NZ Musician

Some would say that you have to be a little crazed to want to run an independent label in New Zealand anyway, but setting yourself the task of releasing 30 albums in as many days surely borders on lunacy.

Failsafe Records 'Retrogenic: 30 albums' project is a purging of the Failsafe tape vaults, most of which label owner Rob Mayes recorded himself, live or in studio, stretching back to the early eighties.

Looking one day at the wealth of music that never got released to the wider public Mayes thought "Hey! Let's do something about it".

Not surprisingly it has proven to be a harder job than expected, as many master tapes stored at studios have been thrown out or lost. Failsafe were originally hoping to release the albums in November last year, but there is still quite a bit more work to be done, in terms of mastering (many of the recordings are two-track cassette only), cover art and all-important liner notes.

By way of example, Pop Mechanix get five albums. 'Now' is a CD of their first three singles and b sides, plus a demo series from Mike Chunn's collection capturing 14 songs of the band at their poppy best. Some of these songs went on to be recorded as singles but this lost demos collection captures a lot of the energy the band so obviously had to drive them and their music.

The second CD 'Zoo' captures the band's Australian stay phase as they battle with name changes and line up fluctuations.

The third CD 'Acceptance' collects the bands recorded works from 1985 onward - the band disintegrated in 1982 and reformed in '85. It also collects the wealth of unreleased material that never got to vinyl, and demos for many of the bands best work.

Disc four 'Live Kicks' is a live collection of performances from '85-87 capturing some of the energy the band put into every aspect of their work, and a few tracks that didn't make it to demo.

Together the set assembles one of the biggest collections of un-documented New Zealand works around. Only one song, Jumping Out A Window, has appeared on CD before and this was a dub from vinyl scratches and pops included. This is the first time the rest of their catalogue has been seen or heard on disc. All tracks have been painstakingly restored and mastered.

Mayes got hold of scrapbooks the band members' mums had diligently kept to compile the following (edited) liner notes...

Pop Mechanix were one of New Zealand's great pop hopefuls of the eighties. They were one of the hardest working bands in the land, made it to Australia, fought a legal battle for their name, broke up, reformed, gigged their asses off, and finally went supernova.

For Pop Mechanix the road seemed paved with diversions, court cases and minefields, and a stable vocalist was definitely one of those mines, with singers leaving, joining, leaving and rejoining over the course of their career. But before any of that was a problem the band were well on their way to success.

Speaking of splashes, Pop MX started life as a post punk pop/new wave outfit Splash Alley, (after testing the waters with the names Sauron, and Rank Xerox) with key songwriter Paul Scott from Waimate in South Canterbury on bass, Paul Mason (from New Plymouth) on guitar, Chris Moore (Ashburton) on guitar, Kevin Emmett drums and Dick (Richard) Driver on vocals (both from Christchurch).
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They came from such colourfully titled outfits as Thrush, The Doomed, Dead Babies and Nasal Spray and they played their first gig on May 24 1979.

Things progressed at lightning pace from there. Lots of press coverage, gigs all over the place - it seemed Christchurch, and NZ in general, were hanging out for a punchy guitar band to blow them away - and Splash Alley were happy to work hard to be that band.

They were fueled with ambition right from the start, with the band members all dropping out of university at the same time to focus on their music. Driver stated in the Christchurch Press that the band had their sights firmly placed overseas, saying it was pointless being the best rock band in NZ and he would rather see Splash Alley being a Z-grade band in Sydney.

Competition locally was stiff with Bon Marche (who later became the Newz) being seen as the band to beat, and beat them they did, taking over a seven week residency at the Aranui in October where Bon Marche had held court. Splash Alley worked on moving their set from a smattering of covers from the Stooges, Cars and Talking Heads to a full set of originals.

From their American alternative rock beginnings the band were quickly labeled new wave, a Press article commenting on the band's op shop attire with Driver's trade mark torn jacket shoulder. Later they would be championed by the Auckland mods as being the only band around with vaguely ska rhythms in their set. But all styles aside, Pop Mechanix oozed well crafted pop songs, whatever the fleeting style that was pinned on them that month.

The band quickly gained attention outside of the Garden City through supports for the Swingers and Dragon (where they debuted their matching black and white jackets allegedly pursuing a mod look) and it wasn't long before plans were ready for recordings to be released. Ex-Enz bassist Mike Chunn championed the band, taking on the management and record label roles and getting their music out there.

What was striking about this young band was the quality of their songs, and the competence of their musicianship. They changed their name to Pop Mechanix after meeting radio legend Barry Jenkins who reacted well to the band but not to their name.

They were all ready to go with the infectiously catchy Mike Chunn-produced Now single (b/w Radio Song) when Driver up and quit, citing the rigours of constant touring.

Driver's vocals were adequate but it took the addition of the edgy Andrew Snoid (aka McLennan, ex-Whizzkids front man) in July 1980 to gel the mix. That wasn't the only thing needed to get them that elusive free pass to success.

Snoid was quickly drafted in and within six weeks they were up and running again - replacing the vocal tracks on the recording with the single released in August on Chunn's Ripper Records. In the cultural cringe days of the early eighties getting any radio support was pretty much a pipe dream for most local bands, regardless of the quality of their music and recordings. Now did okay though, with its catchy keyboard hook and hot guitar work, hitting number 48 in the national charts. Radio Song indicated their American guitar influences from bands like Television, Iggy Pop and Talking Heads, but Now showed their Kiwi pop roots, and their own distinct sound.

Chunn also got the band to demo down all their material straight to two-track machine in one live take. This recording is one of the few master tapes from that period that survived and captured the band splendidly with all their youthful enthusiasm and edginess. These recordings are part of the Failsafe-released Pop Mechanix collection.

Now was quickly followed up by the Chunn-produced and Ian Morris-engineered Ritz (b/w with Talking and Brains are Dumb), released in October 1980 with its more guitar driven post punk.

Their third and last single before leaving for Australian shores was the Eddie Rayner-produced Jumping Out A Window, b/w Way I Dance. This single got to number 21 on the national pop charts, which was a significant feat for a Kiwi band.

Fueled with their local success, looking for a bigger audience and following in the footsteps of others like Split Enz, Dragon, and Toy Love the band departed for Sydney, to start again from the bottom. It wasn't long before the band were broke and working their asses off just to stay afloat, but they were making impact. They had an Australian major label, and were playing most nights of the week.

Then the band were blindsided by the torpedo that sunk them for the first time. A Canberra-based band whose bass player was a lawyer by day took the record label to court over their name. This other band called Popular Mechanics claimed that the NZ Pop Mechanix were trading off their success even though the Canberra act never really played outside of their own town.

Inconceivably the label lost the case for Pop Mechanix and the band were restricted from using their name in NSW and Canberra. They changed their name to NZ Pop and released a single Holidays, but by this time the energy had dissipated from the band and singer Snoid was offered a slot fronting very successful Kiwi act The Swingers.

The remaining band stumbled on as a four-piece with Scott taking over vocal duties. They changed names again to Zoo to release an album of material, then back to Pop Mechanix again for the Texas/Cowboys single.

If it wasn't confusing for the audience it certainly was for the band and they eventually packed it in, went back to NZ and rethought things. The band's career had been split in two by the seemingly dead end met in Australia.

For part two of the Pop Mechanix story we recommend that you purchase the album titled 'Pop Mechanix' now available from www.failsaferecords.com

o Paul Scott is in Sydney playing in his band Montana and working as a librarian.

o Andrew McLennan runs The Old Tin Toy Shop in Auckland, specialising in vintage toys.