August 20, 2024 • 10 mins
An award-winning Christchurch band is in the lineup for the 2025 Selwyn Sounds.
The Narcs’ Andy Dickson joined John MacDonald for a chat about the music scene in the 80’s, and what it was like to perform with some of the biggest names in the industry like Elton John and Queen.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
You suit me, Suit Me, So.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
You know that we remember that one, don't you? From
Ready to Roll Back in the Day. That's the Knox
and the Knocks have joined the lineup for Seven Sounds
next year, along with Orchestral Maneuvers and The Dark Thomson Twins,
Tom Bailey, John Stevens from Noiseworks and In Excess and Diesel.
The Knarks are also going to be performing with Kim
Willoughby from When the Cat's Away. Andy Dixon's the lead
saying is with us now get Andy.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Get a John nice to hear you.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Now you're you're you're in Australia these days, is it right?
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Yeah? Yeah, based in Brisbane.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
How long you been there?
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Oh, twenty five years?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
And where's the rest of the band?
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Well, McCall of the band now is really just Tony,
Wayne and myself, who we go right back to the beginning.
Of course, Tony's a christ Church boy, leam our keyboard
player who in this instance he's not coming on board
for this where we've kind of we're pushing the power
pop trio vibe again and the promoters were really keen
(01:32):
on that idea, and of course, as you mentioned, we're
bringing Kim on board. Liam is based. He's still in
New Zealand and why he and Steve Clarkson he pulled
out from the band several years ago now. So our
new drummer is an amazing, amazing guy from Auckland called
Josh Sorenson who's played with a few different people. He's
(01:55):
currently in a band called Foom who sort of in
a flying, non kind of realm. They've been doing a
few shows recently and yeah, we're really excited to be
playing Sell and Sounds and you know the other Sound
series shows as well.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Fantastic. I was reading that Heart and Soul. You guys
wrote that song and in fact most of the songs
for your debut album while you were at some sort
of commune. What's that all about.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Yeah, it was a commune at the Coramandel Pininsula which
had a studio which was ideal for you know, demo
ing and a nice space to rehearse in and just
work up some tunes. And yeah, it just we heard
about it through a contact in Auckland at the time
and we ended up going there for I can't remember exactly,
(02:43):
but we were certainly there, I think for a couple of.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Weeks, and you went there with the intense of writing
writing those songs, is it right?
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Yeah, we did. I mean we didn't. A lot of
the songs weren't They didn't exist until we until we
got there. But yeah, there was a few ideas in
the bag when we went there, but one of them,
being Heart and Soul, was written you know, on the
spot at the commune in the studio there. So yeah,
(03:11):
it was one of those songs that kind of came
quite quickly. And is you know, it's a collaboration between
myself and Liam and it's you know, as Ricky Morris
says about his song nobody Else, it's the song that
keeps on giving.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah, we've spoken to Ricky. We've spoken a Ricky about that.
Do you know what year was Heart and Soul a hit?
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Eighty four?
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Eighty four? All right? Do you know? Because I'm a
bit of a music nerd, And do you know the
thing that really struck me when I remember saying it
on Ready to Roll and hearing it on the radio
was that it was a song with pretty much the
same riff all the way through, and I remember thinking, wow,
it's the same riff for the verse and the chorus
(03:57):
pretty much.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
Yeah, well we only knew, we only know a few
could you know?
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I know what that's like? So does that reflect because
it almost makes sense to me now say that it
was written in the studio. It was almost like you
got the riff and then you started verse over the time,
but the chorus over the top. Here is that? Am
I onto something? There?
Speaker 4 (04:16):
You are? Yeah, that's more. That's pretty much how it happened. Yeah,
I mean, we just fine tuned it as we went.
And it's funny, isn't it. Those often the simplest ideas
end up being the strongest and have the most longevity.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
And of course you did some amazing support X and
slots and I'll get onto that, But can you just
tell the story, because you know, the Narks heart back
to doing the pubs in christ Church, don't.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
They we do? Yeah? Yep, yes, the good old days
when people didn't have much else to do and there
was only probably still one TV channel at that point,
which closed down quite earlier from memory. Yeah, yeah, we
were lucky, I guess to emerge in a time where
the live music scene, and the pub pub music scene
(05:02):
was really strong and everybody if there was a new
band on the scene, words seemed to get around christ
Church really quickly, and before you know it, you were
packing out there to the Hillsborough or the Barnui or
the Gladstone or yeah. And then we started off at
the Imperial Little Pub in Barbados Street, which I don't
(05:23):
know if that's still there. And also there was a
nightclub in the middle of town called Doodles, which we
became sort of a resident band there and we used
to open for all the Auckland bands when they would
come down and stuff. And yeah, that's pretty much how
we cut our teeth, I guess.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
And then you end up doing support slots. So I'm
looking at Midnight Oil split ends, Elton John and Queen.
