Greg Fleming & The Trains: Codine Road 1994

Singer songwriter Greg Fleming hails from Auckland, New Zealand.  His backing band The Trains has included an ever-changing line up of impressive musicians. Among them Mark Petersen (Jan Hellriegel, Straitjacket Fits, Cabbage Bomber), Nick Kreisler (the Pet Rocks), John Segovia (Shaft, The Axlegrinders, Boxcar Guitars, Don McGlashan & The Seven Sisters),  Andrew B. White (Bic Runga, Donald Reid, Damien Binder) Dom Blaazer (SJD, The HitList, Don McGlashan & The Seven Sisters), Ricky McShane (Chainsaw Masochist, White Swan Black Swan),  and Cameron Miller (Mike Scott).
In 1993 he released his debut album Ghost Are White. A year later a track from that album, Codeine Road was remixed by Anthony Ioasa and released as a single on Lost Records. The B-Side was All The Time In The World and First Waltz. All songs were written by Greg Fleming.

 

 Produced by Anthony Ioasa

Greg Fleming      Vocals/Guitar
John Segovia                  Guitar
Cameron Miller                Bass
Rick McShane               Drums
Jono Lonie       Violin/Mandolin

Codeine Road.mp3

or the whole EP as a Zip

Codeine Road EP.zip

The Saints: One Two Three Four EP 1977

In 1974 Brisbane band The Saints, started mixing their love of 1960’s Pop with their love of high energy Detroit rock. Their set list included speeded up cover versions of Del Shannon, and Ike and Tina Turner as well as Stooges songs. In late 1977 after the release of their debut album, (I am) Stranded, they released the One, Two, Three, Four EP. Which included cover versions of Ike and Tina Turner’s River Deep Mountain High and Connie Francis’ Lipstick On Your Collar. The two other original songs on the EP (Demolition Girl & One Way Street) were different versions than the ones that appear on the (I am) Stranded album.

 

Produced By  Chris Bailey and Ed Kuepper

Chris Bailey       Vocals

Ed Kuepper        Guitar
Ivor Hay            Drums
Kym Bradshaw    Bass

The Saints - 1234 EP

Russ Le Roq: Never Let You Slide / Shattered Glass 1983

In 1982 future Academy Award winner actor Russel Crowe was a young and ambitious eighteen year old living in Hillsborough, Auckland, New Zealand. At the time his cousins, Martin and Jeff Crowe, were playing International Cricket for New Zealand. After being labelled "the singing cousin of the cricketing Crowes' " more than once he changed his name to Russ Le Roq.  This is his third single, like the previous two it was released on Ode Records. Never Let You Slide and the B-Side St. Kilda were written by Crowe. Fire is a Pointer Sisters (Bruce Springsteen) cover.  Unfortunately it failed to chart like its predecessors. For the next single (Shattered Glass) he changed to a more Synth-Pop sound. It failed too. It was released on CBS(New Zealand). I did not include the B-slide to Shattered Glass because it is a dub version of the A-Side.

From the back cover of Never Let You Slide

Never Let You Slide personal

Produced by  Graeme Mhyre

Russ Le Roq    Guitar/Vocals
Ken Chung                  Drums
Graham Silcock           Guitar
Pat Roxburgh                Bass

Shattered Glass Personal

Produced by Trevor Reekie

Russ Le Roq                Vocals
Graham Silcock            Guitar
Pat Roxburgh                 Bass
Steve Edger                 Drums
John Cooper                TS808
Rohan Hunt                  Synth

***Warning recorded from vinyl surface noise.***

Never Let You Slide

Fire

St. Kilda

Shattered Glass

Or the whole lot as a .zip

Russ Le Roq 

Radio Birdman: Burn My Eye 1976

 

Radio Birdman were form in Sydney Australia by Deniz Tek and Rob Younger in 1974. Their name comes from a misheard lyric in the song 1970 by The Stooges. Radio Birdman were a Punk band before there was such a thing as Punk. They made a decision not to be commercial, not to cater to venues, record companies or popular taste. No venue in Sydney would touch them. They didn’t play covers or Aussie Rock. So they started their own venue, The Oxford Funhouse (Funhouse is also a name of a Stooges song). No major record company was interested, so they released a low budget EP on an independent label. Trafalgar Records was Trafalgar studios own label with no national distribution.  During the recording, as a form of percussion, the Band crushed beer cans (VB) on their heads. Their debut EP - Burn My Eye - was released in October 1976, one month after The Saints’ I’m Stranded. You could build a good case to say that these two releases are the start of Australian Punk and Alternative Rock.   

