In the early 1990s I was very taken, as some of us were, by the New Zealand cassette label Xpressway. The label was putting out tapes & the odd record by Velvets-inspired (however loosely) bands like THE TERMINALS and THE DEAD C, and most of the time when they spoke, I listened. They put out this archival tape from an early 80s NZ group called SCORCHED EARTH POLICY that I totally fell for called "Foaming Out". It collected their two limited-press 12"EPs on Flying Nun from 1984 and 1985 respectively, and then added on a side of nth-generation live recordings. I guess I thought at the time that the band actually never had any official recordings, and that they were just a great lost band in The Clean mode - static pop drone on ocassion; bouyant, choppy melodics on others. Eventually I got wise, and learned that a couple of these folks, Peter Stapleton & Brian Crook, were movers and shakers behind a variety of quality New Zealand groups such as the aforementioned TERMINALS and THE RENDERERS, and that S.E.P. were just another fnatastic stop on their resumes - perhaps my favorite. See if you agree with these first two tracks from their debut EP from '84, "Dust To Dust".Play or Download SCORCHED EARTH POLICY - "Green Cigar"
Play or Download SCORCHED EARTH POLICY - "Too Far Gone"
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4 comments:
There was a great Scorched Earth Policy CD on Medication about 10 years back. I think it had everything on it. The new Terminals record is pretty great too. It's called "Last Days Of the Sun" and Last Visible Dog put it out here in the US.
Dave Martin
Jay,
What's the picture from - one of the 12"s? I think the (great) CD was a barely-expanded version of the cassette. Agreed that the new Terminals CD is wonderful; Last Visible Dog is also reissuing the Terminals back catalog w/ extra stuff and better mastering. Do you have the Victor Dimisich Band CD? I think they were pre-SEP if I'm keeping the story straight.
-Chris Selvig
Peter Stapleton and Mary Heney were in both the Victor Dimisich Band and Scorched Earth Policy. That VDB CD was also on Medication and is totally worth tracking down.
Dave Martin
I really love these songs, but can't find the records anyplace. Does anyone have any leads?
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