Let's let's work through them Midnight Oil. What was it
like doing the support slot for them? And with all
of these acts, really what what involvement or engagement did
you have with them or were you completely separated?
Speaker 4 (06:02):
No, they were lovely guys and in fact we're still
in touch. Became really good mates with Robhurst and it
turned out I was invited onto a side project of
his called Ghostwriters, which he started on when Midnight Oil
were having a break in the early nineties. I ended
up playing on the first album and a few tracks
(06:23):
on the second album, which was an absolute honor because
I'd always been a massive mid Not Oil fan. In fact,
the whole band was and still is. But yeah, I
think a lot of those things come about because of
the promoters and management that we're looking after us. We're
also putting a lot of those shows on the road
and into stadiums and town balls and all the rest
(06:44):
of it. And we was at the time signed to CBS,
which was the same label that mid Not Oil were on.
They became Sony of course. So no, they were lovely
guys to travel with. They were very inclusive, you know,
we used to all dine together and stuff, And in
fact they borrowed After the first show, which I from
(07:07):
memory was in Dunedin at the town Hall, we went
back to the hotel and we're all keen to party
on in the house bar and sort of connect even
more with the guys, and they just wanted to borrow
my guitarkas all their stuff had been put up the
front of this truck with all the gear back in
the days when everything was piled into trucks, and so
they actually borrowed my faithful old as Paul and went upstairs.
(07:29):
And at the time they were writing songs for the
Red Sales and the Sunset album, So that was quite
a buzz to know that, you know, a few of
those tunes were being penned and my guitar was helping out.
So that was kind of cool.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Fantassa Elton John, where did you.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Support him at Mount Smart And the same with Queen And.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Again how much connection did you have with both of
those acts?
Speaker 4 (07:57):
Not so much with Elton John, although he did compliment
our lighting guy who looked more like a rock star
than we did. He saw him back.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
I think he was complimenting as lighting or something else.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
I think he thought he I think that Elton thought
he was one of the band members and he said, oh,
great show. You know I didn't. Yeah, we didn't personally
meet Elton, but we did end up meeting a couple
of the guys from Queen as prior to the shows,
they were rehearsing at an independent TV studio in a
(08:33):
space at Kayva Pass in Auckland, and we ended up
meeting them In fact, somebody had been in touch with
us and said, if you guys want to come along
and you can catch Queen rehearsing, and it was like wow.
And by the time we had got that message and
that we got there, it was only two of us,
I think from Member we went. But by the time
(08:56):
we got there, they were just striking the last chord.
So we walked into the space. We were escorted into
the space where they were rehearsing, and they were just
finishing up as we walked on the tour and Freddie
was throwing the tawil around his over his shoulders and
walking out the room. But we then ended up in
a green room upstairs and we met Brian May and
John Deacon from Memory.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Wow. I mean, it seems amazing to me that they're
there on the world tour and we're even doing rehearsals.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Yeah. Well, I think what had happened was there they'd
come from a massive show in Rio and apparently there
was some huge storm and a lot of from Memory,
a lot of their equipment had got wet, and so
there must have been time for the equipment to be
shipped out and then all gone through and checked and dried,
(09:44):
and then I guess by the time there was a
reasonable gap between the shows in Rio, or the show
in Rio and the one in New Zealand, so they
obviously wanted to get together again and rehearse and make
sure all the gear was okay and all that sort
of stuff.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yeah, well there they're rehearsals almost legendary because they put
a lot of work into that life Vade performance, didn't
the man alive? That paid off?
