I still remember seeing so many good bands but even more, so many specific performances that just broke my brain. I remember seeing Dribbly Cat Attraction play at their school and being floored. I remember Wendyhouse playing live to air at The Fridge, sitting cross-legged on the floor. Frybrain in their practice rooms doing their thing. I remember specific lines from songs that have stayed in my head for decades--"Eva Braun's holiday was a mistake", "Morrinsville has no sphinx". That stuff never left.

And then there was Mobile Stud Unit. Just so funny, but also amazing songs. By any arithmetic, MSU just don't make any sense and they shouldn't have worked —but they did. And then the whole PLOP IT UP scene which most folks, even in Hamilton, didn't know existed, but the PLOP IT UP people didn't care. Bands like The Smooth Canadians and Armice Pumpit, switching members, creating endlessly, putting out zines. I still have copies of each issue. It wasn't just music.

​There was visual art too—Stefan Neville, Fiona Jack, Greg Page, Bryce Galloway—all doing world-class work, making covers, posters, comics, and playing music too. It was all mixed together.

Many might remember Sean Lister under the name of DJ Arc from the ‘Liquid Radio’ and ‘Biosphere’ shows on Contact in the 1990s. The now Wellington-based Sean has also long produced his own music under the ‘Arcology’ name, and at the Contact 50th he will be playing -- replete with drum machine, synthesizer and effects -- a live acid techno set. We talked to Sean ahead of the event about musical inspirations, synths, the importance of Contact, and more!

​HUP: Specialist shows were really important for Contact. In the mid-1990s, as DJ Arc, you were one of the hosts of the electronic dance show Biosphere, and you were the creator of the electronic chill out/ambient show Liquid Radio. How did you become part of Contact, and how important was the station for you?
 
Sean: Contact was hugely important to me in my six years living in Hamilton.  It came about due to my meeting of Greg and Jeff Wood (of Unit 23), we became friends due to a shared love of electronic music, Vespa scooters and art house films.  Greg and Jeff were doing a show on Tuesdays called Cybertronix. I sat in with them a number of times to see what the radio thing was all about.  They were busy one Tuesday and asked if I could fill in for them and seeing as we had a lot of similar type music, I was happy to.  So that made me catch the bug, and when an hour slot came up on a Tuesday evening, I created the ‘Liquid Radio’ show, focussing on ambient music styles. This also reflected what was happening in chill out zones at dance parties at the time.  Then I was also asked to co-host the ‘Biosphere’ dance music show, where I got to play a lot of what I was DJing at dance parties etc.
 
HUP: Tell us a little bit about DJ Arc versus Arcology.
 
Sean: Arcology is my own music, so when I needed a DJ name I just took the first part of my project name. I pretty much stopped regular DJing once I arrived in Wellington at the end of the ‘90s. It seemed like every guy I met here said they were a DJ, and it was a hard scene to break into, so I decided then just to concentrate on creating my own music and to hopefully do some live gigs.  Probably about 15 years ago I managed to get a live acid techno set sorted (similar to what I will be playing at the Contact party), and I played a number of gigs at various venues around Wellington. This led to a set at one of the Camp a Low Hum events, which though daunting, was a great experience. I still try to play a live set of some description once a year here in Wellington. [continued, below]

HUP: How did you first become interested in electronic music?
 
Sean: Wow, where to start. Probably my first electronic music memories were hearing Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk and Jean Michel Jarre in around 1976-77 (yes, I am getting on in years). Something about the sound of the synthesizers just hooked me. Then in the late ‘70s I discovered Devo, Ultravox, Human League, Gary Numan and OMD, to name a few. And, well, I've never looked back, and my crazy music collection is evidence of that.

HUP: What gear do you use? Have changes in technology altered how you have done things over the years?
 
Sean: I bought my first synthesizer in early 1985, a brand new Roland Alpha Juno 1. Over the rest of the ‘80s I bought a couple of other second hand synths and a drum machine. These days I have a rather large studio collection of gear; lots of synths and drum machines and other toys. The difference with me these days, is that I am all hardware based, meaning I don't use computers (other than [for the] final mastering and posting of tracks).  In the ‘90s I used an old Mac SE computer for multi-track sequencing of notes, including at a couple of the legendary Corso dance parties in Hamilton.  I upgraded my Mac in the late ‘90s and continued using that just for sequencing until the hard drive died and I lost most of a year's work. So that was a catalyst in deciding to get a hardware sequencer and take the computer out of my song creation process.  The main thing about technology now is the incredibly huge number of things available to electronic musicians, and the prices are generally incredible value for money, especially compared to when I started.
 
