Here's Five: Garageland

Iconic nineties outfit Garageland are temporarily reuniting to bring a burst of nostalgia to the inaugural The Others Way festival next Friday. The special show will be the first time the Flying Nun group will have played together in their original line up since a one-off show in 2007.

Formed in 1992 and named after a Clash song, the Auckland group managed to tuck three excellent full-length albums and a handful of EPs under their belts before disbanding in 2002. Those releases boast undeniably catchy indie-pop gems like 'Beelines To Heaven', 'Fingerpops' and 'Come Back', that have stood the test of time and made a firm mark on New Zealand music history. In anticipation of their upcoming show, UnderTheRadar asked vocalist and guitarist Jeremy Eade to share with us the memories behind some of his personal favourite Garageland songs...

1. Nude Star
This was our first hit in May 1992. We recorded it in Sony musics warehouse. I remember my guitar string broke and I just used another one lying around, it wasn't even the right string. Just layered up the guitars until it sounded like a wave. We ended up recording this song about four times, once with the mighty Alan Moulder of My Bloody Valentine production fame, but my favourite version was the original bFM demo. At the end of the song I reel off all these rock n roll early deaths that at the time I was quite interested in. Brian Jones in the pool, Jim Morrison in the bath and all the others. I really like the Brian Jones era Stones and I always have a soft spot for Jim. I went to see his grave in Paris. Jim lives man.

2. Pop Cigar
This was our super hit on BFM. Number one for weeks over summer. This song really reminds me of the early nineties. “I'm gonna let you down, like a thousand other towns”. Funny now because like a lot of people I now am questioning if I want to live here in my own stupidly priced city. The 1990s Auckland nightlife was pretty good around then. It was quite fun to go to town. Looking pretty and dandy. Of course now I am not allowed in the central city as I am too casually attired.

3. Struck
The first line was “There's lameness on the edge of town”. I guess I was bored back then with the convention of Suburban Auckland. I was very young and I wanted excitement. I had a job and I use to get up in the dark of morning and drive home in the dark of evening. “Drive home and watch the sun go down.” Actually that job was highly intense and I use to sit and stare out the window thinking , “I wish I could just play guitar, fly around and drink riders”. Actually that wish came true for a while. “I'm kinda struck by the way I fucked up”. Folks love that line. Making mistakes because you are tired or badly informed or both. So annoying.

4. What Will You Do?
I was walking around town, as you do and it was a hot balmy night with an ok breeze and as I passed an inner city flat. What do I hear? I heard this song come out of it really loudly. It is quite a thrill to hear your own music randomly on the street. "Just made sense of all your movies". I used to watch way too many movies and pile through scores of records. Sometimes I would get quite confused to why I was so immersed in these artforms until a friend told me I was a scientist of the arts and somehow that appeased me. Being a scientist of music sounded more meaningful than just focusing on the joy of rock n roll hedonism, which while fun was kind of empty after a while.

 5. Fingerpops
Fingerpops is a soul term for clicking fingers. So many people have told me think it's about a girl who cracked her knuckles attractively. This song was a live hit early on. It has some great surges and sweeps. We recorded it too fast initially, however it was remixed in the U.S. and came out chunky and huge which is the flavour it usually has live. This song was nearly our mealticket in the U.S. Folks loved it but just couldn't get that crossover playlisting. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, close but no pop cigar. I loved touring the U.S. I loved New York. Mindblowing.

Garageland are playing at The Others Way Festival on Friday 4th September, head over here for more informations and to buy tickets.