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Yeah, Like they say, that's one of the best performance
rock band performances of all time, don't they.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Hey, any brilliant to catch up. We're looking forward to
seeing you it see Sounds next year. All the very
best and thanks for your time today.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Thank you, John lovely chatting with.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
You for more from Category Mornings with John McDonald. Listen
live to news Talks It'd be christ Church from nine
am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
You suit me, Suit Me, So.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
You know that we remember that one, don't you? From
Ready to Roll Back in the Day. That's the Knox
and the Knocks have joined the lineup for Seven Sounds
next year, along with Orchestral Maneuvers and The Dark Thomson Twins,
Tom Bailey, John Stevens from Noiseworks and In Excess and Diesel.
The Knarks are also going to be performing with Kim
Willoughby from When the Cat's Away. Andy Dixon's the lead
saying is with us now get Andy.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Get a John nice to hear you.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Now you're you're you're in Australia these days, is it right?
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Yeah? Yeah, based in Brisbane.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
How long you been there?
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Oh, twenty five years?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
And where's the rest of the band?
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Well, McCall of the band now is really just Tony,
Wayne and myself, who we go right back to the beginning.
Of course, Tony's a christ Church boy, leam our keyboard
player who in this instance he's not coming on board
for this where we've kind of we're pushing the power
pop trio vibe again and the promoters were really keen
(01:32):
on that idea, and of course, as you mentioned, we're
bringing Kim on board. Liam is based. He's still in
New Zealand and why he and Steve Clarkson he pulled
out from the band several years ago now. So our
new drummer is an amazing, amazing guy from Auckland called
Josh Sorenson who's played with a few different people. He's
(01:55):
currently in a band called Foom who sort of in
a flying, non kind of realm. They've been doing a
few shows recently and yeah, we're really excited to be
playing Sell and Sounds and you know the other Sound
series shows as well.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Fantastic. I was reading that Heart and Soul. You guys
wrote that song and in fact most of the songs
for your debut album while you were at some sort
of commune. What's that all about.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Yeah, it was a commune at the Coramandel Pininsula which
had a studio which was ideal for you know, demo
ing and a nice space to rehearse in and just
work up some tunes. And yeah, it just we heard
about it through a contact in Auckland at the time
and we ended up going there for I can't remember exactly,
(02:43):
but we were certainly there, I think for a couple of.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Weeks, and you went there with the intense of writing
writing those songs, is it right?
Speaker 4 (02:50):
Yeah, we did. I mean we didn't. A lot of
the songs weren't They didn't exist until we until we
got there. But yeah, there was a few ideas in
the bag when we went there, but one of them,
being Heart and Soul, was written you know, on the
spot at the commune in the studio there. So yeah,
(03:11):
it was one of those songs that kind of came
quite quickly. And is you know, it's a collaboration between
myself and Liam and it's you know, as Ricky Morris
says about his song nobody Else, it's the song that
keeps on giving.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Yeah, we've spoken to Ricky. We've spoken a Ricky about that.
Do you know what year was Heart and Soul a hit?
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Eighty four?
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Eighty four? All right? Do you know? Because I'm a
bit of a music nerd, And do you know the
thing that really struck me when I remember saying it
on Ready to Roll and hearing it on the radio
was that it was a song with pretty much the
same riff all the way through, and I remember thinking, wow,
it's the same riff for the verse and the chorus
(03:57):
pretty much.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
Yeah, well we only knew, we only know a few
could you know?
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I know what that's like? So does that reflect because
it almost makes sense to me now say that it
was written in the studio. It was almost like you
got the riff and then you started verse over the time,
but the chorus over the top. Here is that? Am
I onto something? There?
Speaker 4 (04:16):
You are? Yeah, that's more. That's pretty much how it happened. Yeah,
I mean, we just fine tuned it as we went.
And it's funny, isn't it. Those often the simplest ideas
end up being the strongest and have the most longevity.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
And of course you did some amazing support X and
slots and I'll get onto that, But can you just
tell the story, because you know, the Narks heart back
to doing the pubs in christ Church, don't.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
They we do? Yeah? Yep, yes, the good old days
when people didn't have much else to do and there
was only probably still one TV channel at that point,
which closed down quite earlier from memory. Yeah, yeah, we
were lucky, I guess to emerge in a time where
the live music scene, and the pub pub music scene
(05:02):
was really strong and everybody if there was a new
band on the scene, words seemed to get around christ
Church really quickly, and before you know it, you were
packing out there to the Hillsborough or the Barnui or
the Gladstone or yeah. And then we started off at
the Imperial Little Pub in Barbados Street, which I don't
(05:23):
know if that's still there. And also there was a
nightclub in the middle of town called Doodles, which we
became sort of a resident band there and we used
to open for all the Auckland bands when they would
come down and stuff. And yeah, that's pretty much how
we cut our teeth, I guess.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
And then you end up doing support slots. So I'm
looking at Midnight Oil split ends, Elton John and Queen.
