HAMILTUNE - Rockin' The Tron in the 80's
On the 28th June 2015 a terrible fire struck the iconic ‘Vilagrad Winery’ out at Ngahinapouri. This hit me especially hard as I’ve been going out there for over 25 years, and that very Sunday had had my album launch there.
The very next day I spoke to Zed Brookes who had mastered that album and we came up with a cunning plan.
During the 80’s and 90’s I was touring with the Band ‘Echoes’ while Zed was recording and performing with his band ‘Step Chant Unit’ as well as working with bands out at Tandy’s Recording Studio.
Between us we managed to track down a wealth of music recorded during that period and then went in hunt of the musicians behind it.
Everyone we contacted jumped on board straight away and we have to say a HUGE thanks to Tim Armstrong (The Politicians & Kiwi Bandits), Sooz (Silken Blue), Adrian Ellis (Maiden Britain), Mark Rimington & Murray Ferguson (Echoes), Peter Matthews (Home Run), Darry Monteith (Joe 90, Whisperscream), Andrew Johnstone (Hoola Troupe & 3 Men Missing) Ian Jefferies (The Bronx), Wayne Elliott & Rik Bernards (Knightshade), Gavin Dempsey & Paul Martin (Blackjack) and Paul also donated the title track from his solo album ‘Nightfall’.
Tim managed to track down a track from Neil Nooyen and came up with a copy of the double A side from ‘Illegal Green’ who won the Waikato Battle of the Bands back in 80’s AND featured Jacob Nooyen on vocals. So those were 3 very special tracks to add to the album.
“After 30-odd years, finding the original song masters was nigh impossible, so many of these songs came by way of well-used and possibly badly-stored records and cassettes. Some may even have been mp3s at some point in their lives. After the audio equivalent of filing off the rough edges, plastering up the cracks and slapping on a new coat of paint, they all managed to recapture the milieu of Hamilton rock in the 80’s - including some of its diverseness. This is an incredible snapshot of some of Hamilton’s essential musical culture." – Zed Bookes
Listening to these songs, all in one go is absolutely brilliant and I am so proud to have been involved in the scene and so excited to finally get it all back out there. Considering the amount of bands and musicians that we didn’t get to because we either couldn’t find them, or we simply ran out of space has made me realise just how much talent we had in the Waikato at that time. Wow, simply just WOW!
Cheers
Phil
The good (and bad) news is that the limited album run sold out within a couple of weeks so..sorry about that.
But several of the bands contributing agreed to leave their songs online so you can still download some Hamilton History just by clicking on the link below
