Strap Ons profile
The half-lit world of cult B-movies & film noir, the classic strains of 60's psychedelia, lounge music & R&B, the sound & politics of punk rock & its desolate, urban, industrial cousin - these are the obsessions flavouring the music of Don Gone (Don Campbell) & Nova Technova (Bev Greene) who, since 1988, have constituted the creative core of one of NZ's most durable & creative bands: the Strap Ons.
The original line-up (a trio comprising Don, Nova & Malcolm Campbell) emerged in late 80's Dunedin, where they were associated with the running of the, now legendary, Nerve Centre venue. Their music combined industrial experimentation (in the tradition of Throbbing Gristle & William S. Burroughs) with elements of punk rock & R&B. All three members of the group had prior credits in the underground scene. Malcolm had sung with The Mindfuckers, whilst, in the 1988-91, period Don & Nova had performed various permutations of percussion, vocals & guitar with such groups as the Dodge Weirdos, Survivors Of The Plague & the Torpedoes.
In many respects the early Strap Ons prefigured kRkRkRk's own TMA-1. Drum machine rhythms, electronic noise & lo-fi tape samples drenched their early music in plenty of industrial atmosphere. However, unlike the more electronic TMA-1, the Strap Ons also used much traditional rock instrumentation - real drums (Don & Nova were both percussionists originally), bass & guitar. These more traditional rock embellishments propelled their music into the realms of garage rock & R&B. Whatever way you looked at it, it was much tougher music than the Velvets-inflected jangle-pop which has come to be regarded as the classic Dunedin sound.
The Dunedin era of the group was documented by their R.I.P. Tapes label by a number of cassette releases: Soundscapes (1988), The Eighth Nerve (1989), Love Grunts (1990) & Infectious Substance (1991). Most of this material was remastered during 2000 & is currently available on the kRkRkRk CDRs The Early Fears Part 1 KRK102 & The Early Fears Part 2 KRK103 - but more about these later.
A disastrous fire in 1992 eventually led to Don & Nova relocating to Christchurch in mid 1993 where, after a few years in limbo, friends in King Loser encouraged further excursions into music. Their Generation X alternative fashion & music shop on Manchester St attracted the attention of various kRkRkRk artists & associates - in particular Matt Alien (Matt Johnstone), then involved with industrial rockers Alien & glam metallers Human. Matt subsequently joined the Strap Ons in August 1996, some months after Don & Nova had performed as a duo with leonard Nimoy, Gas & friends at Lordies - another vanished & legendary venue that existed on Lichfield St. Over the next three years he fulfilled a variety of roles in the group. Live, he was the Strap Ons' primary drummer - but, in the wider realm of recording, Matt also contributed as a bassist, guitarist, singer & lyricist.
Shortly after
the Strap Ons again became a 3-piece, Matt & Don were involved in
the genesis of a closely related project: the
Hi-Tone Destroyers. More focussed on heavy rock (Stooges to degenerate,
late 60's era Rolling Stones) than the Strap Ons, this group also featured
Matt's brother Ben Johnstone on bass guitar & Pat Fagin (Axel Grinders,
King Loser, Space Dust) on drums. Matt played lead guitar & shared
vocal duties with Ben. Don used the Hi-Tones as an opportunity to experiment
with his newly acquired Sequential Circuits Pro-One synth. He also contributed
mouth organ & percussion. After about a year, Pat (or Duane Zarakov
as he preferred to be known) was eventually replaced by Nick Hodgson (Montessouri,
CM Ensemble).
By the end of 1996 home recording sessions at Generation X, featuring the Strap Ons & the Hi-Tones, were proceeding apace. Most of this music was recorded & mixed, by Don, on David Khan's Tascam 424mkII portastudio. This was the beginning of a long & fruitful association between Don, Nova & David. On subsequent recordings David contributed in both the sound engineering & production departments. In general, after the end of 1997, Don would record the music & then mix it to DAT, with the assistance of David & Nova at the Insanitorium. Over the next few years Don developed an enviable live recording technique - capturing many scorching performances on tape. For the rock incarnation of the Strap Ons, recording live was always the preferred method. Track by track recording offered a higher quality sound - but destroyed the special energy & spontaneity of the group. Besides, pristine sound was never a priority - although the recordings Don executed for the Pretty Ugly Things (early '99) & No Time To Be A Work Of Art (late '99) CDR rock albums need make no apologies.
Mixing & producing the Strap Ons provided David with invaluable experience of music outside the industrial/ambient arena with which he was most familiar. Don & Nova favoured unembellished, raw & minimal production for their rock-based material. David, in the early days of their association, often wanted to drown everything in digital effects. Some concerted power struggles ensued - but these were never permitted to damage what was to become a good working relationship (not to mention a close friendship) between the trio.
The first Christchurch Strap Ons' recordings initially surfaced on kRkRkRk, in early 1997, as two tape cassettes. The first: Beyond The Valley Of The Strap Ons KRK069, with its tape samples, found sounds, toy instruments & playfully Dadaesque overtones could have been described as electronic cabaret. Indeed, this album anticipated some of the music Don & Nova would make with kRkRkRk contributors J-mz Robinson & Mikel Goodwin some years hence.