HUP: On your 2019 album ‘Emanator’, all of the track titles are taken from Blade Runner 2049, while on your 2021 ‘Fried EP’ you had a track titled ‘Nanu Nanu’, which is almost certainly a Mork and Mindy reference. Are all of your tracks inspired by sci-fi? And, when you are producing new songs, do you start with this as a point of inspiration?
 
Sean: Not all are sci-fi influenced, but a lot are. The two Blade Runner films are huge influences for me, but also many, many other sci-fi films.  Generally, in addition to the futuristic and space themes, they have cool electronic music soundtracks that just go hand in hand.  Generally, when I'm starting odd tracks, I may have a theme idea, but not always. But when I did my album project I had just seen Blade Runner 2049 (a number of times) and decided to use references from the film as my song titles and create a bit of a sci-fi story of my own. Mainly to try and give the project some kind of cohesive feel, rather than just a bunch of random tracks created over a year, then thrown together as an album.

​HUP: In your Bandcamp bio you describe yourself as a “synthesiser nut”. Stealing a question from one of my favourite podcasts over the last couple of years, Martyn Ware’s ‘Electronically Yours’, what’s your favourite synth?
 
Sean: Always a hard question. Just looking at what I own, probably my favourite for fun and jamming is my old Ensoniq ESQ1 from the mid-‘80s. It has a great built in 8-track sequencer, which is what I used to create my songs prior to my first Mac computer.  But I think from a sound creation perspective, my favourite would be my Dave Smith (Sequential) Pro 2. I can just get lost in that synth for hours.

​A band that Contact can feel it played a small hand in, on their way to gaining international success, was The Datsuns. Under their earlier moniker, Trinket, the band got airplay on the station and placed third in the last of the Contact 89FM Battle of the Bands competitions in 1997. Phil Buscke Somervell, guitarist for Trinket and The Datsuns, is now in Thames based outfit Commodore65, who are playing at the Contact 50ish! We talked to Phil about the computer - the Commodore 65, how it is to be in a band in Thames, how important Contact was in his early musical endeavours, and more!

​HUP: With a name like ‘Commodore65’, I half expect your genre to be 8-bit electronic video-game music. But I don’t think that is what you are at all. How do you describe your music?
 
Commodore65: Well, your half expectations are somewhat right. When we first talked about starting a band the term ‘8 bit punk’ was thrown around. We still talk of doing that era’s video game versions of all our songs one day, or as b-sides potentially, but we essentially write everything as short repetitive tunes that are just fun to belt out in a shed. All our artwork will most likely resemble those old games too!
 
HUP: Who is in the band, and how did you get together?
 
Commodore65: We all live in Thames and are interested in similar music, so it was just a matter of time before we struck up a creative bond. Jessica (drums/vox) and Joshua (keys/vox) run a music shop in town and Jessica and I also worked together at a local café. The cafe and music shop are basically next door to each other, so in-between making food and coffee for the locals we would yarn about music ideas and soon started jamming. Everything evolved very naturally and there’s a very open, creative vibe to the whole thing.
 
HUP: The Commodore 64 was a computer that sold around 17 million units, evidently making it the highest selling computer of a time. Reading around I find that the Commodore 65 was a prototype follow-up that was never released to market. What is the story behind the naming of the band Commodore65?
 
Commodore65: This is it in a nutshell! It was never released so we thought it’d be a funny band name. Honestly, we didn’t think or discuss it too much. It sounded fun, looks cool written down and associates itself with cool art. [continued below]

​HUP: Phil, how important was Contact in your early Trinket days?
 
Commodore65: Super important!!! I grew up in Leamington. It was the only radio station I was interested in as a kid and they supported Trinket/The Datsuns and played us from the beginning. We were kids and discovered so much music through Contact. Especially through Scott Newth. Now, a life long friend and music colleague. Huge gratitude!
 
HUP: The band is based in Thames.  Are there advantages or challenges to having a band based there?
 
Commodore65: Thames is almost the perfect little place. It’s close to Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga but has its own small town vibe going on. Beautiful environment and easy access to be able to travel to shows in those cities, but it also has a sense of isolation about it at the same time. The airport is close, so really you’ve got the world at ya feet.
 
