Mr Couchfungus. Tracy Lee, Mr Shane and myself. This band, these guys, this was the first real band I played in, where the music was certainly more than the sum of how fresh we all were to playing our instruments. We played a lot. In a garage in a storage lot, lined with pink electric blankets as some kind of sound something. The NZ government funded the lifestyle surrounding this project, back when the dole was a free ride and worth about as much money as an actual job.
The recordings were made at Nightshift Studios in Christchurch, '93(ish?) by Arnie Van Bussel one of the great, quiet, largely unsung stalwarts of the Christchurch music scene. Though he seldom showed it, he was a real guitarist too that made me and all my peers look like the floundering pre-hip(unk)sters that we were. Charlie Jemmet, music store owner is another man who facilitated the musical lives of many a would be indie anti-hero. His generosity and quiet unassuming attitude only know reveals the deeper insight he had about the musical life and journey we were undertaking, from his vantage point atop several more decades of life.
We painted the roof of Arnie's house in lieu of actually paying for the recordings.
Mr Couchfungus was plenty of lessons the hard way and some of the most exhilarating, volume-power-energy-chemistry fuelled playing that my musical adventures have ever given me.
Michael J. on vocals was a ring-in and he improvised on the day(to his credit) whatever it is he's talking about. Mr Couchfungus was always about the noise that Shane, Trace and I made together, lyrics just isn’t what it was about, clearly.
credits
from Fork in the Road,
released January 28, 2015
Arnie Van Bussel recorded the track and had the enormous grace to take a pretty half arsed job of painting his roof, in lieu of money. He bought the paint too.
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