Hallelujah Picassos
Encyclopedia
Hallelujah Picassos were a reggae
, rap, ska
, thrash
, jazz
, pop
crossover band from Auckland
, New Zealand
. They started life in 1988 as a garage punk band The Rattlesnakes. They were released on Pagan Records for their first official single No More, following several self-released cassettes, then with the Wildside
label for subsequent releases.
New Zealand publication Rip It Up described their music as a mix and match: "The Picassos mix and match musical styles to keep themselves, as much as their audience, interested. A reggae bassline appears in a thrash number, which breaks to a pop jazz ditty before thrashing back into something with a hardcore bassline which is finished off with a reggae outro." (Rip It Up, May 1992)
Hallelujah Picassos are particularly notable for their association with other bands from Supergroove http://www.nzgirl.co.nz/articles/3100, Urban Disturbance, Loves Ugly Children, Second Child, musician Greg Johnson and The Managers http://southbound.co.nz/themanagers.html, to Dub Asylum and new punk bands like City Newton Bombers, http://www.nzmusician.co.nz/index.php/ps_pagename/article/pi_articleid/776 http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU0512/S00037.htm and also for their association with cult New Zealand figures such as Martin Emond
who provided artwork for several of their releases. http://hotelfred.blogspot.com/2005/12/hallelujah.html In 2002 New Zealand Musician called Hallelujah Picassos "one of this country's seminal reggae/rock fusion outfits." (Vol:10, No:3)http://www.nzmusician.co.nz/index.php/ps_pagename/article/pi_articleid/205
In 1991 they were the support act for Screamin Jay Hawkins on his two NZ shows. http://home.datacomm.ch/mik/ba/h/hawkins_jay/bio/bio19901999.html They also played support for Soundgarden, Faith no more, the Violent Femmes, Primus, Beastie Boys, Ice T and Body Count, Asian Dub Foundation, African Head Charge and more. They played at the 1995 Big Day Out, after being overlooked for a slot for the first Big Day Out in NZ the previous year.
In early 1994 they added a fifth member, Gavin Downie, formerly of Colony. After they toured in support of "The Gospel Of The DNA Demon" EP in late 1995, Johnnie Pain and Peter McLennan left the band, reportedly for 'spiritual reasons'. After recruiting new members, the band officially broke up in 1996 but occasionally reunite to play live gigs, such as Radio 95BFM's 30th Birthday, in 1999.
Although they had limited commercial success - Rewind was "the only single that ever made a dent in the charts" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOjYbdU1yoc - the band retains a cult status in the New Zealand music scene among fans who recall their incendiary live shows. They were featured in the book "Kiwi Rock", published in 1996 - the entry for them is viewable on their Myspace page.
Former members include Tony de Raad, Patrick Brunton, Matt Rew.
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
, rap, ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
, thrash
Thrash
Thrash may refer to:*Thrashing , where increasing resources are used to do a decreasing amount of work*Thrash , mascot of the Atlanta Thrashers-Music:*Thrash metal, a subgenre of heavy metal music...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
crossover band from Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. They started life in 1988 as a garage punk band The Rattlesnakes. They were released on Pagan Records for their first official single No More, following several self-released cassettes, then with the Wildside
Wildside Records
Wildside Records is an independent New Zealand record label, owned and run by former Rip It Up magazine editor, Murray Cammick.-Current artists include:*Shihad*Slim*Graham Brazier...
label for subsequent releases.
New Zealand publication Rip It Up described their music as a mix and match: "The Picassos mix and match musical styles to keep themselves, as much as their audience, interested. A reggae bassline appears in a thrash number, which breaks to a pop jazz ditty before thrashing back into something with a hardcore bassline which is finished off with a reggae outro." (Rip It Up, May 1992)
Hallelujah Picassos are particularly notable for their association with other bands from Supergroove http://www.nzgirl.co.nz/articles/3100, Urban Disturbance, Loves Ugly Children, Second Child, musician Greg Johnson and The Managers http://southbound.co.nz/themanagers.html, to Dub Asylum and new punk bands like City Newton Bombers, http://www.nzmusician.co.nz/index.php/ps_pagename/article/pi_articleid/776 http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU0512/S00037.htm and also for their association with cult New Zealand figures such as Martin Emond
Martin Emond
Martin Emond , also known under the pseudonyms "Martin Fuckin Emond", "Martyfuck", "Martywood", "Mickey Martin" and "MFE", was a New Zealand cartoon illustrator and painter....
who provided artwork for several of their releases. http://hotelfred.blogspot.com/2005/12/hallelujah.html In 2002 New Zealand Musician called Hallelujah Picassos "one of this country's seminal reggae/rock fusion outfits." (Vol:10, No:3)http://www.nzmusician.co.nz/index.php/ps_pagename/article/pi_articleid/205
In 1991 they were the support act for Screamin Jay Hawkins on his two NZ shows. http://home.datacomm.ch/mik/ba/h/hawkins_jay/bio/bio19901999.html They also played support for Soundgarden, Faith no more, the Violent Femmes, Primus, Beastie Boys, Ice T and Body Count, Asian Dub Foundation, African Head Charge and more. They played at the 1995 Big Day Out, after being overlooked for a slot for the first Big Day Out in NZ the previous year.
In early 1994 they added a fifth member, Gavin Downie, formerly of Colony. After they toured in support of "The Gospel Of The DNA Demon" EP in late 1995, Johnnie Pain and Peter McLennan left the band, reportedly for 'spiritual reasons'. After recruiting new members, the band officially broke up in 1996 but occasionally reunite to play live gigs, such as Radio 95BFM's 30th Birthday, in 1999.
Although they had limited commercial success - Rewind was "the only single that ever made a dent in the charts" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOjYbdU1yoc - the band retains a cult status in the New Zealand music scene among fans who recall their incendiary live shows. They were featured in the book "Kiwi Rock", published in 1996 - the entry for them is viewable on their Myspace page.
Members
- Roland Rorschach
- Johnnie Pain
- Peter McLennan
- Bobbylon
- Gavin Downie aka Gavaroonie
Former members include Tony de Raad, Patrick Brunton, Matt Rew.
Singles
- Taxi Driver(cassette 1989)
- Peanut Butter(cassette 1991)
- No More(1991)
- Lovers +(1992)
- U + I(1993)
- Rewind(1994) 1 Week Peaked 50 on NZ Charts
- Gospel of the DNA Demon EP(1995)