HUP: What are your aspirations for Commodore65?
 
Commodore65: C65 is about creativity. We aspire to collaborate, to laugh, to yell out in rage, to pursue funny ideas as well as serious world views, to be well informed and to be open to ideas. We intend good times and always look out for each other.

with Ian Duggan; ​photos by Amy Torr.

​If you were loitering around the Contact studios and office in the 1990s, or going out to bands through that time, you will likely recognise the members of Broadcast State. We spoke with Broadcast State front-person Scott Newth – formerly an announcer, a Production Manager and Programme Director at Contact 89FM, and also familiar through that time as a member of Love & Violence, FALLen and Rumpus Room – about the evolving sound of Broadcast State, recording, the chances of hearing a Love & Violence song entering the mix at the Contact 50ish, and more!

​HUP: Broadcast State is full of familiar faces, including some important connections to Contact, either as staff or in bands that were played on the station. Can you tell us about some of your connections and experiences with the station?

Scott: Three of us had involvements with the station. Both Kent [Newth] and I were announcers and both Andrew [Newth] and I worked in ‘The Fridge’ recording studio making ads and promos and recording bands.
 
HUP: HUP last talked to you in 2018, when you had just formed and were still finding your sound. Since then you have had a couple of lineup changes. How has the loss of a guitarist and change of drummer changed your sound through time, and where is your sound at now?
​
Scott: We didn’t set out to be any sort of sound, but with three guitars, there was an element of shoe-gaze about the place.  Now we are down to two, there hasn’t been a fundamental shift, but we’re less shoe-gaze than before.  We still sound post punk / goth, although that was never something we were chasing.  We are accidental Goths.
 
Dynamically there is more space, so we are probably more dynamic than before, and a lot more conscious of the rhythms and drumming, and locking on more to that.
 
HUP: The addition of Nathan Bregman on drums must be a big part of the greater focus on rhythms?
 
Scott: Yes. That and an increase in dynamics. Less wall of noise and sheen than before. So the drums drive it more.

​HUP: Three of you were in Rumpus Room, who over 25 odd years were notorious for not recording an album. How much time do Broadcast State get together for practices, writing songs, and do you think you will find time for an album one day?

Scott: Not enough.  If we can get a good run we can meet up once a week, but that is always interrupted by breaks.
 
We have enough material for an album, and it might get recorded this year after all this practice.  We have some recording done already, so it might just be one song at a time rather than a whole record.
 
HUP: Tell us about some of your songs. What are your favourites to play, and are there lyrical themes that your songs have?
​
Scott: Well, it’s hard to speak for all at once, but I think we all like our songs enough to keep playing them.  Lyrically, there isn’t a central theme.  Initially we would stay away from anything controversial or political but that’s changing a bit now.  I’d go with ’social commentaries’. 

HUP: You were all in bands from the Contact days. What are the chances of you pulling out an alternative version of, say, ‘Sin’ by Love and Violence, or ‘She’s Like a Tree’ by Rumpus Room?
​
Scott: None at all.  We barely know our own songs.  We had a flutter with a couple of Rumpus Room songs, but couldn’t remember them well enough and aren’t convinced anyone else would either.

Ian Duggan

Failsafe Records, originally from Christchurch — now based out of Japan — usually focusses on bands from the Garden City.  In a departure from this trend, however, their latest release comes from Auckland-based indie rock band ‘Haiku Redo’. The album came to me with a note saying it “would suit someone who appreciates a good turn of phrase and melodic hook”. And oh, I do!
​
The album starts so strongly, with ‘Thinking of You’, perhaps my favourite song on the album. Melodic hook? Tick.  Good turn of phrase…? “Whenever I start drinking; It always starts me thinking … of you”. Yep, totally relatable, and that works for me. Tick. This is a lovely little pop song with lyrics about love lost, wrapped up in a lush production. And this follows through the entire album. Did you say “chiming pop”? Yes, I will steal that phrase from the press release (thankyou Rob), because that’s exactly what this is. 

​One of the things I like the most about this album is that every song is like a little story. One of the best for this is ‘Who You Really Are’, which starts out as a love song; “It’s been two days and I think I’m in love”. There are even trumpets and a single white dove, at this point of the song. But things progressively get worse with each successive stanza, culminating for me at: “It’s been a year and I see my mistake; She voted National for a silly tax break”. Magic.

