Graham Reid | | 2 min read
Coming 4 You
Many bands are here for a good time, not a long time.
But, despite the odds (line-up changes, the lifestyle), Love's Ugly Children from Christchurch managed a bit of both.
The band of Simon Maclaren (guitar, vocals), Angela “Floss” Leslie (bass, vocals) and Jason Young (drums, vocals) emerged from a previous line-up (Maclaren, Leslie and others) with a new approach and different songs.
Between mid '91 and late '98 they toured locally, released singles on Flat City and Flying Nun, some EPs (Stagger on Failsafe, Cold Water Surf, Purge, Suck) and two albums, Cakehole, Showered in Gold.
They had solid support slots, played the Big Day Out, played in the UK during a two month stay in late '95 and were widely hailed for the Showered in Gold album of '97.
They appeared on Failsafe compilations, the Scarfies soundtrack and covered Abba's Honey Honey for Nun's Abbasalutely tribute album.
Big gigs and another BDO, a line-up change, off to Australia, opening for Foo Fighters in Auckland and . . .
In late '98 it was all over.
In rock, seven years is a lifetime and Love's Ugly Children crammed a lot in.
On stage they had a good time. So did the audience.
With forgivable hyperbole, Flying Nun wrote this when Showered in Gold was released: “One of the greatest traditions in the fine art of rock'n'roll exists through those bands labelled as 'punk' ever since the Stooges and Velvet Underground laid waste to the groovy-isms of sixties rock.
“But those bands and the ones that followed -- from the Ramones to today's Loves Ugly Children -- looked to create the most exciting music possible out of the so-called 'primitive' tools of the rock'n'roll trade, mostly by fuelling it with speed and desperately screaming something of your own”.
They were more than just a footnote in local rock history and by putting themselves about on shared bills or under their own name they won a loyal following attuned to their often furious, abrasive and louderer indie.rock.
Their explosive Space Suit appeared on the 2011 compilation Tally Ho! Flying Nun's Greatest Bits between Dimmer and HDU.
They were in such company.
As the song says, they are Coming 4 You.
Again.
For a good time, but not a long time. Just two times at . . .
Otautahi Christchurch, Go Live Festival - Saturday August 17
Tamaki Makaurau Auckland, The Mothership - Thursday August 22
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You can hear Love's Ugly Children at Spotify here
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