Press Release from Silt Breeze in conjunction with Sleek Bott RE: Axemen – Scary Re-release July 2009

PR Date:May 2009

Axemen-Scary! Part III-dbl lp (SB-119/120)

“…you’ll begin to see (& hear)…”

“…the Axemen blazed through the 80’s…”

“Unlike the hyper punk-charged pastiche of Big Cheap Motel…”

The second entry in the Siltbreeze/Axemen / Sleek Bott reissue series, Scary! Part III originally saw light as a cassette only release sometime in 1989.

Most band/fans active in the Christchurch & Dunedin scene’s at this time will tell you (sans embellishment) how prolifically the Axemen blazed through the 80’s decade (new cassettes seeming to exist almost on a daily basis) & in classic Rashomon style you’d likely get a different story from all willing to reminisce, though it’s be safe to say everyone would agree that the beguiling je ne sais quoi (now) found within the grooves of Scary! Part III to be some of the bands most intriguing blat to date.
Unlike the hyper punk-charged pastiche of Big Cheap Motel, Scary! operates from practically a Gestalt concept & sensibility.

While on the surface the contents found therein might sound fragmented, ruminous or obfuscatory, dig deeper (or listen better) & you’ll begin to see (& hear) the mystifying ooze lactating out of the 4 sides of Scary! Part III not as individual, insurmountable constructs of bizarreness, but as a coherent pattern of brilliant phenomena that is-in a word-SCARY!

Various sets of novice ears who have made it though this Bunyanesque giant find themselves making comparisons to a mixture of S.Y.P.H., Royal Trux & Ptose.

All one can say (really) to such hodgepodge is…..congratulations. Twenty yrs & counting & this release refuses to be aptly pigeonholed. Hell, even a seasoned horror chomper such as Shirley Jackson (were she still croaking) would tell ya to give these guys a wide berth. They mean business & their business is mean. Or as the poet (& bartender) Bing McFreud once scribed as an ode to this collection of doozy’s;

‘Be Very Afeared
Cause This Ain’t No Beard
And You Have An Aversion
To Clean’.

————————————————————-

Scary! Part III. It’s for real. Again. Finally!

Ltd ed dbl LP run of 700 w/sticker, insert & poster.

Order direct from Silt Breeze: paypal: sltrx@pil.net

————- TRACK LISTING ————–
SIDE 1

HEART BULLET 2:42

CHURCH OF THE LOOSELY BRETHREN 3:41

10 MILES (AS THE CROW FLIES) 3:10

THAT MUST BE HELL 2:07

SHACKED UP IN YR EGYPT TOMB 3:37

15.2 mins

SIDE 2

JOIN THE RAF 2:58

YOU, YOU CABINET 1:00

THE VIRGIN 2:17

ANIMALS HAVE RIGHTS, TOO 3:36

ACCUSATION OF MURDER 3:23

13.1 mins

SIDE 3

FREE WORLD 2:20

INTERMISSION 1:51

SUN UND MOON 4:12

BEER UND FLINTSTONES 2:10 1

THE WRECK OF THE WHISTLING MAREE 2:24

12.9 mins

SIDE 4

THE 2-BIT STAR 4:11

MUST LOVE DIE 3:14

NO LOOK BACK 5:44

NASTY MOON SHINE 2:35

15.7 mins

Loliners – Single release May 2009 – Another Dead Daddy / Obsessed and deranged

Song :LoLiners: obsessed and deranged

Buy single here:

http://www.amplifier.co.nz/artist/46319/the-loliners.html

Loliners: History

Lo liners Started 2004
Ex trash/grungeriotgrrlpunk with gats

Some history:
Lisa Preston – keyboard, drums, guitar, vocals
Bands: Portage, Nux-Vomica The Axemin, Snort, Thee Hellfire Club, The Luvin’ 44’s, The Ginger Group, The Tryhards, Loliners

Joanne Billesdon – lead and rhythm guitar & vocals
Bands: The Stepford 5, The Renderers, The Axemin, I M Force, Snort, The Hellfire Club, The Strap-ons, The Tryhards, Lo liners

Sharon Warhurst – Bass guitar
Bands: The Stepford 5, Snort, I M Force, Thee Hellfire Club, Lo liners

Russell Covyne – Drums…
Bands: mainly Boy Bands

By Steve McCabe

Hard on the heels of their epic lower North Island mini tour, those pedal-pushing stalwarts of stage and screen, constant kerbside companions, touring and blossoming bosom buddies and lesbian action figures The Axemen and Hairdos got together one more time with a couple of other sets of touring veterans – Piece War and The Aesthetics – in a show with everything but Yul Brynner!

THE FOREGROUND MUSIC IS HERE

From the four far-flung corners of the country they came in droves, from miles around they eked, far and wide they came to crane their necks for just a glimpse, a sneak preview, a peek at what was to come, an unprecedented tribute gig to the late great Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music, hastily mustered up by Steve, Bob and Stu (all big Roxy Music fans in their own right of course, and as such not one of them would end up leaving Point Chevalier without a sopping handkerchief on this nite).