So, why has Failsafe’s Rob Mayes been diverted from his usual focus on Christchurch bands?  Well, he used to hang out with members of Haiku Redo in the U.K. in the late 1990s, when his band-of-the-time Dolphin were based there. Haiku Redo’s main-guy, Craig Horne, was the drummer for Andrew Fagan’s (of Mockers-fame) UK band ‘Lig’ at the time.

Who will want to listen to this album? Quite simply, if you are into the output from Failsafe, you will love this. Where can you get it? All the usually online streaming places, probably, but if you love a physical copy, Failsafe also now has a national distribution deal through JB Hifi, with all of their new releases on CD for under $30! 

​Ian Duggan

Lo-fi instrumentalists ‘DEAN’ have been active since the mid-1990s, featuring (at least, initially) 24 strings, (and still) 4 tracks… and an attitude. Ahead of the Contact 50th anniversary gig and party, we spoke with Garry Dean and Andrew Dean about their rules for songwriting, career highlights, the importance of Contact, and more! 

HUP: DEAN have had a massive number of releases over the years, but your very first song released was ‘Unfortunate Flux’ on the 1995 compilation The Fridge, recorded at Contact’s recording studio of the same name. How important was Contact to DEAN?

Garry Dean: Contact FM was a huge thing to us. We could rock up with a demo tape, and they would play it on the air, ask us to do live-to-air performances, and the compilation as you said, it gave us self-esteem as group.

Andrew Dean: In 1994 there was some extremely home-made stuff getting lots of airplay on Contact. I think Spatula Death's recording of a toilet flush may have got in the Top 13. We were not cool kids who were down with your Jandeks or your Guided By Voiceses, so we were very much stuck in the orthodoxy of 'studio recording equals real recording'. For us, the things we made on our 4-track were 'demos'. Initially, the fact that Contact played home-made stuff seemed a bit of a joke — a low bar for getting our silly stuff on air — but soon enough there was that realisation that a proper recording is whatever you want it to be.
 
HUP: What have been the highlights for DEAN over the last 30 years?

Garry Dean: The live-to-air was a big thing for me personally. And we have played some cool gigs, but we just love making DEAN. The next album is always the highlight.
​
Andrew Dean: There was that one time in 2003 or so we played a mafia karaoke bar in K Road with The Kiwi Animal. It was our first gig with Stefan Neville in the band and I guess word got out because suddenly all these COOL AUCKLAND PEOPLE wanted to see us. People who were far too cool to speak to us were crowded into this smokey fake Korean bar to hear us play. It was very Mulholland Drive. I sarcastically asked my Auckland-dwelling mate if Misery had showed up yet, and he un-sarcastically replied "that's her over there in the nurse outfit."

HUP: The basic recipe for the band has remained the same over the years, dominated by 24 strings. However, listening to your earlier releases, the drum machine sounds like various Casiotone presets. Your more recent releases, however, have a drum sound that go beyond the capability of my MT45. What do you use for your drums now? 

Garry Dean: Actually we have rules that we stick by; always the same rock preset from the MT35.

No more than 4 tracks to record and its always instrumental.

But that’s what makes it fun. We use pedals to mess with that drumbeat, to give it a new sound. We always start with that rock preset, go crazy messing it up, and then go where the song takes us.

There is one song called "from parts unknown" where we used an organ with built in drums (but we were cranking the speed up and down on the organ drums so it sounds more like an effect than a drum machine), but that was as well as the Casio. Casio T Dean is always first and its always there.

Andrew Dean: The thing with using the exact same drum beat on over 300 songs, you'd think it would be super obvious and people would write you off as a joke or a gimmick. Instead, people don't even seem to notice. Not even musicians. I'm not sure what that says about our collective relationship to drumbeats.
 
HUP: That is a massive number of songs under your belt. How do you decide what you might play live? Do you tend to play new songs, or should we expect to get a classic hit from back in the day?

Garry Dean: We have a lot of albums. Usually we try to put a few songs off whatever new album’s just been, then songs that would go with it. This time we've put three songs together that are personal favourites, and we really hope you like them too.
​
Andrew Dean: All our favourite DEAN albums happened after the Contact years, when we were pretty much just making music for ourselves. We really love doing covers live, and we're often sending each other links to top 40 songs if they have a 3-chord bit that might sound good played over and over. "White Iverson" was a great song to play live because those are three really cool chords. 