Let's let's work through them Midnight Oil. What was it
like doing the support slot for them? And with all
of these acts, really what what involvement or engagement did
you have with them or were you completely separated?
Speaker 4 (06:02):
No, they were lovely guys and in fact we're still
in touch. Became really good mates with Robhurst and it
turned out I was invited onto a side project of
his called Ghostwriters, which he started on when Midnight Oil
were having a break in the early nineties. I ended
up playing on the first album and a few tracks
(06:23):
on the second album, which was an absolute honor because
I'd always been a massive mid Not Oil fan. In fact,
the whole band was and still is. But yeah, I
think a lot of those things come about because of
the promoters and management that we're looking after us. We're
also putting a lot of those shows on the road
and into stadiums and town balls and all the rest
(06:44):
of it. And we was at the time signed to CBS,
which was the same label that mid Not Oil were on.
They became Sony of course. So no, they were lovely
guys to travel with. They were very inclusive, you know,
we used to all dine together and stuff, And in
fact they borrowed After the first show, which I from
(07:07):
memory was in Dunedin at the town Hall, we went
back to the hotel and we're all keen to party
on in the house bar and sort of connect even
more with the guys, and they just wanted to borrow
my guitarkas all their stuff had been put up the
front of this truck with all the gear back in
the days when everything was piled into trucks, and so
they actually borrowed my faithful old as Paul and went upstairs.
(07:29):
And at the time they were writing songs for the
Red Sales and the Sunset album, So that was quite
a buzz to know that, you know, a few of
those tunes were being penned and my guitar was helping out.
So that was kind of cool.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Fantassa Elton John, where did you.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Support him at Mount Smart And the same with Queen And.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Again how much connection did you have with both of
those acts?
Speaker 4 (07:57):
Not so much with Elton John, although he did compliment
our lighting guy who looked more like a rock star
than we did. He saw him back.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
I think he was complimenting as lighting or something else.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
I think he thought he I think that Elton thought
he was one of the band members and he said, oh,
great show. You know I didn't. Yeah, we didn't personally
meet Elton, but we did end up meeting a couple
of the guys from Queen as prior to the shows,
they were rehearsing at an independent TV studio in a
(08:33):
space at Kayva Pass in Auckland, and we ended up
meeting them In fact, somebody had been in touch with
us and said, if you guys want to come along
and you can catch Queen rehearsing, and it was like wow.
And by the time we had got that message and
that we got there, it was only two of us,
I think from Member we went. But by the time
(08:56):
we got there, they were just striking the last chord.
So we walked into the space. We were escorted into
the space where they were rehearsing, and they were just
finishing up as we walked on the tour and Freddie
was throwing the tawil around his over his shoulders and
walking out the room. But we then ended up in
a green room upstairs and we met Brian May and
John Deacon from Memory.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Wow. I mean, it seems amazing to me that they're
there on the world tour and we're even doing rehearsals.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Yeah. Well, I think what had happened was there they'd
come from a massive show in Rio and apparently there
was some huge storm and a lot of from Memory,
a lot of their equipment had got wet, and so
there must have been time for the equipment to be
shipped out and then all gone through and checked and dried,
(09:44):
and then I guess by the time there was a
reasonable gap between the shows in Rio, or the show
in Rio and the one in New Zealand, so they
obviously wanted to get together again and rehearse and make
sure all the gear was okay and all that sort
of stuff.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yeah, well there they're rehearsals almost legendary because they put
a lot of work into that life Vade performance, didn't
the man alive? That paid off?
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Yeah, Like they say, that's one of the best performance
rock band performances of all time, don't they.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Hey, any brilliant to catch up. We're looking forward to
seeing you it see Sounds next year. All the very
best and thanks for your time today.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Thank you, John lovely chatting with.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
You for more from Category Mornings with John McDonald. Listen
live to news Talks It'd be christ Church from nine
am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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