He’s our best classical artist and concertmaster of the Auckland Philharmonia. RICHARD BETTS has a wide-ranging conversation with Andrew Beer.
Music
Reviews and general editorial content about music including CD, DVD, Bluray, digital media and vinyl formats
Thrilling The Arabs – The Cure in NZ 1981
Still a cult act when they toured NZ in 1981, The Cure were down-to-earth enough to “hang” with their Wellington fans and even jam with a local group, writes GARY STEEL.
Meemees hit the top
Forty years ago the Screaming Meemees were a genuine pop sensation in NZ. GARY STEEL marks the occasion with two stories from 1981.
A Wellington band not like the others – The Digits
GARY STEEL pulls yet another mouldy 40-year-old story out of his considerable behind. This one’s about an obscure Wellington group called The Digits.
Before Flying Nun there was… Bunk?
New Zealand was a different planet back in 1981. GARY STEEL dips into his bulging archive with this piece on Wellington record label Bunk.
Snakefinger’s 1981 NZ tour that wasn’t
GARY STEEL excavates a thing about Snakefinger for a tour that never happened from his mouldering vaults. Originally published 12 May 1981 Sometime in 1971, Briton Philip Lithman decided that the primal boogie monster he was playing virtuoso guitar solos for wast at an end: “I just felt that […]
Penknife Glides – Sharpies Stab At Success
GARY STEEL pulls another piece from his oozing back catalogue – 1981 story about Auckland band Penknife Glides.
La De Da man – Kevin Borich
Freshly disinterred from the festering annals of Gary Steel’s back pages, yet another obscure interview that time forgot. Today, it’s a 1981 story about former La De Da’s guitarist, Kevin Borich.