HUP: You have had a few lineup changes over the years. Who is in the band in 2025?

Garry Dean: Andrew Dean created the band, and the ‘formentioned rules (partly because none of us could sing, lolz), I think with Byron Dean and Scott Dean.

I was asked to join because Andrew and I had been mates for ages. I could barely play three chords, and more importantly I had a cassette 4 track.

Byron and Scott drifted away after a while and that just left Andrew and I doing the do. Playing live up until recently we had played with four guitarists so we would get mates to help out, but we are now a two piece to make things easier.
​
Andrew Dean: We have had some fairly regular live bonus Deans over the years, especially Gordon Bassett, Stan Jagger, Stefan Neville and Indira Neville. Surreal because at one point I was a 15-year-old listening to those people on Contact. Sometimes we ask people to play with us and they say no because they'd rather be out front listening.  

Ian Duggan

HUP: Vicki, your style changed over the years with 5 Girls. Where does the vibe sit now for Vicki No Mates?

Vicki: I would say my vibe is slightly different playing solo. It's more about the songwriting and less about the party perhaps. I tend to write with a slightly sluggish feel. I am inspired by murderfolk and country rock bands such as Amigo the Devil, The Johnnys and Blaze Foley, so maybe that's where it comes from.
 
HUP: What challenges or advantages do you find in being a solo performer rather than part of a band?

Vicki: There's huge advantages in the way I can practice when I want, write the song exactly the way I imagine it, and play any gig I want to. The huge disadvantages are I am truly Vicki No Mates before and after the gig; I miss my hoons when I have pre-show nervous energy/after show buzz and nobody to share it with.
 
HUP: Have you written a whole set of new songs, or do you slip the odd 5 Girls song?

​Vicki: I have my own set, but I do bust out ‘Beach Babe Bogan’, which I can't resist. [continued below]

HUP: Tell us about some of your songs. Do you explore any particular lyrical themes? Are there any songs you are particularly proud of that we should listen out for? 
 
Vicki: I am definitely not one to write about my life problems...  Although I do admit my newest song is an honest and heartfelt song about how I like dogs better than people ;).  I do love playing my song 'Ram Raid', and another fave is 'A Good Keen Man'. I do love storytelling.
 
HUP: You are playing at the Contact 50th anniversary gig. What did Contact mean to you back in the day?
​
Vicki:  Contact was a home for so-called weirdos really. It gave us somewhere to belong I suppose, to totally embrace the kind of music and attitude we had, and to meet/listen to others who were also misfits of the mainstream. Contact gave us a platform to play, be heard on the air, and offered us great gigs. I think back fondly of those Wailing Bongo, Contact parties and Ward Lane days. Congrats to 50 years!  Look forward to seeing some old faces at the gig!

with Ian Duggan

HUP: What would you rate as Watershed’s greatest success, or what are your favourite memories, from the time you were together?
​
Marcus:  Aside from wangling our way on to a Flying Nun Vinyl compilation release [Freak the Sheep Vol. 1] we also managed to do an Orientation Tour - which I think involved Palmerston North, Motueka, Otago University, Wellington and New Plymouth.  We borrowed a van from Ross Holloway [Alchemist], loaded it with our music gear and my horrible, raw chunk-of-foam double mattress on top of the gear, picked up Steve Gray [Parkers and Frybrain guitarist] and David Sutcliffe [aka Captain Good-vibes] and ripped around the North and South Islands playing music at some fun venues.  We doubled up with an Auckland-based band called The Psycho Daisies [Full-on Garage Punk influenced band] who injected a huge amount of rock ’n roll to the tour.  In Dunedin we noticed their sound man stank like death, and found out that he rubbed himself down with garlic to ward off bad spirits??  Shit was disturbingly rank. After the Dunedin gig at the ‘let’s get as ripped as we can’ party, he was walking around naked - having frank discussions with everyone who would listen to him about his tiny penis - with graphic, up-close demonstrations.  It was rock ’n roll - but still very, very, very weird - especially when you’re loaded.  Lots of things happened on that tour.  I remember most of them with a smile.  I sang in Motueka with a fat lip - after Kym, our manager, punched me in the mouth - the blame for which is entirely on [drummer] Jonathan Armstrong for waking him up in the van - by screaming in his face - which made me laugh - which made Kym think I’d done it and BOOM fat lip.  We also did the touristy things and jumped into the river in the Buller Gorge - where the road goes under that cliff and then had to flee from a literal tornado of over-sized, ravenous mosquitos that basically attacked us and pursued us.

