Otis Mace performing in Catalonia, Spain, 2012 - Otis Mace Collection
Richard Lello to his parents, Otis Mace – Guitar Ace – has played with a staggering array of New Zealand and international musicians. He spent eight years touring Europe, made eventful jaunts to Canada and the US, and opened for acts as diverse as Billy Bragg, The Violent Femmes, Screaming Blue Messiahs and D.O.A. For over 40 years his love of writing and gigging and his joy in collaborating with fellow creatives has never waned.
Satellite Surfing – The Warners
The sand is black and so are the T-shirts in the video for this “Ramones meets Beach Boys” type of brutalist stomp-rock song by Auckland band The Warners. Powered by a relentless backbeat, the recorded version comes very close to capturing the blazing live vibe of the band and lyrics rhyme and bristle with good natured westie bravado and punk attitude. “We will come to your beach and stomp on your sand castles and throw the life guard off the tower.” Not really, but the idea is there and it’s all in good fun. Anger well-squeezed into a two-and-a-half minute blast.
Downhill Racer – Shaft
“Ever since I was a fish in school, I dreamed about the Downhill Racer ...” Not really sure what the song is about but it’s about five minutes of pure pop splendour, complete with strings and, on the Stuart Page-directed video, a truck crashing through a house. It’s obviously a stage prop but the truck is big and real, with scaffolding to protect paintwork. Awesome playing and production – when I used to see this band live someone told me the song was a Captain Beefheart cover but I somehow just knew it was a Bob Cardy epic original complete with an ambitious instrumental sounds-like-a-key-change-but-it’s-not, a bit like something from Sgt Pepper. You can also hear one of Bob’s songs on the Outrageous Fortune soundtrack album. Shaft will ride again!
Hoping and Wishing (Robin’s Song) – Kirsten Morrell
Odd phrases shine through with Kirsten Morrell’s clear, concise and gentle voice. Great production with a deft and light touch and some good stereo echo effects. The verses are sparse and spacious, followed by a full-on synth-washed orchestral chorus. It’s a number where the lyrics, melody, and instrumentation all mesh delicately to provide a coherent emotional setting. Lyrical lines like “You have found your light, now call the cavalier …” and “… catch this falling star and hope the pain and hate will all be gone.” The overall vibe is of peaceful and understated optimism. Hopefully there is some promotional juice behind Kirsten’s release and she should, in theory, get a good run from this classy writing. Another verse of words would have been good, but the song still holds up really well with the repeated verse.
Loyal – Dave Dobbyn
The intro seems to hint at Celtic balladry but the vocal melody in the verse is what I really like about this song from Dave Dobbyn, so that even years after the first listen it was one of the first tunes that I thought of when asked to write this Songwriter’s Choice for AudioCulture. Great contrast with the chorus too. The video was shot in one long take, an ambitious and expensive feat of cinematic technique. ‘Loyal’ the song has always seemed to be a real gem. It’s no wonder this song was used by America’s Cup boat races – anthemic grandeur in spades. Great contrast between complex verses and the simple birdcall-like chorus, both hummable and catchy.
Andy – The Front Lawn
It sometimes happens in dreams – a conversation that’s no longer possible. But here it is in a song. Masterful long-phrase melodic tumble in the verses then, at the end of the bridge, where the lyrics ask: “Can you believe this? Well, can you?” The Front Lawn’s shows had a sly humour and shimmer – you almost smell the smugness of Auckland’s North Shore, fresh-cut grass and petrol fumes, and hear the clattering drone of Flymos and Masports. But ‘Andy’ is a song of tragedy, a lament to Don McGlashan’s dead brother, with delicate rhythmic/melodic variations of instrumentation it captures a sad interior monologue with sparse lyrical word paintings. It’s elegant and nuanced bonding of melody and lyrics. It’s an unassuming arrangement – melodica, horns, mandolin – with very delicately driven complex rhythms.
There is No Depression in New Zealand – Blam Blam Blam
Written by Don McGlashan and Richard von Sturmer for Blam Blam Blam, the lyrics are incisive and the tune rocks a catchy but slightly tricky key change, with chiming harmonics from Mark Bell’s guitar. Plus, the satirical almost sarcastic lyrics, an exercise in double negative anger and outright thought-crime political jargon. The timing of the release of this song and the bleak outlook and social upheaval of the early 1980s meant it banged onto the charts for Blam Blam Blam and filled dance floors around the country.
Spik and Span – The Gordons
This grinding sonic assault from The Gordons hit the spot in the 1980s and now still gets the bullseye. The lyrics, referencing “The Master Plan” from 1930s Nazi propaganda, point at creeping western-world mental servitude to an increasingly false sense of normal. The riff drives the whole piece forward like a bulldozer pushing a festering slab of debris and then the chorus is a shouted warning. “Watch out! Watch out!” Shouted at the bright and shiny imitation paradise world of “Spik and span, it’s the Master Plan. Spik … and Span.” Well, that was the live version but it’s nearly matched here on record. I think this is one of the tracks recorded at an all-night session at Doug Rogers’ Harlequin Studios. The Gordons got a cheap rate then went in and recorded an album in two or three nights.
G’day Mate – Ponsonby DCs
Expertly captured dry laconic inclusive Kiwi humor of the best sort here with lyric phrases slung together – with te reo greetings, a dash of Cockney rhyming slang, and Pasifika – in an inclusive, chuddy-chewing blokey consensus with a repetitive brooding simple guitar chord/riff and then a brighter sax section. The video for this is a laugh too with stock characters all played by the writer, Gavin Buxton. The Ponsonby DCs included Keith Dion and Jay Foulkes, and had many Pacific rock numbers.
Cactus Cat – Look Blue Go Purple
One of the more up-beat Flying Nun releases from the 80s – the lyrics set a dreamy scene, surreal yet cosy – and the fuzzed-up jangly guitars drive the melody. A band from cold damp Dunedin singing about hot dry Tucson bounces along like a cat leaping through the long grass. Lyrically sunny and bright phrases about “love that never ends” and “She is my best friend.” Then the guitar solo with its feedback and in a major key – echoes of demented droning bagpipes. It’s no wonder that Look Blue Go Purple’s 1991 album Compilation won the Independent Music NZ Classic Record award at the 2004 Taite Music Awards.
Enough – Fables
A mournful melancholic lament with sparse and percussion-free backing – a relationship-extinguished type of song with only acoustic guitar arpeggios and synth wash backing, pushing a world-weary series of questions aimed at an ex-lover with simple visuals and sub-titles to clarify the vocals. Fables captures a feeling well here, understated and down beat but evocative, as the listener is lured into her memories of loss and longing. On the video, sometimes the lyrics are synced to match her lips, other times it’s just visuals using just two backdrops, one of trees and another of images on a drop cloth. This reinforces the memory/present day split narrative of the song, simple but delicately tugging on the over-plucked heartstrings.
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