Splitter: And Then There Were Three
By Mark Bell, NZ Musician, Vol. 8, No. 7 February/March 2000
Splitter, it would seem, was a prophetic choice of name for the Auckland pop/rock three-piece which formed in April 1995. Usually when we feature a band's first album in NZM, that band is somewhere near the start of their career.
Unfortunately, Splitter's first (and only) album, 'Stereo Happiness', now out on Marital Records, essentially serves as the band's epitaph.
Andrew Thorne (guitar/vocals) caused the first disruption in Splitter soon after their EP "What You Know" was released when he accompanied Bic Runga as guitarist on her 1998 European reconnaisance tour. Meanwhile band co-founder Kurt Shanks was playing bass with Bic's sister Boh, in Stellar. By mid-1999, increasing workload obliged Kurt to decide between his two musical mistresses and he chose to devote his energies solely to Stellar, thus leaving Splitter without a bassist. Kurt's bass shoes proved difficult to fill and Andrew and drummer Matt Meehan were left to seek a release for an album finished by the original threesome (and friends).
When Matt was found dead in November last year, a victim of drug-related misadventure, Splitter had officially left the building, their album recorded and mixed but unreleased.
Though Matt primarily drummed in Splitter, he was one of those multi-instrumentalist types, happy on just about anything you cared to sit him at. Andrew, Kurt and Marital's Mark Roach all say that Matt left most people blown away not only by his raw talent but also by his sheer rock'n'roll attitude. Kurt readily confirms this: "It was great to have him in the band because recording-wise, he was a very complementary musician. On Some Part Of You, he played everything: drums, bass, guitar, and he sang it as well."
The flame which burned inside him was obviously a contagious one, and as Splitter's set came together, honed by live outings, the band began to see that they had some very special 'X' factor stuff going down. It had to be captured and 'Stereo Happiness' is the very classy result.
Andrew and Kurt are proudly promoting the album, and re-counted its development. Andrew recollects: "Three tracks (What You Know, Tremolo Panned, Bad For Me) were recorded with (producer/drummer extraordinaire) Wayne Bell at The Lab three or four years ago. The rest was done largely thanks to Chris Tate doing the rhythm tracks at College Hill Sound in a disused office.
After Matt joined the band, we finished those tapes at his house with engineer Steve Ward and some borrowed ADAT recorders. Steve's now in London doing very well for himself, I believe. It was coming to a funny time for the band in the respect that I was going overseas with Bic Runga and Kurt's involvement in Stellar was starting to escalate, so we thought it was time to get a permanent record of the songs because we all felt that both the songs and the band were so good."
Kurt agrees: "It was an uncertain period because we weren't really sure when Andrew would be back. When we went in to record, we knew we had a bunch of cracking songs and just wanted to get them down."
Label manager, Mark Roach had the job of seeing that the final product was cohesive.
"All the mixing was done by Chris Van de Geer at Airforce and then he, Andrew and I took those and the three Lab tracks to Gavin Botica at York Street for mastering. Gavin then had the onerous task of putting them all at the same level and making them sound the same ... "
"Which he's done ... " cuts in Andrew enthusiastically. "We spent a whole weekend on Bad For Me in The Lab, and you can compare that with Departure Lounge which is a great song, but it was just a tinpot little recording, really, from Matt's kitchen."
Andrew says he has no real interest in chart success for 'Stereo Happiness': "If anything, I just want one copy in my hand and for the memory of Matt as well - to have an official record of what a fantastic musician he was."
This is Mark's company line as well.
"In a way, Matt's death shifted the focus back onto the music and made us think 'well, what are we doing this for?'. It's about the music and it's a great album and it shouldn't be an album that gets sucked into that marketing void that the '90s music industry, globally, has become."
Hindsight has made things clearer for Kurt. "It should have been out 18 months ago but we spent too long trying to get a major record label interested, instead of just getting it out there. It's never been a particularly marketable band - the music's great, but it's not a band you can sell through pretty posters and videos ... more along the lines of REM and Radiohead."
"We're fucking ugly, but we sound good." is Andrew's more precise summation.
Over the fence with the definitely not-ugly Stellar, Kurt is getting some major marketing lessons with Sony. Splitter's label, Marital, is not one of New Zealand's major labels, but it is one of our longer-established independents. Neither experience is 'better' Kurt says. It's just diff'rent strokes.
