Posts Tagged Jon Mcleary
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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 […]Archive
November 27, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Spines: Dreamboat
Spines Dreamboat Spines/Bandcamp The new album by the Spines is the best the band has sounded in the studio, certainly since the very early days of the band (getting back towards 40 years now). Dreamboat follows on, nearly two and a half years after Epidural – an excellent set of songs too but Dreamboat features […]Archive
November 24, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
DJ Setlist: San Fran, Spines Dreamboat Album Release, Saturday, November 23, 2019
Great to be there on the decks in-between sets for another album release by the Spines. (Here’s where you go to buy/hear the new album by the way). A couple of years ago I played the tunes in and around the show when they released their Epidural album. And now it was time to launch […]Archive
November 11, 2019 by Simon Sweetman
Gig Preview: The Spines Dreamboat Album Release Show (Wgtn, Sat Nov 23)
Next Saturday, November 23, sees the Spines return to the stage at the San Fran in Wellington. Not only that, they’ll be bringing new songs – from a new album. The band’s latest recording, Dreamboat, will be launched. So it’ll be a set of brand new songs as well as some back-catalog favourites. Opening the […]Archive
December 7, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 208 Pete Shelley
Late 2009. The Spines at that time were Les Knight on bass, Riki Gooch on drums and me. We had just recorded the Bloodmonster album and I was about 50 and drinking a lot at Bodega – a period of renaissance for the band. I’d always been a fan of the Buzzcocks in the early […]Archive
June 12, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 207 One Day In The Life
Taking a day off today That pain I get has amped up again Nothing I can do about it Just drink water and wait it out Might try and do a bit more on this painting It’s coming alongArchive
May 21, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 206 Split Enz
I saw them at some key gigs in their strange career. At the Great Ngarauawahia Music Festival when they were Split Ends. I was fourteen and like most people there to see Black Sabbath but I do remember they were interesting. Dressed pretty much like everybody else there – a much different spectacle than what […]Archive
May 2, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Nightwatchman Clicks His Flashlight: On Jon McLeary’s Double Century of Ghost Posts
Well, he’s a cricket fan, so he’ll enjoy the mention of a “double century” – but one thing I learned a while back is that you have to pick your moments and celebrate your own milestones in this writing-online caper. You have to turn up. And turn up. And turn up again. And if you […]Archive
May 1, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 205 Stop the World
I think it took me over ten years to write this song. I know I started on the verses in 1980 after the demise of Negative Theatre. I’d read an interview with Steely Dan where they talked about mu major chords and I played the A, E, A, D, C#m, D, A, E, A pattern […]Archive
April 23, 2018 by Simon Sweetman
The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 204 The Set List
It was where we got our name from in the first place The Spines very first gig We’d been unable to decide from a long list of terrible attempts It was a packed University hall at lunchtime orientation Malcom McSporran was going to introduce us and he asked me what we were called I looked […]Archive
April 16, 2018 by Simon Sweetman