Produced by      John Sayers and Charles Fisher

Warwick Gilbert                  Bass
Ron Keeley                      Drums
Chris Masuak       Guitar / Piano
Deniz Tek            Guitar / Vocals
Rob Younger           Lead Vocals

Smith & Wesson Blues
Snake
I-94
Burn My Eye

Or the whole EP as a .zip
Radio Birdman - Burn My Eye EP

P: Michael Stipe 1995

P were a band formed in 1993 by Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers, Bill Carter and actors Johnny Depp and Sal Jenco. Designed as a part-time band that had to work around the other commitments of the band members. They only released one album (Self Titled) and this single. Which was about meeting R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe at a party. The B-Side is two covers, the first is Abba’s Dancing Queen, the second Rumble by Link Wray.

Produced by Andrew Weiss

Gibby Haynes                Vocals
Johnny Depp                   Bass
Bill Carter                       Guitar
Sal Jenco                Percussion

Michael Stipe

Dancing Queen

Mumble

The Teardrop Explodes: Sleeping Gas 7" 1979

This is the debut release by Liverpool’s The Teardrop Explodes. Released in February 1979 on Zoo Records. Which was co-owned by David Balfe, who joined the band as their keyboardist shortly after this was released. Singer Julian Cope had previously been in a band called Crucial Three with Ian McCulloch of Echo & The Bunnymen and Wah!'s Pete Wylie. This was the first release by an ex-Crucial Three member. Echo & The Bunnymen’s Pictures on My Wall was released (also on Zoo) a month later. Sleeping Gas was re-recorded as part of the Kilimanjaro sessions less than a year later. This is the original 7” version.

Julian Cope        Singer/Bassist
Mick Finkler                     Guitar
Gary Dwyer                    Drums
Paul Simpson           Keyboards

Sleeping Gas

Camera Camera

Kirkby Workers Dream Fades

The Bangles: Self Titled EP 1982

The Bangles emerged from the early 1980’s Paisley Underground scene. Which was a loose collection of bands  (mainly from the L.A. area) that were influenced by 60’s psychodelic pop, it included The Dream Syndicate and The Three O'Clock. The Bangles were by far the most commercially successful band from that scene. They can boost to having four vocalists. All the members of the band could -to varying degrees- sing.  Originally called The Colours, followed by The Supersonic Bangs, then just The Bangs, before finally The Bangles.  This is their 1982 second release following the single ‘Getting Out Of Hand’. It features a cover of ‘How Is The Air Up There’, made famous by 1960’s New Zealand band The La De Das. Shortly after the release of this EP, Annette Zilinskas left to join Blood on the Saddle. She was replaced by Michael Steele who had played in a later version of The Runaways.

Susanna Hoffs                          vocals/guitars
Vicki Peterson                           vocals/guitars
Debbi Peterson                          vocals/drums
Annette Zilinskas                          vocals/bass

The Real World
I'm In Line
Want You
Mary Street
How Is the Air Up There?

Or here's the whole lot as a .zip
The Bangles Self Title EP

No Tag: Oi Oi Oi 1982

New Zealand band No Tag were part of the early 1980’s West Auckland hall punk scene with the likes of The Mormons, The Plunket Boys, Red Cross and Vicious Circle. Playing gigs in hired halls such as the Owairaka Hall, Mount Roskill Municipal Hall, and the Mount Albert Primary School Hall,  as most venues  banned punk bands from playing. Manly due to the behaviour of  crowds they attracted. In the true tradition of punk, these gigs were organised by fans or the bands themselves and promoted by self-designed photocopied posters. No Tag were the only band from that scene to release a record.  This is their 1982 debut EP, release on Propeller Records (Rev21).  They also released an album. The arm and tattoo  -yes, its a real tattoo- on the cover belongs to the drummer Carl.

Andrew Boak                        Guitar
Paul Van Wettering              Vocals
Carl Van Wettering              Drums
Gary Sullivan                          Bass

No Tag
Mistake Identity
Legalised Dogs

The Gremlins: The Coming Generation EP1966

The song The Coming Generation was a big hit in New Zealand through the late winter and early spring of 1966. It reached as high as number 2 on the New Zealand Hit Parade. It even achieved that rare feat of an UK release. It was also that other rarity in the 1960s, a New Zealand band having a hit with a self penned song. It was co-written by the singer and main songwriter for the band, Glyn Tucker.

The Gremlins were an Auckland based band. Who were formed only a matter of weeks before recording The Coming Generation. It was a Loxene Golden Disc Award finalist in 1966 but lost out to Maria Dallas’ Tumblin’ Down.

 The Coming Generation was released by Zodiac Records on their Viscount label. It was available both as a 7” single  (Z451256) and a 7” five track EP (EPZ136). The single was backed by ‘That’s What I Want’ which was not on the EP version. 

Glyn Tucker (credited as Conway)               Lead Vocals
Paddy McAneney                                         Lead Guitar
Peter Davis                                              Rhythm Guitar
Ben Grubb                                                   Bass Guitar
Roger Wiles                                                        Drums

Produced By Gary Daverne

Side One
The Coming Generation
The Only Thing On My Mind

Side Two
My Word
It’s Easy To Say
Man’s Gotta Be A Man

* MP3s are for personal listening only.