We played really well at each stop - doing ourselves proud and getting good responses.  We might’ve made some money if Kent [Ericksen; guitar] hadn’t backed the van into a pole - which meant we eventually broke even after getting the van fixed up.
​
Kent: I didn't recall crashing the van. Well, backing into a pole... but I do remember crashing through a mudslide on the Kaikoura section as we hurtled through the night to make the ferry, and later, driving behind Alan's station-wagon, sleep deprived as fuck as ghosts flitted in my peripheral from trees in the forest.
​
 
HUP: How did Motueka end up on an Orientation tour?
 
Marcus: Strange place to play - but it was part and parcel of what the Psycho Daisies had organised. Two things about that gig:

We played to a somewhat confused crowd - consisting of pretty much regulars at the local pub.  So we arrogantly started playing ’Sweet Home Motueka’ to the tune of 'Sweet Home Alabama' - you know - with our high-fall-looting Hamilton superiority vibe on ten.  I think even we missed the irony of it all at that point.
​
We also saw some very rock ’n roll moments from the Psycho Daisies.  One of the locals was dancing in front of them with one of those full plastic jugs you used to be able to get and he handed it to John Baker - the lead singer of the Psycho Daisies - for him to take a drink from. But instead, John spilled the entire jug of beer over his own head while not missing a word from the lyrics.  The guy who owned the beer abused hm - but also paraded the empty jug like a thing of great rock ’n roll power to behold - which it now was.  It was one of those moments that leap out at you and stay with you.  The Psycho Daisies had great songs and really put on a show.  There was a weird low-down hostility between us and them - but after playing Dunedin with them and Death Ray Cafe, they had warmed to our more understated Velvets rock ethic and we really liked their balls-out, fuck the world, California garage punk, Stooges thing.  At that age, it really was a lesson in what rock ’n roll can be.  Personally, I can’t say it was influential - and we were a very different band to them - but the whole tour just worked.

HUP: You were a guitar band, but you had a huge amount of originality. Looking back at an interview you did with Garbage magazine in 1992, not long after you split, you talked about how much effort you put in to crafting songs that sounded like no one else has written before. How would you describe the band’s sound, how did the band evolve through your existence, and how proud are you of these songs now as you revisit them leading up to the gig?
 
Marcus:  I’m not so sure our sound was entirely that original.  We had our obvious influences.  I was very much into the Flying Nun thing - where the idea was that you picked up a guitar and started writing songs from what would’ve been almost a position of naivety - so we had that going for us.  We were very much opposed to being part of the more commercial end of the spectrum.  There was a major, paradigmatic shift when I sold my crappy Ibanez semi-acoustic and bought a Musician Stingray 2 guitar - with active hum-bucking pickups in it.  The high output smashed the front end [natural valve distortion] of the amp I had - a Musician RD110 - which had a drive channel that sounded phenomenal.  So that took us from the jingle-jangle pop-song thing into the volume/distortion end of the spectrum.  Kent joined the band and our rehearsals were loud - which meant he had to crank his Fender Twin amp - causing his normally very clean amp to naturally go into overdrive/distortion - in order to compete.  Chris [Barnett; bass] had a bass amp with a disturbingly large 18-inch speaker in it and was given a US Fender Precision for his 21st birthday.  He still has it.  And Jonathan had an awesome sounding drum kit and was literally the best drummer - who could also sing - that any band could hope for - so the big sound came from that mix.  We would then jam stuff out and I’d sing something over the top of it.  Being loud meant I usually had to ‘belt’ my vocals out to be heard - which affords the music an emotional intensity you probably wouldn’t get without all those aspects coming together.  Being inspired to write my own songs at the age of sixteen - primarily by The Verlaines - meant I almost had to curate the lyrics to match what I listened to.  The lyrics from almost all of those mid-eighties Flying Nun bands still astound me. Wayne Elsey’s lyrics [of Dunedin band The Stones] are just great and I felt they were actually relevant to me - unlike most of the more popular pub-rock ‘Blue Lady’ NZ bands at the time.  I think the common thread though all those Hamilton bands was that ‘this is our own music’ and we sing about things relevant to us.  So, taking English papers at varsity, I considered the lyrics very carefully and Chris would contribute lyrics for his parts - and they were always great - in my opinion. Chris had a way of getting into the songs with his bass lines and lyrical input which always added another dimension to the music.

