New Zealand's Ghost Club

In the history of New Zealand modern music, David Mitchell and Denise Roughan are among the key players in both the Flying Nun and Xpressway label rosters of the 1980's and 90's that defined some of the most fertile moments of the country's scene. Denise started out in the Look Blue Go Purple in the 80's, who produced gorgeously humid strum-pop until its ladies splintered off into various other bands; David reigned supreme as a twisted axe-man with groups like Goblin Mix, the Plagal Grind, and probably most visibly to Yanks in the 3D's (a band that also included Denise). The 3D's music made quite a few waves both at home (where they opened for U2, Nirvana, and Pavement) and here in the USA where a major label subsidiary got them a bit of a foothold on college radio before they settled in with indie stalwart Merge later on. The music was a mixture of demented noise-pop, dark and weird, unsettling even when they cooled down into more tranquil realm, and somewhat fit Mitchell's wonderfully creepy, seafaring-Clive Barker artwork that adorned their sleeves. I'd always been a huge fan of his guitar playing most, sounding like he had harnessed the sound of effects pedals plugged together backwards into amps about to melt, his distorted wah-wah solos sounded shorted-out, his squiggled, fuzzy sustain tones complementing his unusual  voice perfectly. Finally seeing them live in the 90's was a huge thrill. When the 3D's disappeared, Mitchell turned up in a rock trio for a 2000 broadcast WFMU aired of a Dunedin festival (kindly shared with us by the recordists at KFJC), and I was thrilled to hear his guitar playing as intense and twisted as ever. Now, Mitchell and Roughan have moved to London, started a new band called Ghost Club, and are about to release their second album in July, according to an email I got from the third member of the group, Jim Abbott. They definitely pick up where the 3D's left off (here's an MP3 of "Cool Air" from their debut album Ghostclubbing, thanks to the band), though Mitchell says the new album is "less gnarly" guitar-wise and heavier content-wise. Mitchell also appears as "David Evil" on a new UK 10" record out now by the band Evil, which you can read more about here and also via our neighbors down the pike, Siltblog.

Comments

[Jon B]

I picked up the second album, "Suicide Train", back in March from smokecds.com. Is the July date a US domestic release date.

[will]

Jon is right. The second cd from the band was "Suicide Train" which came out on Flying Nun in 2005. Check out EVIL for a truly nasty experience. Fronted by David Mitchell.
It's about time that someone covered NZ bands. Great job Brian.

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