final single from their album “Infinity” and it charted at 25.

Fiona McDonald “I Don’t Care”

“I Don’t Care” was the eighth and final track to have a music video funded from Fiona McDonald’s album “A Different Hunger”, leaving only four tracks without a video. I think that’s a record!

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

June 2000

Breathe “Get Yourself Together”

“Get Yourself Together” was the fourth single from Breathe’s major label debut Don’t Stop the Revolution.

Brett Sawyer “No Mistake”

“No Mistake” is the fifth Brett Sawyer track to have funding and it’s the fifth where the video can’t be found.

Dave Dobbyn “My Kinda People”

Dave Dobbyn goes back to his sneery, punky roots with “My Kinda People”, the second single from his album Hopetown.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Pluto “Moscow Snow”

The moody “Moscow Snow” was the first release by Pluto, appearing on an Antenna Records compilation. Here’s a live version recorded at the Helen Young Studio for TV show Squeeze.

August 2000

Breathe “When The Sun Comes”

Breathe has “When The Sun Comes”, which includes the lyric, “Everybody likes to grow their hair long/Every once in a while/Or something like that”.

Director: Julian Boshier
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Confucius “Rollcall”

Confucius was the work of Christchurch electronica musician Nava Thomas. Director Gaylene Barnes intriguingly describes the “Roll Call” video as “Confucius and MysteriousD become trapped in a drum and bass time warp, in this sepia toned music video which incorporates archive footage.” The video was also a finalist in the 2001 New Zealand Music Video Awards.

Director: Gaylene Barnes
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

House of Downtown “Downtown Groove”

The House of Downtown track “Downtown Groove” was best known as the closing credits song for the Tarantino-esque 2001 New Zealand film Stickmen.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Leonard “Claire Swire”

Leonard’s second and final funded video was for “The New Claire Swire”. An intriguing song, assumedly about an office worker who wrote a personal email about semen that was forwarded around the world.

Director: James Moore
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Mary “Ophelia”

More sweet guitar pop from Mary, with their harmony laden track “Ophelia”, an ode to two kittens.

Shaft “Might As Well Be Dumb”

Last seen in the mid-’90s with “Downhill Racer”, Shaft return with the loping “Might As Well Be Dumb”.

Sola Monday “All For A Dance”

Sola Monday’s second and final funded video was “All For A Dance”, a sweet folky, jazzy number.

Splitter “Supermarket Girl”

August 2000 is proving to be not a particularly fruitful month for finding music videos online. Joining the missing persons line-up is Splitter with “Supermarket Girl”.

The Nomad “Life Forms”

There’s no sign of The Nomad’s second video, “Life Forms”.

October 2000

DNE “The Cause”

DNE’s second and final video is for the upbeat dance-pop number “The Cause”. “We are bound to see this group do great things,” says the equally positive bio at Amplifier.

Goldfish Shopping Trolly (GST) “Hey You”

Goldfish Shopping Trolley (or GST for short) was the original name of Opshop. “Hey You” was their first single and has the classic Opshop anthemic sound. At the time, GST were threatening to release the alarmingly titled album “Homo-Electromagneticus”, which promised to capture “the turbulent etheric renderings and solid earthy rhythmic growl of the native New Zealand west coast”.

December 2000

Breathe “She Said”

After a run of 10 videos, Breathe go out with “She Said”. They just seem like a band that – for whatever reason – never quite lived up to their potential.

Loniz “Child Street Blues”

Loniz were a Tauranga-based trio who later became Pacific Realm. “Child Street Blues” was their first single, which the Kiwi Hit Disc says was playlisted on iwi and b.Net radio stations.

Shihad “Just Like Everybody Else”

The list I have of completed videos includes the Shihad track “Just Like Everybody Else”. But when even the very thorough Shihad Wiki doesn’t list it in their exhaustive videography, it’s likely it was never made.

The Subliminals “Uh-Oh”

Oh, this is cruel. There are two older Subliminals videos on NZ On Screen, but no sign of their one NZOA funded video, “Uh-Oh”. Here’s the band playing the song at Flying Nun’s 30th birthday celebrations in Dunedin in 2011.

Instead…

Weta were one of those bands who seemed hovering on the verge of greatness, but for whatever reason, things didn’t happen. (But things are very much happening for Aaron Tokona’s new band, the psychedelic AhoriBuzz). This is Weta at their best, getting series amongst shipping containers.