The 2nd tape: Fingerless Love KRK079, was a stylistic grab-bag of more structured song/lyric material. Lounge, cabaret & surf rock compositions shared album space with the first of the punk rock/R&B pieces which, in their time in Christchurch, would soon become the Strap Ons' signature statements.
Much of the music, originally featured on these 2 tapes, has been meticulously digitally remastered & recompiled on the kRkRkRk CDR releases Come Back To My Place And Strap Me On Sometime KRK105 & Lost Found Sound KRK106 - of which more will be said later.
Already apparent, on their earliest Christchurch recordings, was the continuously mutating membership of the Strap Ons. Beyond The Valley… & Fingerless Love featured bass guitar courtesy of Chris Rigby (Alien, Chapel Of Gristle, Meatyard), & George Churton (Gas) - the latter operating under the pseudonym Gene Pool Belmondo! Occasionally, in the 1996-1999 period, the group swelled to as many as 5 members. Contributing bass guitar were John Billows (Renderers) & Lynton Denovan (Montessouri, CM Ensemble, Tony Valens & The Incisions, Righteous Sinner Singers, Sirlord Me). On electric guitar, at various times were Jo-anne Billesdon (Snort, Try-Hards) & Dan Brady (Stuka, Tony Valens & The Incisions). For a brief period, in the middle of 1998, Carla Potter (Snort) replaced Matt on drums.
Also apparent was the stylistic versatility of the group (& its various offshoots & side projects) - a feature which owed a lot to the very broad musical interests Don & Nova shared. With the benefit of hindsight, it can be seen that, in Christchurch, the Strap Ons developed two distinct musical indentities - largely defined by whether or not they used real drums or electronic rhythms.
In the former case they quickly evolved into a punk-inflected R&B/garage rock outfit built around a core of Nova (lead vocals & guitar), Don (assorted keyboards, synths, mouth organ & percussion) & Matt (drums). This was to become the most locally familiar & popular face of the group. Over the next 3 years the Strap Ons received a fair amount of attention from Student radio & performed widely around the South Island.
The relative success
of the punk rock & R&B aspect of the
Strap Ons did not prevent Don & Nova from indulging their more electronic/experimental
interests in music. And it is with this area of their activities that
kRkRkRk is primarily concerned.
Although usually restricted to the home recording environment, in the 1996-99 period, this less familiar face of the group did perform, on occasion, as the Lost Found Sound. In this mode drums were largely replaced by electronic rhythms (Matt's drum machine or Nova's Hammond organ), keyboards & synthesizer sounds became more prevalent & vocals were usually de-emphasized in favour of instrumental arrangements. In contrast to the short, intense & impactful songs performed by the rock aspect of the Strap Ons, the Lost Found Sound tended towards extended, improvised pieces with a pronounced lounge/cabaret atmosphere. For this side project, Matt traded drums for bass guitar & Ben Johnstone generally performed electric guitar. Don & Nova played everything from drums & percussion to keyboard & guitar. Inevitably (given the involvement of Matt, Don & Ben in the contemporaneous Hi-Tone Destroyers project), the Lost Found Sound eventually evolved towards a more coherent rock sound. At least, this is the impression one gets from the group's sole album length cassette release: (Get Lost With) The Lost Found Sound (recorded live on January 22nd 1998) & the Geraldine lathe-cut 7" it subsequently spawned: Mesa Drive.
For the sake of historical accuracy, it's worth noting that some very early (pre 1997) Christchurch Strap Ons' recordings & performances were essentially in Lost Found Sound mode - although, at this stage, Ben was not involved. In particular, there exists, on DAT, a fascinating performance by Don, Nova & Matt at the Dux De Lux, Montreal St (spring '96), which may yet be released. This performance utilised Matt's drum machine (chock full of tasty ethnic & tribal sounds), Don's Pro-One synth, Nova's Hammond organ - combined with some extended surf guitar solos (Matt again) & a decidedly lounge atmosphere.
The two 1997 kRkRkRk
cassette releases initiated a prolific era of home recording activity
in Christchurch, by the Strap Ons & related projects, that extended
to the May 2001 relocation of Don & Nova to Wellington. In order to
disseminate this material Don & Nova founded their own label, Solarphonic,
in early 1997. Over the next few years, this label soon became home for
a plethora of Strap Ons', Lost Found Sound & Hi-Tone Destroyers albums
& singles. Peter King's Geraldine lathe-cuts were the release medium
of choice. They were fairly cheap to produce, sounded OK (especially in
view of the fact that the source recordings weren't exactly studio quality
anyway) & were eminently collectable. Any moderately enterprising
group could release (& even sell) 2 or 3 of these things a year &
this is precisely what Solarphonic proceeded to do. Altogether, there
were five Strap Ons Geraldine 7" releases: Daughter Of Horror SP01
(recorded winter-spring '96, released early '97), Predator Sway SP02 (recorded
spring '96, released mid '97), Get Outta Town SP05 (recorded winter '97
by David, released late '97), Taboo SP06 (recorded winter-spring '97 by
David, released autumn '98) & Race With The Devil SP11 (recorded late
'98 - early '99, released mid '99). Towards the end of 1998 the
Strap Ons also had a genuine vinyl 7", Tokyo Striptease, released
on New Zealand's Kato label.
