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Posts Tagged Act Your Age

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May 10, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

Spines: Backstory. Spines Live 1986.

Spines Backstory. Spines Live 1986. (Independent / Bandcamp) Celebrating their 40th anniversary as a band, Wellington’s Spines – still going, many different line-ups but always led by the mercurial songwriting of Jon McLeary – have dug deep into their archives to reveal a previously unreleased live album from 1986. It even features a few songs […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged 1986, 86, Act Your Age, Album Review, Archives, Backstory, Backstory. Spines Live 1986., Bandcamp, Jon Mcleary, Live, Live Recording, Ross Burge, Spines, Spines Live, Spines: Backstory. Spines Live 1986., The Moon, The Spines, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron, Wellington, Wendy Calder ·

Archive

September 11, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 179 On the Radio

It must have been Fishing – either the song itself or maybe Gillian. The first time I heard myself on the radio. Bryan Staff our producer was also a DJ and he played it on a late night slot on commercial radio It was a strange feeling – like hearing your speaking voice back on […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged #179, Act Your Age, Art, Bryan Staff, Fishing, Gillian, Guest, Guest Blog, Guest Post, Idiot Sun, Jesse Mulligan, Jon Mcleary, Live On Air, Matinee Idol, mention, Music, Nick Bollinger, On The Radio, Painting, Phil O'Brien, Radio, Radio Active, Radio New Zealand, Redbird, Review, Simon Morris, Simon Sweetman, Spines, Steve Braunias, The Ghost of Electricity, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 179, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 179 On the Radio, The Spines, War Stories, Wellington, Writing, Your Body Stays ·

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August 21, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 176 The Record Covers

I started buying albums in the 70s and it was a great time for the cover artwork. I have to admit that was part of the attraction for me – those Hipgnosis and Roger Dean images grabbed my imagination. It was an essential aspect to enjoying an album for me. By the time the Spines […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Act Your Age, Album Cover, Album Cover Artwork, Album Covers, Albums, Art, Artwork, Design, Drawing, Epidural, Fishing, Guest Blog, Guest Post, Hipgnosis, Idiot Sun, Jon Mcleary, LPs, Music, Painting, Photographs, Photography, photos, Punch, Record Covers, Roger Dean, Spines, The Ghost of Electricity, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 176, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 176 The Record Covers, The Moon, The Record Covers, The Spines, Wellington, Your Body Stays ·

Archive

April 23, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 159 The Braille Guys

Neill Duncan was the first musician I hooked up with when I came to Wellington. He was at the Art Centre when Louise and I started there and played some flute and sax with us. He was part of what seemed to be a large group of interconnected alternate jazz players that were just starting […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged # 159, Act Your Age, Andy Craig, Ant Donaldson, Art Centre, Braille Records, David Donaldson, David Long, Family Mallet, Guest Blog, Guest Post, Jon Mcleary, Louise, Negative Theatre, Neill Duncan, New Deli Jazz Band, Primitive Art Group, Spines, The Braille Guys, The Ghost of Electricity, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 159, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 159 The Braille Guys, The Spines, Thrashing Marlin, War Stories, War Stories # 159, Wellington ·

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August 28, 2016 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 126 Post Office

In early 1984 the band was on hold. I’d recorded Act Your Age in Auckland almost as a solo album and I had two children on the way – I needed to get a job. Michelle and I were living in the big warehouse on Wakefield Street and I had been doing a bit of […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Act Your Age, Art, Bukowski, Charles Bukowski, Ghost Stories, Guest Blog, Job, Jon Mcleary, Karori, Post Office, Postie, Spines, The Ghost, The Ghost of Electricity, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 126 Post Office, The Spines, War Stories, War Stories # 126, War Stories by Jon McLeary, Wellington, Work, Writing ·

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May 22, 2016 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 112 Jayrem Records

It was Jim Moss and his Wellington answer to the South Island’s Flying Nun and Auckland’s Ripper or Propeller Records and yet it was totally different. Those other labels had their own style or ethos whereas Jayrem would release any type of music in any given genre – from the Upper Hutt Posse to the […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Act Your Age, Art, Body Electric, Brian Kassler, EP, Flesh D-Vice, Flying Nun, Greg Bryce, Guest Blog, Guest Post, James Moss, Jayrem, Jayrem Records, Jon Mcleary, Last Laugh, Lily and I, Lions, Maurice Priestly, Music, Neill Duncan, Propeller Records, Punch/Your Body Stays, Ripper, Roger Shepherd, Ross Burge, Spines, The Ghost of Electricity, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 112 Jayrem Records, The Moon, The Spines, Upper Hutt Posse, War Stories, War Stories # 112, Wellington, Writing ·

Archive

April 10, 2016 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 106 The Lions

Take me to Venus I’m fed up with Earth There’s a tightrope between us but anything’s worth trying I was living in a flat on Hawker Street in 1980, Louise and I had split Negative Theatre and I was looking at writing new kinds of songs – more based on reality than fantasy dramas. My […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Act Your Age, Guest Blog, Guest Post, Jon Mcleary, Lions, Lyrics, Music, Negative Theatre, Paranoia, Song, Song Lyric, Spines, The Ghost of Electricity, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 106 The Lions, The Lions, The Spines, War Stories, War Stories # 106 ·

Archive

July 19, 2015 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 68 The Solo Gigs

After Negative Theatre split and before the Spines formed I did my first ever solo gigs – I didn’t find it easy. Unlike Louise I wasn’t a natural performer outside the context of the songs – in between I would just mumble out the title of the next number and get on with it. The […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Act Your Age, Art, Guest Blog, Jon Mcleary, Music, Negative Theatre, Painting, Pulsing With Punches, Solo, Spines, The Ghost of Electricity, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 68 The Solo Gigs, The Solo Gigs, The Spines, Tora Tora Tora, War Stories, War Stories # 68, Wellington, Writing ·

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December 7, 2014 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 37 Act Your Age

Take me to Venus – I’m fed up with Earth There’s a tightrope between us – but anything’s worth trying – The Lions When the Pulsing with Punch tour wound up and Ross and Wendy headed off to do other things for a while, I set about working up a solo act. I had been […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Act Your Age, Flying Nun, Guest Blog, Jon Mcleary, Music, Spines, The Ghost of Electricity, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 37 Act Your Age, The Spines, War Stories, War Stories # 37, War Stories by Jon McLeary, Writing ·

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