Androidss – Auckland Tonight // Getting Jumpy (Ripper Records) 1981. An absolutely amazing 7inch by these New Zealand geniuses. This has got to be one of the most under-recognised new wave 7inches of all time and I am not sure why. Part of the problem may be that it was not featured on either of the big NZ compilations like Hate Your Neighbors or AK79. It always surprised me that the Androidss were not on AK79 because they had strong Auckland ties and were on Ripper Records. The B-side of this single is called Auckland Tonight fer chrissakes! Now I realise that the reason they weren’t on AK79 was because the single came out in 81. This may seem pretty rudimentary to you, but to me this is a big revelation. Anyway, with all this talk of Auckland it probably is worth mentioning that the lads were actually from Christchurch. They were made up of two sets of brothers, one set being the twins Eric (drums) and Stephen Marsden (vocals). Neil (guitar) and Mark Spence (keyboards) were the other brothers and the band was rounded out by Frankie Steentjes on Bass and Mark Wilson on guitar. Androidss had a dangerous vibe due to a couple of members doing jail time for drug related offences which is what essentially killed their career as a few of them ended up in the slammer. The press quoted none other than Iggy Pop as saying that “They’re tough as bitches but they’re beautiful!” Fact is, they were an amazing guitar based new wave act that really had tons of potential but was cut short due to unfortunate incarceration. As I mentioned earlier, the bands most well-known song was Stephen’s Auckland Tonight which was put to video for the popular show Droppa Kulcha on TVNZ. The other side, written by Mark Wilson and entitled Getting Jumpy apparently made it to number 18 on the NZ charts. Getting Jumpy is three minutes of guitar driven shake that is completely irresistible to my ears and will probably be to yours as well. The boys got back together in 2008 and played a reunion gig in Auckland. The following year, Stephen Marsden sadly passed away. A gig featuring a bunch of the old AK79 gang including the remainders of Androidss was held in remembrance in 2009. I really wish they had recorded more than this one great single.
Hardcore Podcasts
September of 2010 I put together eight Hardcore Podcasts. You can check them out here if you are interested. For more insight into how I came up with the years 78-90 for the First Wave you can read about The Hardcore Superiorty Myth.
the news is a few days old now, but can we unoffically dedicate this one to Peter Jackson who’s suffering from an ulcer leaving the poor bastard to delay the Hobbit yet again?:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/heres-whats-delaying-the-hobbit-today-peter-jackso,50697/
Cooooool. I was searching for a mp3 of “Auckland Tonight” ! Great song. Thank you Joe.
@Constance – You are quite welcome!
Thank you once again! This was a nagging whole in my Ripper Records file. (Whizz Kids side of the Spelling Mistakes split is another…).
Androidss apparently held court in a hotel in Auckland and the “Move To Riot” comp from years back had a live track that was devastating beyond belief. If a whole concert of similar quality exists on tape, it could be the Chants R&B of early 80s punk!
I have a couple Flying Nun requests: the song “Don’t Deceive Me” by 25 Cents and the Ritchie Venus single.
BC – Lets see what I can do!
Sadly Eric passed away last week
http://cheeseontoast.co.nz/2011/10/28/rest-in-peace-eric-marsden-of-the-androidss/