"The experience I have had with a major label has been great, but so has my experience with Marital. It's mainly because of the people involved. People's perceptions of major labels particularly in this country aren't quite accurate. I don't think how they operate here is the same as in, say, America or London. The truth of the matter is that there are only so many local bands that they can sign up. At the moment, there are probably more local bands on major labels than ever."
Andrew shares Kurt's enthusiasm, adding: "You can whinge all you like, but realistically, majors are more responsive to New Zealand music than they've ever been and you can pretty soon sniff out if someone is into working in a record company because they like music or because they like being in a supposedly 'hip' business. Working with Mark is really good. I can just ring him up and talk about ideas. If he has time to do them, he does, if he doesn't, he tells me. It's generally black-and-white and if something doesn't get done, it's generally because of budget, not because of him arsing around or going to lunch or talking on his cellphone."
It's a brave record label that'll put out an album when there is no possibility of the band supporting it, but Andrew has plans, nonetheless.
"I love playing guitar and being in a band, but I'm not sure at this stage what form that'll take. New band, new members, new name, new songs, new everything. I daresay I might pull some Splitter numbers out every now and then. There's already been a session using Peter Stuyvesant Hitlist's bassist, "Sweet Baby Dave" Goodison on guitar, but I've just got to write some songs, really. I go through fits and starts - I'll go for ages without writing anything and then one day I'll have something in my head and think 'What is that song?' and then realise that it's not something that I've heard, but something that's happening in my brain."
'Stereo Happiness' features one of Kurt's songs, God Only Knows and he says that Andrew's absence encouraged both his and Matt's writing.
"That was quite good for us, because we did about three little gigs together and it spurred on our own songwriting. Matt began a real spurt on songwriting, which I hope we have 4-track recordings of, because he borrowed Andrew's recorder."
And how was the overall experience of touring with Bic Runga through Europe, Andrew?
"Flying business class everywhere and playing to audiences of 300 teenage girls for Spanish TV was great! We also had guitar roadies and when I arrived at Heathrow, there was this guy holding my name on a placard, and a limousine. We were well paid for everything we did, gig, tour, radio slot, whatever. It was no less than I deserve - ha ha.
"I felt artistically satisfied playing with Bic, certainly. It's purely her thing and she absorbs energy from other people - Bic's very good at getting creative energy happening and was very open to input. She was amazing, being 21 and having the confidence to work with all those people. She really, really did produce that album."
Andrew's style can definitely be heard throughout 'Drive', but for 'Stereo Happiness', it is quite removed from that.
"'Drive' featured a more subtle way of playing" says Andrew, "but for Splitter I got in touch with the Rock Pig within. Matt's drumming drove a lot of the songs, and there's a definite Zeppelin/Who lineage going on there. His drumming was always, I thought, a combination of John Bonham and Keith Moon. He had that heaviness but the flailing as well. We could do The Kids Are Alright and get away with it."
With all the obstacles that have been put in Splitter, and Andrew Thorne's way, he remains philosophical about the big picture: "Music is metaphor for life really, being in a band, you encounter the same obstacles that hit everyone, and you keep on doing it ... or you don't. You just do music because you want to get it out."
Splitter Gear
Rickenbacker 330 guitar
1971 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe
Rickenbacker 4001 bass
1974 Yamaha Custom kit
Fender Telecaster '51 Reissue
Epiphone Casino guitar
Fender Jazz Bass
Mark Bell's Strat
Vox AC15 (whole album, one amp!)
Red wine
Kurt agrees: "It was an uncertain period because we weren't really sure when Andrew would be back. When we went in to record, we knew we had a bunch of cracking songs and just wanted to get them down."
Label manager, Mark Roach had the job of seeing that the final product was cohesive.
"All the mixing was done by Chris Van de Geer at Airforce and then he, Andrew and I took those and the three Lab tracks to Gavin Botica at York Street for mastering. Gavin then had the onerous task of putting them all at the same level and making them sound the same ... "
"Which he's done ... " cuts in Andrew enthusiastically. "We spent a whole weekend on Bad For Me in The Lab, and you can compare that with Departure Lounge which is a great song, but it was just a tinpot little recording, really, from Matt's kitchen."
Andrew says he has no real interest in chart success for 'Stereo Happiness': "If anything, I just want one copy in my hand and for the memory of Matt as well - to have an official record of what a fantastic musician he was."
