October 1983: Hunters and Collectors at the Gluepot. This was their second Auckland gig in a year. The first had been an incredible show at Mainstreet in November 1982. I had never seen or heard anything like them. They were unique.
Mark Seymour devotes a chapter in his excellent 2008 book 'Thirteen Tonne Theory' to the band's experiences in New Zealand in the early 80s and to this particular gig at the Gluepot. The show restored the band's self-belief after their demoralising six month experience in England and the indifference they felt back in Australia. I'll quote at length, because Mark says it so well:
"There was a place called the Gluepot on the corner of Ponsonby and College Hill roads, Auckland. Something had happened there in our absence. It was as though they'd been waiting for us to come back. Someone called it a 'mother of a blow-out'; a thousand mad Kiwis inside an eight hundred room. They were standing on the tables. They screamed all night, out of proportion it seemed to us, to our slow lurching grooves. We were so shell shocked by our English decline and the subsequent Australian dismissal that we simply weren't prepared for the excitement. They went nuts. It was like a Pentecostal experience. People danced with their eyes closed and slammed their hands into the wooden stage, a pulsing tattoo that went on relentlessly all night, even when we weren't playing. I gave up talking ...'What was that all about?' someone said afterwards."
Mark Seymour: Thirteen Tonne Theory: Life Inside Hunters And Collectors. Published by Penguin Books, Camberwell, Victoria 2008. p.127
Greg Perano. The cylindrical tank was pulled out of an overgrown Melbourne garden and was called the Wang. Because it kinda wangs.
English immigration official at Heathrow, 1982: "What kind of music do you play?"
Greg Perano: " Reggae funk fusion with rock roots and a tinge of New York underground in the guitars"
Seymour, p.80
'Smiling' Jack Howard of The Horns Of Contempt
John Archer: already planning a bigger PA. And a bigger truck.
"New Zealand became a magical place remembered and longed for, a place full of soul ... There'd been a fierce human energy in the Gluepot, something we'd not seen or felt for a long time. We would always remember it."
Seymour, p.129
3 comments:
That was indeed a stunning gig. I'd seen the video of Talking to a Stranger on Radio with Pictures before this gig but live they were much more tribal, more powerful, and more energetic. I also saw them at Auckland Uni a few years later with Spare Messiah in support. One of my all-time favourite memories was seeing them warming up backstage with hymns, and trumpet player Jack Howard playing the theme tune from Coronation St.
their first album remains one of my most often played. awesome red centre sounds on a white label.
but I think the lyric from 'towtruck' is actually "we crossed the maginot line"...
I remember this well...there were so many people jammed into that room that I couldn't see a single member of the band. Could still hear them though, thank jebus. I do miss the Gluepot.
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