To be honest, we haven’t had a copy of those songs until recently.  In talking with Kent we are literally surprised by the overall quality of those songs.  I guess, when you’re that subjective - i.e. actually writing and playing those songs - is it possible to somehow be unaware of what you’re doing at the time?  Again, I think it has more to do with a basic naivety, coupled with a musical ’teach-yourself-as-you-go’ ethos.  And with quite a few years distance, we get to appraise them as they actually are. For example, Christopher’s spoken vocal towards the end of ‘Two Inches Behind The Eyes’.  Using a fake American accent to sound like some kind of totalitarian Tannoy system is totally Christopher.  He was always questioning things like subculture and politics, etc.  And knowing Chris, I know exactly what his thinking was at the time.  We were constantly either talking about drums and drummers or being stupid and amusing ourselves by speaking in fake American or Eastern European accents.  So the music was inevitably relevant to us.
​
And, you know, we were angry young men.  So we were loud and sang about the less discussed aspects of life.

Chris: I hadn't listened to this music for 35? years. I particularly enjoyed Moonbuggy [which ended up appearing on the cassette 'Crazy Janet' by post-Watershed band Anaganasnagamal, comprised of Marcus, Chris and Jon]. I'm struck by how good Johnny was at dealing with all sorts of rhythms. When I wrote bass lines I was influenced by jazz, blues, funk and hip hop as well as noise rock. I'd like to think those influences made Watershed more than a jingle jangle classic Flying Nun band. That wouldn't have worked without the excellent musicians in the band who could blend that into songs. Marcus was amazing in that he always appreciated rhythm sections and would allow space for a bass player like me rather than insisting I just play follow bass, plus he is an awesome rhythm guitarist. I was always balancing complexity with serving the song, so most songs have a simple supporting linear bass line and one that is not that.

HUP: Watershed had few early lineup changes, but settled for the last couple of years into the core four of yourself (guitars and lead vocals), Chris, Kent and Jonathan. Who is coming together at the Contact gig, and when was the last time you all played together? 
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Marcus: The line-up is Marcus, Kent Ericksen, Jonathan Armstrong and Alan Deare [replacing Chris on bass], another late '80s/early '90s stalwart who started Book of Martyrs with Jonothan Armstong [and currently plays in ORBJKS], with an appearance from Gillian Eva Boyd from Hand of Glory, Emersons, and many other bands, on keys - which we are stoked about.  It’s a different band playing some songs that haven’t been played for a very long time.
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Alan: From my end Watershed and Book of Martyrs were quite entwined as we shared a drummer and went to each other's gigs, which were quite plentiful in those days. We used my Holden HD wagon to get the fellas and their gear up to a recording session in Auckland. We even swapped the New Plymouth Ampitheatre gig dates to suit Watershed's tour schedule. We were originally supporting Straitjacket Fits but swapped dates and ironically ended up supporting Bailter Space – a much better slot for Watershed. Chris and I, as bass players, often talked shop about our respective band's strengths and shortcomings. Heady days with a burgeoning music and arts scene, essentially enabled buy Contact.

 
HUP: Also in the Garbage interview, you noted how the time and effort you put into songwriting in the later months began to cause tension within the band. How long did these tensions linger and, being in the same room again, do these tensions come back to the surface, or have they all been lost in the mists of time?
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Marcus:  If you play music with anyone for long enough, you’re going to get to know those people very well.  It’s different to joining a group of motorcycle enthusiasts.  It’s a creative endeavour - and there are egos involved.  So navigating your way around your own psychology and then the psychology of others in that environment can obviously be tricky.  I was certainly very strong-willed about the musical direction at the time and would disregard songs others thought were good - which caused a fair amount of friction.  Luckily both Chris and Kent are strong willed and could get that particular oil tanker to change direction - if required. But, in general, things were fairly harmonious within that band. We had Kent - who was older, very considered and expressed his thoughts very clearly - he was very calm and anchored the band in lots of ways.  Jonny could also stop a song mid-rehearsal and say, “what about this idea”, and we’d try it.  He was also a classic Ringo drummer - out for a good time and very funny with it.  So it was a classic Beatles band.  Marcus - Paul.  Chris - John.  Kent - George.  Jonny - Ringo.  I’m not comparing us to the Beatles - but it’s quite a thing that there will *always* be some Beatlesque elements in any band.   And what resulted from that mix of personalities was some great gigs [some appallingly bad, too] and a handful of songs that we like and will be excited to play again.  We’re even working on a couple of new ones.
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Be there, or forever never get to hear them!