In early 1999 most of this material was compiled onto two Solarphonic CDRs, Come Back To My Place… SPCD3 & Pretty Ugly Things SPCD5, by Ben - using Don's original chrome cassette master mix in the former case & DAT mixes in the latter. Not surprisingly, this compromised the sound somewhat - but was the best that could be arranged at the time. However, from mid 1999 onwards, David, Don & Nova began to systematically remix & remaster the entire Christchurch back catalogue of Strap Ons recordings from the original 4-track cassette masters. The DAT masters were then subsequently transferred to CDR by Arnie Van Bussel at Nightshift Studios, Chch.
By the end of 1999 Pretty Ugly Things had re-emerged with an augmented track arrangement - joined on Solarphonic by the final R&B release of the group in Christchurch: No Time To Be A Work Of Art. Come Back To My Place… SS001CD was to be co-released, on kRkRkRk as KRK105 - soon to be joined by Lost Found Sound SS004CD as KRK106 (&, just to confuse posterity, this was a Strap Ons, not a Lost found Sound album).
The remastering programme, embarked upon by Don, Nova & David, continued into autumn 2000 with an exploration of the Strap Ons' Dunedin back catalogue. This resulted in the creation of two kRkRkRk compilation CDRs: The Early Fears Part 1 KRK102 & The Early Fears Part 2 KRK103 (also released on Solarphonic as SPS05 & SPS06 respectively).
Summing up Don
& Nova's collaborative activities in Christchurch, between mid 1996
& mid 1999, Pretty Ugly Things & No Time To Be A Work Of Art documented
the
Strap Ons in their most familiar & popular guise - a no-holds-barred
punk rock/R&B outfit. Come Back To My Place… & Lost Found
Sound revealed the lesser known & considerably more experimental,
electronic & eclectic side of the group. Both Pretty Ugly Things &
Lost Found Sound are essentially compilations of several years work, from
mid 1996 to early 1999. The other two albums are interesting in that they
each contain material recorded in a very short span of time - Come Back
To My Place… in spring '96 & No Time To Be A Work Of Art in autumn
'99. If the former album marked the point at which Matt began collaborating
with Don & Nova in the Strap Ons, then the latter work represented
his swan song with the group. Matt's departure, in August '99, effectively
ended the R&B aspect of the Strap Ons & ushered in their final
Christchurch phase - & one even more closely connected to kRkRkRk.
In late 1999, with the enlisting of J-mz Robinson into the Strap Ons, the way was clear for the electronic & eclectic proclivities of the group to be more fully indulged. Also, around this time, Nova purchased a Tascam 424mkIII portastudio. This freed the trio from reliance on David's 4-track (soon to be sold to Peter Wright in any case) & made possible regular, weekly recording sessions at Generation X (soon rechristened: Solarphonic Studios). Don & J-mz, with their love of electronic & toy instruments & their highly spontaneous approach to music-making, were natural band-mates. Nova, also, wholeheartedly embraced experimentation & improvisation - but tempered the Strap Ons' more indulgent flights of fancy with a solid sense of structure & organisation.
Toward the end of 2000, Mikel Goodwin returned to Christchurch, from Wellington, & was promptly snapped up by the group. Mike's own peculiar sense of whimsy melded well with some of the more playful & bizarre explorations being made by the Strap Ons at this time - as did his love of broken electronic devices. Mikel also contributed (as a bass player) to the creation of more tightly structured, song/lyric material being written by the group. In the last 6 months of the Strap Ons' tenure in Christchurch, there was a perceptible shift in emphasis, away from all-out improvisation & experimentation, & back towards their rock roots. In fact, when one examines the history of the group as a whole, it's clear that these two aspects have always co-existed - with a surprising degree of harmony. At different times each has been in the ascendent - but always in a temporary dominance played in a sort of stylistic counterpoint to the other. These regular shifts, to & from structured, roots rock & playful, experimental electronica are, over the last 10 years & more, what have made the Strap Ons project so consistently fresh & interesting.
In May 2001 Don & Nova relocated to Wellington where they initiated musical collaborations with a number of local performers, including occasional work with original Strap Ons' member Malcolm Campbell.
Bottle
KRK115 & Hellbox KRK116
Eat
the Mess Age KRK108
Lost
Found Sound KRK106
Come
Back to My Place... KRK105
Early
Fears 1 KRK102 & Early Fears 2 KRK103
Strap
Ons intro
Listen to Strap Ons
kRkRkRk recordings
krkrkrk@hotmail.com
Text by David
Khan. Web-building by Ed Wilson. No apologies for disinformation.
August 2004