Split Enz

aka Split Ends


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. 

Split Enz, 1977 - back: Neil Finn, Tim Finn, Nigel Griggs, Eddie Rayner; front: Malcolm Green, Noel Crombie
Mike Chunn, Noel Crombie, Tim Finn – Split Enz, Auckland Town Hall, 1975
Photo credit: Bruce Jarvis Collection - Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1704-1043A-22A
Split Enz, 1978 - clockwise from bottom left: Malcolm Green, Eddie Rayner, Neil Finn, Tim Finn, Noel Crombie, Nigel Griggs
Poor Boy
Nigel Griggs, Tim Finn, Eddie Rayner, Neil Finn, Paul Hester, Noel Crombie
The press release for the first single 'Split Ends' / 'For You'
Photo credit: Murray Cammick Collection
Live at the Auckland Town Hall, 1976
Canadian cover for the 1980 single 'Poor Boy'
I Hope I Never (1980)
Split Enz 1976. L to R: Noel Crombie, Malcolm Green (back), Phil Judd (front), Mike Chunn, Tim Finn (lying), Rob Gillies, Eddie Rayner
1980: L to R: Neil Finn, Tim Finn, Nigel Griggs, Eddie Rayner, Malcolm Green, Noel Crombie
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.
The promo pack sent out by Split Enz's management for the 1975 release of the Mental Notes album
Neil and Tim Finn interviewed in 1984
Spellbound (Documentary, 1993)
Split Enz, c 1979/1980
Tim Finn and Phil Manzanera having a chat (2021)
Tim Finn, Split Enz, Auckland Town Hall, 1975
Photo credit: Bruce Jarvis Collection - Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1704-1043A-15A
Mike Chunn, Split Enz, Auckland Town Hall, 1975
Photo credit: Bruce Jarvis Collection - Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1704-1043A-23A
Homegrown Profiles: The Finns (2005)
Split Enz fanclub magazine, 1977
Bold As Brass
Phil Judd, Split Enz, Auckland Town Hall, 1975
Photo credit: Bruce Jarvis Collection- Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1704-1043B-34
Enz With A Bang (Final NZ tour 1984)
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
1976-77
I Got You
Creem magazine (USA) gets it rather wrong, April 1981
Photo credit: Murray Cammick Collection
History Never Repeats
Down at the old saloon, Auckland, 3 February 2020. A reunion with (from left) Mike Chunn, Murray Grindlay, Barry Coburn, and music journalist Phil Gifford. In December 1972 promoter Barry Coburn presented Split Ends at its second gig, at Levi's Saloon on Customs Street, Auckland. Grindlay and Gifford, of course, also have many tales to tell.
Photo credit: Tyler Coburn
Noel Crombie in a shoot for Cha Cha magazine, mid-1980s
Photo credit: Murray Cammick Collection
Tim Finn, Split Enz, Auckland Town Hall, 1975
Photo credit: Bruce Jarvis Collection - Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1704-1043B-21
Tim Finn pre-show, 1976
Noel Crombie in the early 1980s
1976
Photo credit: Murray Cammick Collection
Eddie Rayner radio station ad
Photo credit: Simon Grigg Collection
Tim Finn and Mike Chunn, Split Enz, Auckland Town Hall, 1975
Photo credit: Bruce Jarvis Collection - Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1704-1043A-32A
Phil Judd 1976
Photo credit: Murray Cammick Collection
1974 Students Arts Council tour
Photo credit: Murray Cammick Collection
Split Enz, Auckland Town Hall, 1975
Photo credit: Bruce Jarvis Collection - Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1704-1043B-02
Eddie Rayner, Split Enz, Auckland Town Hall, 1975
Photo credit: Bruce Jarvis Collection - Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1704-1043B-28
I See Red
1978-79 - L to R: Noel Crombie, Tim Finn, Eddie Rayner, Neil Finn, Malcolm Green, Nigel Griggs
Spellbound (Live on Grunt Machine 1975)
I Got You (Paul Hogan Show 1980)
1973 press ad for the first single
Phil Judd backstage 1976
Message To My Girl
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
Early 1977: Michael Gudinski and a Mushroom colleague celebrate with Tim Finn and Mike Chunn. 
Split Enz fanclub magazine, 1980
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
Phil Judd, 1976
Maybe (1975 Telethon performance)
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.
Split Ends 1973 
Split Enz - Late Last Night (1976)
1975 publicity shot in Auckland domain. L to R: Noel Crombie, Tim Finn, Phil Judd, Eddie Rayner, Mike Chunn, Paul Crowther, Wally Wilkinson.
Haul Away (Live in Hamilton 1982)
Tim Finn and Noel Crombie, Split Enz, Auckland Town Hall, 1975
Photo credit: Bruce Jarvis Collection - Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1704-1043C-18A
Split Enz fanclub magazine, 1982
Split Ends 1973 L to R: Wally Wilkinson, Phil Judd, Mike Chunn, Geoff Chunn, Brian Finn
Photo credit: Murray Cammick Collection
Members:

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

Labels:

Mushroom Records


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