Sneaky Feelings
Encyclopedia
Sneaky Feelings were a 1980s New Zealand
pop/rock band, led by Matthew Bannister
, who recorded on the Flying Nun label. Initially recording with the line-up of Bannister (guitar), David Pine (guitar), Kat Tyrie (bass) and Martin Durrant (drums), Tyrie was replaced by John Kelcher early in the band's career. Durrant left shortly before the band's demise, and was replaced by Ross Burge
.
Sneaky Feelings were unusual among Dunedin Sound
bands in that all four members of the band sang and several of the members wrote material. The jangle sound of the guitars and layered vocals drew their influence from the music of the Byrds
and the Beatles
, and comparisons can be made with some of California's Paisley Underground
bands.
The band's name comes from a song by Elvis Costello
, "Sneaky Feelings", which is on his debut album My Aim Is True
(1977).
bands to reap the benefits of the newly formed Flying Nun label with the release of the Dunedin Double EP
, alongside the Stones
, the Verlaines
and the Chills
. Sadly, the multi-voiced harmonies of their sound were not well-suited to the primitive recording conditions of early Flying Nun, so it is rarely captured at its best on the albums they released. The band's biggest hit was with the single "Husband House" in 1985.
After the demise of Sneaky Feelings in 1989, Bannister moved to Auckland where he founded the Dribbling Darts. He later worked briefly with the Mutton Birds
alongside Ross Burge, and has since formed a new band, The Weather. He also wrote a book about the experience of being in a band during the heyday of the Dunedin Sound
movement - Positively George Street. Pine has returned sporadically to music, notably in Dunedin-based band Death Ray Cafe in the late 1980s. Sneaky Feelings briefly re-formed in 1992 to record several extra tracks and tour to promote the CD release of Send You. They also re-formed to performed a one-off concert as part of a celebration of Dunedin music, held in that city in 2006. In early 2008, Kelcher formed The South Tonight with Richard James, who had also been in an early Flying Nun group, Mainly Spaniards.
. The following is a list of these albums that have featured tracks by Sneaky Feelings.
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...
pop/rock band, led by Matthew Bannister
Matthew Bannister (musician)
Matthew Bannister is a New Zealand musician, journalist, and academic. Originally from Dunblane in Scotland he moved to New Zealand with his family when he was 17.-Musical career:...
, who recorded on the Flying Nun label. Initially recording with the line-up of Bannister (guitar), David Pine (guitar), Kat Tyrie (bass) and Martin Durrant (drums), Tyrie was replaced by John Kelcher early in the band's career. Durrant left shortly before the band's demise, and was replaced by Ross Burge
Ross Burge
Ross Burge is a New Zealand musician, who started playing drums with the Nelson College rock band Mandias in 1973. He decided that this was to be the life for him, and called the NZPO to ensure back-up....
.
Sneaky Feelings were unusual among Dunedin Sound
Dunedin Sound
The Dunedin sound was a style of indie pop music created in the southern New Zealand university city of Dunedin in the early 1980s.-Characteristics:...
bands in that all four members of the band sang and several of the members wrote material. The jangle sound of the guitars and layered vocals drew their influence from the music of the Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
and the Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, and comparisons can be made with some of California's Paisley Underground
Paisley Underground
Paisley Underground is an early genre of alternative rock, based primarily in Los Angeles, California, which was at its most popular in the mid-1980s.- History :...
bands.
The band's name comes from a song by Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
, "Sneaky Feelings", which is on his debut album My Aim Is True
My Aim Is True
My Aim Is True is the debut album by Elvis Costello.The album was recorded at Pathway Studios in Holloway, London Borough of Islington, over the course of 1976 during late-night studio sessions, in a total of twenty-four hours...
(1977).
History
Sneaky Feelings were one of four DunedinDunedin
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...
bands to reap the benefits of the newly formed Flying Nun label with the release of the Dunedin Double EP
Dunedin Double EP
The Dunedin Double EP was a seminal record in New Zealand music. An unusual format, it contain two 45rpm 12" discs, and at nearly 50 minutes length, it is longer than many albums....
, alongside the Stones
The Stones (New Zealand band)
The Stones were a New Zealand band from Dunedin named after The Rolling Stones. One of the earliest bands to record on the Flying Nun label, they helped form the style of music known as the Dunedin Sound, along with label mates such as The Chills, The Verlaines and Sneaky Feelings, all of whom...
, the Verlaines
The Verlaines
The Verlaines are a rock band from Dunedin, New Zealand. Formed in 1981 by Graeme Downes, Craig Easton, Anita Pillai, Phillip Higham and Greg Kerr, the band went through multiple line-ups before going on an extended hiatus after their 1997 album Over The Moon. In 2003 a career retrospective, You're...
and the Chills
The Chills
The Chills are a guitar and keyboard-based rock band from Dunedin, New Zealand. In the 1980s and 1990s, they were one of the proponents of the Dunedin Sound.- History :...
. Sadly, the multi-voiced harmonies of their sound were not well-suited to the primitive recording conditions of early Flying Nun, so it is rarely captured at its best on the albums they released. The band's biggest hit was with the single "Husband House" in 1985.