This is Mark's company line as well.
"In a way, Matt's death shifted the focus back onto the music and made us think 'well, what are we doing this for?'. It's about the music and it's a great album and it shouldn't be an album that gets sucked into that marketing void that the '90s music industry, globally, has become."
Hindsight has made things clearer for Kurt. "It should have been out 18 months ago but we spent too long trying to get a major record label interested, instead of just getting it out there. It's never been a particularly marketable band - the music's great, but it's not a band you can sell through pretty posters and videos ... more along the lines of REM and Radiohead."
"We're fucking ugly, but we sound good." is Andrew's more precise summation.
Over the fence with the definitely not-ugly Stellar, Kurt is getting some major marketing lessons with Sony. Splitter's label, Marital, is not one of New Zealand's major labels, but it is one of our longer-established independents. Neither experience is 'better' Kurt says. It's just diff'rent strokes.
"The experience I have had with a major label has been great, but so has my experience with Marital. It's mainly because of the people involved. People's perceptions of major labels particularly in this country aren't quite accurate. I don't think how they operate here is the same as in, say, America or London. The truth of the matter is that there are only so many local bands that they can sign up. At the moment, there are probably more local bands on major labels than ever."
Andrew shares Kurt's enthusiasm, adding: "You can whinge all you like, but realistically, majors are more responsive to New Zealand music than they've ever been and you can pretty soon sniff out if someone is into working in a record company because they like music or because they like being in a supposedly 'hip' business. Working with Mark is really good. I can just ring him up and talk about ideas. If he has time to do them, he does, if he doesn't, he tells me. It's generally black-and-white and if something doesn't get done, it's generally because of budget, not because of him arsing around or going to lunch or talking on his cellphone."
It's a brave record label that'll put out an album when there is no possibility of the band supporting it, but Andrew has plans, nonetheless.
"I love playing guitar and being in a band, but I'm not sure at this stage what form that'll take. New band, new members, new name, new songs, new everything. I daresay I might pull some Splitter numbers out every now and then. There's already been a session using Peter Stuyvesant Hitlist's bassist, "Sweet Baby Dave" Goodison on guitar, but I've just got to write some songs, really. I go through fits and starts - I'll go for ages without writing anything and then one day I'll have something in my head and think 'What is that song?' and then realise that it's not something that I've heard, but something that's happening in my brain."
'Stereo Happiness' features one of Kurt's songs, God Only Knows and he says that Andrew's absence encouraged both his and Matt's writing.
"That was quite good for us, because we did about three little gigs together and it spurred on our own songwriting. Matt began a real spurt on songwriting, which I hope we have 4-track recordings of, because he borrowed Andrew's recorder."
And how was the overall experience of touring with Bic Runga through Europe, Andrew?
"Flying business class everywhere and playing to audiences of 300 teenage girls for Spanish TV was great! We also had guitar roadies and when I arrived at Heathrow, there was this guy holding my name on a placard, and a limousine. We were well paid for everything we did, gig, tour, radio slot, whatever. It was no less than I deserve - ha ha.
"I felt artistically satisfied playing with Bic, certainly. It's purely her thing and she absorbs energy from other people - Bic's very good at getting creative energy happening and was very open to input. She was amazing, being 21 and having the confidence to work with all those people. She really, really did produce that album."
Andrew's style can definitely be heard throughout 'Drive', but for 'Stereo Happiness', it is quite removed from that.
"'Drive' featured a more subtle way of playing" says Andrew, "but for Splitter I got in touch with the Rock Pig within. Matt's drumming drove a lot of the songs, and there's a definite Zeppelin/Who lineage going on there. His drumming was always, I thought, a combination of John Bonham and Keith Moon. He had that heaviness but the flailing as well. We could do The Kids Are Alright and get away with it."
With all the obstacles that have been put in Splitter, and Andrew Thorne's way, he remains philosophical about the big picture: "Music is metaphor for life really, being in a band, you encounter the same obstacles that hit everyone, and you keep on doing it ... or you don't. You just do music because you want to get it out."
Splitter Gear
Rickenbacker 330 guitar
1971 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe
Rickenbacker 4001 bass
1974 Yamaha Custom kit
Fender Telecaster '51 Reissue
Epiphone Casino guitar
Fender Jazz Bass
Mark Bell's Strat
Vox AC15 (whole album, one amp!)
Red wine
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