Dub dot dash

See me go
Simon Grigg has been writing a series of very entertaining posts over at Amplifier to coincide with the digital re-release of a swag of tunes by the Screaming Meemees, all lovingly remastered too. Simon ran their record label Propeller and begrudgingly became their manager. Read Part One here.

Excerpt.. "In July 1981, with a single about to be released, we all headed off on the now legendary Screaming Blam-matic Roadshow with other Propeller bands, The Newmatics and Blam Blam Blam, touring the campuses of the nation. In Christchurch the test pressings of the 7" single [of See Me Go] arrived, and we were shocked to find that Festival's marketing manager had taken it upon himself to remix the A side...and it was utter garbage. I made a quick call to the studio, to Festival's production manager, and to the pressing plant and within a few days the offending mix was assigned to the bin and the Snoid mix was on the A side. To this day Festival's errant marketing manager, who went on to be MD of a major record company, doesn't know, or couldn't tell that his mix was dumped..." From Part Two.

Simon talks about the reissue process... from Simon's blog... "This week I’ve uploaded (or to be exact, asked to have uploaded) a 2009 remaster of the, if I say so myself, classic 1982 Screaming Meemees album, If This Is Paradise, I'll Take The Bag . We’ve added a few extra tracks, the singles and one off bits that helped define one of the biggest New Zealand bands of the 1980s, including See Me Go, the first NZ single to go to number one. It’s available on Amplifier, and shortly on iTunes and eMusic. And maybe in a physical format at some stage, but that’s increasingly unlikely..."


Simon goes on to lament that his original plans for a flash CD package alongside the digital release when he started this process some three years ago have fallen by the wayside... "How things change. Today, the CD format is really only loosely required on a package like this.... [when it comes to reissues] You are more likely to see a return from a reverently packaged and pressed vinyl edition in 2009 than a CD."

Photo from simongriggdotinfo, taken by Murray Cammick