Split Enz Profile

aka Split Ends

Brian White

16 Apr 2013

Arguably the most important New Zealand band of all time, and certainly the most successful, Split Enz redefined the way New Zealand wrote, created and enjoyed music, traversing a path from eclectic folkies to stadium filling superstars in their 14 years.

Split Enz emerged from the leftfield of the New Zealand music scene in the mid-1970s, but they gradually built a mainstream audience on both sides of the Tasman. Although based in Melbourne and signed to the indie Australian company Mushroom Records for most of their career, they remained as strongly identified with New Zealand as the buzzy-bee and the All Blacks.

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Split Enz receive platinum records from PolyGram New Zealand in 1980 for sales of the True Colours album. After a dispute with Festival Records in NZ over their promotion of the Frenzy album Enz moved their local distribution to PolyGram for three albums. With them is PolyGram's Stuart Rubin.

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Message To My Girl

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Promotor Ian Magan with Tim Finn in the early 1980s. Magan, a "pirate" founder of Radio Hauraki, worked with Split Enz for a decade as their promoter, from the 1975 university tours to the later stadium shows.

Photo credit: Photo by Murray Cammick

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Split Ends 1973 L to R: Wally Wilkinson, Phil Judd, Mike Chunn, Geoff Chunn, Brian Finn

Photo credit: Murray Cammick Collection

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Eddie Rayner radio station ad

Photo credit: Simon Grigg Collection

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1976-77

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Phil Judd, 1976

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1980: L to R: Neil Finn, Tim Finn, Nigel Griggs, Eddie Rayner, Malcolm Green, Noel Crombie

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Canadian cover for the 1980 single 'Poor Boy'

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Noel Crombie in the early 1980s

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I Got You (Paul Hogan Show 1980)

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1978-79 - L to R: Noel Crombie, Tim Finn, Eddie Rayner, Neil Finn, Malcolm Green, Nigel Griggs

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Live at the Auckland Town Hall, 1976

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Spellbound (Live on Grunt Machine 1975)

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Creem magazine (USA) gets it rather wrong, April 1981

Photo credit: Murray Cammick Collection

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1974 Students Arts Council tour

Photo credit: Murray Cammick Collection

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Poor Boy

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Split Enz, 1977 - back: Neil Finn, Tim Finn, Nigel Griggs, Eddie Rayner; front: Malcolm Green, Noel Crombie

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October 1977 - Tim Finn and Mike Chunn with Mushroom's Michael Gudinski

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Haul Away (Live in Hamilton 1982)

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Bold As Brass

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Mental Notes publicity shot - L to R: Wally Wilkinson (back), Timothy Finn (front), Noel Crombie, Eddie Rayner (back), Jonathan Michael Chunn (front), Philip Judd, Emlyn Crowther (as they were called on the album)

Photo credit: Simon Grigg Collection

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Homegrown Profiles: The Finns (2005)

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I Got You

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Tim Finn finds that the visual side of the Split Enz show can be a little uncomfortable at times. Noel Crombie creating the 1976 trademark Finn hair in London.

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Noel Crombie in a shoot for Cha Cha magazine, mid-1980s

Photo credit: Murray Cammick Collection

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Split Enz, 1978 - clockwise from bottom left: Malcolm Green, Eddie Rayner, Neil Finn, Tim Finn, Noel Crombie, Nigel Griggs

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Phil Judd 1976

Photo credit: Murray Cammick Collection

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Split Enz fanclub magazine, 1982

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1973 press ad for the first single

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Split Ends 1973

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Tim Finn pre-show, 1976

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Spellbound (Documentary)

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Split Enz 1976. L to R: Noel Crombie, Malcolm Green (back), Phil Judd (front), Mike Chunn, Tim Finn (lying), Rob Gillies, Eddie Rayner

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Split Enz fanclub magazine, 1980

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Split Enz fanclub magazine, 1977

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History Never Repeats

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Nigel Griggs, Tim Finn, Eddie Rayner, Neil Finn, Paul Hester, Noel Crombie

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1976

Photo credit: Murray Cammick Collection

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Phil Judd backstage 1976

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A slide of the original Phil Judd painting used for the cover of 1975's Mental Notes album. The original is now in Te Papa

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I Hope I Never (1980)

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1975 publicity shot in Auckland domain. L to R: Noel Crombie, Tim Finn, Phil Judd, Eddie Rayner, Mike Chunn, Paul Crowther, Wally Wilkinson.

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I See Red

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Enz With A Bang (Final NZ tour 1984)

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The promo pack sent out by Split Enz's management for the 1975 release of the Mental Notes album

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Maybe (1975 Telethon performance)

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The press release for the first single 'Split Ends' / 'For You'

Photo credit: Murray Cammick Collection

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Neil and Tim Finn interviewed in 1984

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Paul Hester - drums

Eddie Rayner - keyboards

Paul Crowther - drums

Tim Finn - vocals, piano, guitar

Geoff Chunn - guitar

Malcolm Green - drums

Mike Chunn - bass

Miles Golding - violin

Neil Finn - vocals, guitar, mandolin

Nigel Griggs - bass

Noel Crombie - drums, percussion

Phil Judd - Guitar, vocals

Wally Wilkinson - guitar

Robert Gillies - sax

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Wikipedia

Jeremy Ansell's 10 part Enzology documentary at National Radio

Koji Kumada's Kiakaha site

Split Enz at Rock's Backpages (requires subscription)

Graham Reid on Mental Notes

Review: Split Enz live at Victoria University, 1975

Split Enz at NZ History

Nick Bollinger on Mental Notes

1979 Wellington Town Hall gig: Salient review

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Mushroom Records

White Cloud

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AudioCulture

Split Enz Profile