After the demise of Sneaky Feelings in 1989, Bannister moved to Auckland where he founded the Dribbling Darts. He later worked briefly with the Mutton Birds
The Mutton Birds
The Mutton Birds was a band from New Zealand formed in 1991 by Don McGlashan, Ross Burge, and David Long.-History:All three members came into the band with experience: McGlashan came from Blam Blam Blam and The Front Lawn, guitarist Long had played in the Six Volts and Burge had played in the...
alongside Ross Burge, and has since formed a new band, The Weather. He also wrote a book about the experience of being in a band during the heyday of the Dunedin Sound
Dunedin Sound
The Dunedin sound was a style of indie pop music created in the southern New Zealand university city of Dunedin in the early 1980s.-Characteristics:...
movement - Positively George Street. Pine has returned sporadically to music, notably in Dunedin-based band Death Ray Cafe in the late 1980s. Sneaky Feelings briefly re-formed in 1992 to record several extra tracks and tour to promote the CD release of Send You. They also re-formed to performed a one-off concert as part of a celebration of Dunedin music, held in that city in 2006. In early 2008, Kelcher formed The South Tonight with Richard James, who had also been in an early Flying Nun group, Mainly Spaniards.
Discography
| Date | Title | Label | Charted | Country | Catalog Number | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albums | ||||||
| 1987 | Sentimental Education | Flying Nun Records Flying Nun Records Flying Nun Records is an independent record label formed in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1981 by music-store proprietor Roger Shepherd.-History:The label was formed in the flurry of new punk rock-inspired labels forming in the early 1980s... |
- | - | FEEL 6; FNE 14CD | |
| 1987 | Waiting for Touchdown (compilation) | Flying Nun Records Flying Nun Records Flying Nun Records is an independent record label formed in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1981 by music-store proprietor Roger Shepherd.-History:The label was formed in the flurry of new punk rock-inspired labels forming in the early 1980s... |
- | - | FN ANDA62 | |
| 1988 | Hard Love Stories | Flying Nun Records Flying Nun Records Flying Nun Records is an independent record label formed in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1981 by music-store proprietor Roger Shepherd.-History:The label was formed in the flurry of new punk rock-inspired labels forming in the early 1980s... |
- | - | FN112; FNE 26 CD | |
| 1992 | Send You CD | Flying Nun Records Flying Nun Records Flying Nun Records is an independent record label formed in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1981 by music-store proprietor Roger Shepherd.-History:The label was formed in the flurry of new punk rock-inspired labels forming in the early 1980s... |
- | - | FNCD205 | |
| 1999 | Positively George Street (compilation) | Flying Nun Records Flying Nun Records Flying Nun Records is an independent record label formed in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1981 by music-store proprietor Roger Shepherd.-History:The label was formed in the flurry of new punk rock-inspired labels forming in the early 1980s... |
- | - | FNCD441 | |
| EPs | ||||||
| 1982 | Dunedin Double EP Dunedin Double EP The Dunedin Double EP was a seminal record in New Zealand music. An unusual format, it contain two 45rpm 12" discs, and at nearly 50 minutes length, it is longer than many albums.... |
Flying Nun Records Flying Nun Records Flying Nun Records is an independent record label formed in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1981 by music-store proprietor Roger Shepherd.-History:The label was formed in the flurry of new punk rock-inspired labels forming in the early 1980s... |
- | - | FN DUN 1/2 | |
| 1983 | Send You EP | Flying Nun Records Flying Nun Records Flying Nun Records is an independent record label formed in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1981 by music-store proprietor Roger Shepherd.-History:The label was formed in the flurry of new punk rock-inspired labels forming in the early 1980s... |
- | - | FEEL 1 | |
Featured appearances
The group have appeared on several compilations over the years in New ZealandNew 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...
. The following is a list of these albums that have featured tracks by Sneaky Feelings.
- (1987) - Tuatara: A Flying Nun CompilationTuatara (album)Tuatara – A Flying Nun Compilation is a compilation of previously released songs by artists on New Zealand based Flying Nun Records. It was released as a vinyl album by Flying Nun in 1985 and on CD with additional tracks...
(Flying Nun RecordsFlying Nun RecordsFlying Nun Records is an independent record label formed in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1981 by music-store proprietor Roger Shepherd.-History:The label was formed in the flurry of new punk rock-inspired labels forming in the early 1980s...
) - "Throwing Stones" - (1988) - In Love With These TimesIn Love with These TimesIn Love With These Times is a compilation of previously released songs by artists on New Zealand based Flying Nun Records. It was released by Flying Nun in 1990 and re-released in a 2CD package with the 1991 compilation Pink Flying Saucers Over the Southern Alps...
(Flying Nun RecordsFlying Nun RecordsFlying Nun Records is an independent record label formed in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1981 by music-store proprietor Roger Shepherd.-History:The label was formed in the flurry of new punk rock-inspired labels forming in the early 1980s...
) - "Trouble With Kay" - (2003) - Nature's Best 3Nature's Best 3Nature's Best 3 is a two-disc compilation album of 35 New Zealand popular music songs, numbers 66-100 on the APRA 75th Anniversary Top 100 New Zealand Songs of All Time...
(Sony Music) - "Husband House"
Singles
| Year | Single | Album | NZ Singles Chart | Certification |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | "Be My Friend" | 31 | - | |
| 1985 | "Husband House" | 16 | - | |
| 1986 | "Better Than Before" | 34 | - | |
| 1986 | "Coming True" | - | - | |
| 1987 | "Trouble With Kay" | - | - | |
| 1988 | "Long Time Gone" | - | - | |
External links
Further reading
- Bannister, M.Matthew Bannister (musician)Matthew Bannister is a New Zealand musician, journalist, and academic. Originally from Dunblane in Scotland he moved to New Zealand with his family when he was 17.-Musical career:...
(1999) Positively George Street. Auckland: Reed Books. ISBN 0-7900-0704-5 - Eggleton, D. (2003) Ready to fly: The story of New Zealand rock music. Nelson, NZ: Craig Potton Publishing. ISBN 1-877333-06-9