Not wanting to upset the girls, the Axemen left it to the very last moment to break the news of Ferry’s premature demise, causing a monumental cascade of wailing as the news broke.

Piece War – I can’t believe its not the Sirens!

Some Talibanis wanted to get some girls in the sack and stone them but it turned out they were already pretty stoned when they arrived so they left it at that.

Hairdos:  I can’t believe its not a Roxy Music Album cover!

Of course the rugby on the big screen was cancelled because of the telly ban.

Scrapping their initial set of all-original songs in deference to a hastily cobbled together set of Roxy classics the lads pressed on with the show through the vale of tears as though it were a tsunami or Mount Vesuvius – even Oliver’s Army would have had difficulty keeping a dry eye on this occasion. The most brazen and battle-hardened of mongol hordes charging along the steppes would also have wept at the sorry news, such was the furore.

AESTHETICS: FIRE AND ICE

Matt Middleton – I can’t believe its not Andy Mackay!

Wide-eyed, whacky  and bushy tailed, the Axemen honed their craft like so many Armani-wearing, cravat-sporting, brylcreemed to the nines cads on their way to the country club in their cut and shut shortened limousine.

McCabes note-perfect renderings of ‘The Bogus Man’ and ‘In Every Dream Home, a Heartache’ inspired more than one young lady to peel off her panties and toss them stagewards and by the end of the first set it the stage was awash with underwear, a virtual octopuses grab-bag, and thats something you don’t see every day!

“My sole regret to this day”, Steve McCabe was heard to mutter in the alley outside the Ambassador, “is not to have included ‘Both Ends Burning’ on the list of Roxy covers we played on that night, especially considering Ferry’s dramatic expulsion from the earthly world with the coffin being set alight literally at both ends. I just couldn’t do it after my Mexican food poisoning experience. Just couldn’t go through with it. Sorry Bryan”

By Steve McCabe

Newtown Panda Battle, May 1st & 2nd 2009, Lower North Island, New Zealand

We arrived in Newtown after a 10 hr drive from Auckland through the scenic wasteland that is Godzone North, Maui’s Fish, Te Ika O Maui. At the Adelaide a live rugby match (Blues vs ‘Canes – ‘Canes shredded the Blues 45-27) was on the big screen at the opposite end of the pub to the stage. “Nothing happens till after the rugby” we were told cheerfully by more than one person. We went out for a nibble.

When we got back Angel Dust, playing first so as to maximize available drinking time, had started soundchecking and this eventually evolved into their set. The ‘Dust played a hard-rocking, suitably shambling set without descending into wallowing to an appreciative and diverse audience. The congregation consisted of various Wellington radical / fringe factions come to support their favourite local bands and take in some of the out-of-town action on offer (Angel Dust, Hairdos and Axemen), punters left over from the rugby, and a few pandas who kept pretty much to themselves.

Angel Dust: Disorder out of Chaos

Panda Battle Battle Panda: Iron Maidens

Panda Battle Battle Panda: They blacken our eyes, they blacken our ears Next Panda Battle Battle Panda had started setting up their ironing board and roar-checking the mikes. Their set was a beat laden layercake of subsonic bass and drum beats overlayed with primitive roars screeches and squeals breaking into sloganised snippets of singing – kinda like the Slits and Crass jamming with Cabaret Voltaire in the jungle… Panda Battle Battle Panda After ironing out a few technical issues, they pressed on through their set with crowd pleasers like ‘blacken our eyes’ and ‘what is she wearing?’

Auckland’s Hairdos (pronounced Hare – dooz), widely touted as the next big thing in perky kiwi punk-pop, played next. Their set covered a range of their material and the slightly B-52s reminiscent “Night Creeper” was one of the many highlights of an energetic audience friendly set – lots of dancing

The Hairdos: Perky Punk Prototypes

Newtown: So good they named a town after them

Playing in their eponymous hometown, Newtown were the home team favourites.The 2-piece played their cheerful enthusiastic punky numbers to the delight of their audience contingent and the out of town-ers alike. Kirsten and Greta (celebrating their second anniversary this very night!) swapped instruments mid-set showing their dexterity and making a nice dynamic change.

The Axemen were next on the agenda. Not having played in the capitol city for years, they were joined by their resident capitol city guitarist, Dragan Stojanovic to complete the classic 4-piece Derry Legend album line-up. In keeping with the dairy theme promoting the recent ‘Big Cheap Motel’ re-release, they screened ‘Milk’, the new Sean Penn movie on the sports screen at the far end of the bar. Ernie Abbott, R.I.P. Time-travelling through a range of material spanning the last 2.5 decades, they finished of with an epic version of the highly suitable and relevant ‘Ernie Abbott‘, a chilling song about the caretaker killed in the trades hall bombing in Wellington in 1984.

Axemen: Old Farts Never Sleep