HUP: You are coming together to play at the Contact 50th anniversary gig. What did Contact mean to the band during your existence?

Marcus:  Without any of those elements, it would probably never have happened.  Contact 89FM played our recordings. We also announced on that station. A few doors down we had Nasrudin [Ukrainec] in charge of social events and paid by the university to do so.  We had venues at the university.  We had bigger bands to support coming to the university through Contact 89FM.  It was a good time to be in a band.  I mean, we were supposedly at university studying for our degrees - but really, we were pretty much playing in bands, going to parties and, in between those times, hopefully getting a degree along the way.

Watershed recorded their first ever two songs at the Contact 89FM studio.  We recorded part of our only release there, too. They let us use their photocopier for gig posters - free of charge.  Nexus newspaper was down the hall and would advertise gigs - again for no charge.

Those kinds of things were essential to most bands in Hamilton having a voice and they provided impossibly valuable resources for any band with the courage to play their music on a stage.


HUP: “Watershed” or “The Watershed”? The on cover of ‘Jeanna – an Aeroplane’ and on the photo inside it has a “the”, but generally I have head you referred to simply as Watershed, which is how you appear as this on the cover of Freak the Sheep and on Discordia Concors.

Marcus:  All I know the favourite slag-off name for the band was Watery Shit.  That still makes me laugh.  I overheard a private conversation to find that one out. They don’t know I know - but I know.  And they will pay.  Wankers.
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HUP: Various band members continued to leave their mark on the Hamilton music scene for a while after the bands demise, but inevitably, members of Hamilton bands tend to go off in various directions over time. Have you remained active with writing music or in other ways?

Marcus:  Here’s what I know.  Chris and I were in a band called Muldoon, in London.
 
Chris joined a full-on punk band in Wellington for a while. The Flash Harrys.  Lyrically dubious band - with songs like ‘My First Hooker’.  They supported The Exploited in Auckland. 

Chris: I played in a few other bands and have been lucky to play most of my favourite genres. I never wrote songs after Watershed though. I played in a reggae/funk/ska band called Banana Republic in 1992? Lots of bar gigs. Possibly my big shot at making it was in a grunge band in Taiwan with Subpop alumni Chris Pugh. His previous band, Swallow, had multiple releases on Subpop and they had played gigs with L7 and Hole. It was 1993/4?, so grunge was still big. We were starting to get a following in Taiwan, doing lots of media then he got imprisoned. Opps.  After that I did a year at the conservatorium of music at Massey studying jazz and trying to learn double bass. Marcus kindly invited me to play in an amateur jazz band in London. We even (mostly Marcus) did some jazz/electronica stuff. Then we went back to indie. Then I had to study and have kids. A late entry was joining the Flash Harrys on bass playing '80s inspired hard core punk about seven years ago. A couple of international supports at Whammy Bar and San Fran were highlights, then I chucked it in to surf. Got to 100 gigs so I thought I'd retire. I still love music and have learnt basic drums and very basic guitar along the way. Play some form of music most weeks. 

Marcus:  Kent has been in several bands since Watershed.  Hand of Glory, Scooter, etc.  To my knowledge, he is probably the most prolific of any of the Watershed members.

I took up trumpet, did my classical grades 1 to 8, completed an A-Level in music, then completed a B.Mus/Jazz in London.  I bought a Pro Tools recording set up way back in 2005 - so have been writing songs the whole time.

Chris: P.S., Marcus is a hot drummer now. 

I am currently part of a studio band called Window. Search ‘Understand Your Alien’ on Spotify to find it.  And a three piece in Tauranga called The False Waltons.  It’s fun.  Up for a gig in Hamilton if anyone needs a band.  Plug city.
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Jonny Beat famously joined The Chills - which everyone knows - and currently plays in a band called Hoon in Rotorua.

with Ian Duggan