Three Leaning Men - Songs in the Key of E (1987)

Fun in the Key of E, the band's lone full length, harbors a few misfires (most accumulating on side two) but the highlights are dazzlingly high indeed. Including the ten brief songs on the album proper, there are two compilation appearances as well. Some of the only pertinent details on the group are included in an online article regarding the Leanies record label, Meltdown. The band's lineup includes brothers Alan and frontman Lindsay Gregg, that passed away in 2011. Post-3LM, Alan went on to the considerably more renown The Mutton Birds. If any of the surviving members of the band happen to read this, do get in touch.

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The Remarkables - Vegetarian/Skin Condition (1986)

Second single ‘Vegetarian’/‘Skin Condition’ with Zane Greig drumming arrived in 1986 as did contributed songs on Palmerston North compilation Meltdown Town and national student radio collection Weird Culture, Weird Custom. A must have!!

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The Remarkables - Waiting For A Wave (1985)

Palmerston North band The Remarkables – with Chris Heaphy (guitar, vocals), Alan Gregg (keyboards, bass), Paul Westbury (guitar) and Brendan Conlan (drums) – were the lower North Island university city’s response to the national outpouring of guitar based indie rock in the mid-1980s. They placed second in the Massey University 1985 Orientation Battle of the Bands and used winner The Mannequins’ (who’d split up) studio time to record the Waiting For A Wave EP for new indie Meltdown Records, set up by Peter Shepherd in 1985. Performances in Palmerston North, Hamilton, Auckland, Wellington and New Plymouth in November and December 1985 followed. A second single ‘Vegetarian’/‘Skin Condition’ with Zane Greig drumming arrived in 1986 as did contributed songs on Palmerston North compilation Meltdown Town and national student radio collection Weird Culture, Weird Custom. Alan Gregg was later in Dribbling Darts of Love (with Matthew Bannister) and then The Mutton Birds.The Remarkables' music is impossible to get nowadays, so enjoy this lost and forgotten gem.

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The Pterodactyls ‎- We've Done It Now (1987)

This clangy, post-punk quartet tracked their entire ep in one day in 1987 in Auckland.  It sounds like some degree of local cross-pollination was at hand here, and it wouldn't be unwise to suspect the Pterodactyls may have been keen on the Bats and Tall Dwarfs, not to mention some other winged clergy on the Flying Nun roster.  It would have been really interesting to see where these lads might have taken things on subsequent releases, but I think this was their sole outing.  Brief as their catalog was, you'd be wise to console yourself with the poignantly melodic "Germs," We've Done It Now's should-have-been greatest hit. The tiny label responsible for it, Meltdown, was based in Palmerston North, on the northern island of New Zealand. BTW, Meltdown Records was home to a couple of other bands whose records (or at the very least, MP3s) I'm anxious to get a hold of.  If anyone can tip me off to such long lost Kiwis as Three Leaning Men and the Remarkables, by all means get in touch!  You'll be rewarded handsomely for your efforts.

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