FEATURE Reunion tours can often be about ‘no shame’, ‘no money’ or both… thankfully, not this one. The recent tour became more than a reunion of musos, but engineers and techs as well.

Text: Mark O’Connor

HISTORY REPEATS SPLIT ENZ LIVE IN 2006

AT 40 News that yet another ’70s or ’80s band has done whenever they played reformed to hit the road again may, depending NZ, and I actually did a Canadian/American on the band, be greeted with anything from high tour with them in 1989. But being one of anticipation, through yawning indifference, to a the principals of this company I wasn’t really collective groan of dismay from the music-loving interested in spending a lot of time sashaying public. The worst case scenario might see one around the world touring with musicians or two surviving members lumbering onstage, – much as I would have liked to. But I always backed by some musically competent but, for the worked with them when they came to NZ.” most part, uncharismatic ring-ins, to re-inflate And Paul is also himself a musician (one time the repertoire with lacklustre renditions of songs member of notorious band that haven’t really stood the test of time – the Schtung – “sort of arty farty crossover electrical whole enterprise sadly lacking any authenticity, pop”), a skill that found him juggling additional bereft of even a spark of what it was that made onstage duties. that band so vital and original in its day. “In 1996 I toured with Neil and Tim for the first Best-case scenario? Split Enz’s recent History in NZ and Australia, and Repeats tour! A seven-date June dash round also played onstage for a few songs. Then Australia’s capital cities that leaves entertainment when Neil did the Seven Worlds Collide project centres reverberating with the sound of sellout in 2001 [a series of concerts at St James Theatre crowds singing along to a repertoire of hits that in for which Neil assembled a band just keeps coming, performed with a gusto and of friends that included , Johnny vitality and musicianship that make the 20-odd Marr, , , Ed years since the band’s last tour seem as nothing. O’Brien and Phil Selway from , and When the Enz hit the stage at Sydney’s brother Tim], I ended up playing keyboards on Entertainment Centre to the manic intensity stage as well on quite a few of those songs. It of Shark Attack, the frenzied opener from their was quite a lot of fun actually. That tour went smash 1979 album True Colours, it’s with the all over the place, not with that lineup but with classic True Colours line-up of Tim and Neil various incarnations, picking people up along Finn, , , Nigel the way – just happened to be in Griggs, and . What’s more, they LA, Eddie Vedder came and played, Wendy turn in a show that delivers a knockout punch Melvoin joined us. It was great fun! We were to most of the bling-merchants, imposters and playing club shows in America and we often pretenders that clog today’s charts. Indeed, I had appalling equipment. I was doing monitors find myself running a mental home movie of as well as some playing onstage. There was one a vividly remembered Split Enz concert from place we played in Portland where I was up in a Brisbane’s Cloudland Ballroom, circa 1981, sort of eagle’s nest, like a bunkhouse, and I had where this very same lineup whipped a heaving to climb down a ladder to come and play and capacity crowd into a frenzy. then climb back up the ladder to the mixing Tonight it’s as though nothing has changed. console. And a similar situation in Boston which There’s that same (albeit slightly toned down) involved walking down a long corridor and then theatricality of presentation. Same sartorial climbing up a ladder… So they were fantastic eloquence courtesy of percussionist/drummer tours, especially for me to be playing as well as and style guru Noel Crombie (also responsible mixing. The crews at the festivals were always for the giant backdrop behind the stage). Same very impressed that the monitor guy would rush unmistakable Finn brothers vocals wrapped out and play. Neil would often finish off the around mostly timeless songs. Eddie Rayner’s show with Don’t Dream It’s Over just on acoustic shimmering keyboard arpeggios and quirky, guitar and I’d come out and play the organ solo, cartoon flourishes that sound like someone quite a nice intimate musical moment. So that’s dropped a box of marbles down the stairs. my claim to fame. It just so happens that some of the crew on the “So when they put the Split Enz tour together tour are veterans of that original Enz era too, for Australia it was kind of fitting that we tried and so I wonder whether those same behind-the- to get as many of the ‘old farts’ together for the scenes ingredients make for a similar sense of crew as we could. All of us have worked on déjà vu backstage. I eventually locate just such a many projects with the Finns over the years perspective from monitor engineer Paul Jeffrey. – Crowded House, the Finn Bros. I had also mixed the very first Enz concerts. Giles, the PAUL JEFFERY – MONITOR ENGINEER FOH engineer has done a lot of work with Neil Paul Jeffery is a Split Enz alumnus of long and Tim in the Finn Bros for the last couple of standing, having first worked with the band years. So it was very nice that we could all do this. Of all the people there, I would have gone Pleased to be here! – Giles Woodhead (pictured top) mightn’t in 1982. “I actually started doing monitors for have quite the same history with the Enz as some of the crew them around the time they did Waiata, which in back the longest. but the vibe from the Enz ‘family’ was clearly infectious. Above: Australia was called Corroboree.” Paul’s talents Three decades in a leaky boat! – The multi-talented Paul Jeffery MO’C: So how was it to step back into that came on board in 1982 and is pictured here in front of his Yamaha extend beyond the monitor console: for a start he world after what must be almost 20 years since PM5D (driving monitors). Paul’s also a talented musician in his also happens to be one of the founding principals own right and has often been seen tinkling ivories in preference the last Split Enz gig? to pushing faders. of Oceania, New Zealand’s largest concert sound and lighting hire company, which supplied PJ: Twenty-two years actually, save for a couple production for the Enz in NZ and Australia of brief reunions in New Zealand. Look, we up until their 1984 demise – and to the band’s had three days of rehearsal in and various offshoots thereafter. “Oceania has always it was kind of like nothing had changed. I AT 41 “ it was kind of fitting that we tried to get as many of the ‘old farts’ together for the crew as we could” ����

mean, they’d obviously boned up on all the old concert dates and three rehearsal days, that’s not MARCUS BENNET – KEYBOARD & BASS TECH recordings and spent a lot of time revisiting all long, is it, to pull everything together? those songs, and bits and pieces of keyboard Marc’s association with the Finns began with a tour for PJ: It’s a real testimony to the fact that they Tim’s Before & After album in 1993, then later in ’96 he sounds. But as they first played through each actually are splendid musicians. Very competent. started working with Neil on the tour. song together they were almost at a concert “I’ve been involved in most things they’ve done since then Eddie’s keyboard playing has always been quite in one way or another. A lot of old Crowded House and performance level. With the second play through staggeringly good. He seems to effortlessly waltz they perfected them a bit and tidied up all the Split Enz people have all come together for this Split Enz through very complicated things. reunion. Our production manager Dougall McAndrew was loose ends, remembered guitar solos etc. Third involved with Crowded House for many years.” MO’C: He strikes me as something of a human play they ran the risk of getting a bit bored by His gig on the tour was looking after the keyboard and it all, and started jamming and improvising. It arpeggiator, with such a remarkable degree of bass setups for Nigel and Eddie, but he fills me in on was quite amazing. All the way through the virtuosity while at the same time so quirky. I various aspects of the stage setup… tour soundchecks became more of a walk down often used to wonder when listening to Enz Marc: The Finn brothers are notorious for being very memory lane, as they dug out songs that had material whether a lot of the keyboards I was selective when it comes to the type of piano they’ll use. hearing were sequenced. On this tour we used a fantastic-sounding electronic never been recorded – a lot of them had actually grand, the Yamaha Clavinova CVP309GP. Eddie had only ever been jammed on or played live, many PJ: No, not at all. used one previously and assured us that it had some of them before Neil had even joined the band, good sounding internal presets. It has a good action, and but he knew them all because he’d had such a MO’C: Keyboard tech Marc Bennet took me up it’s also a reasonably stately-looking instrument. Both drummers used DW drums; we had Vox and Fender amps; keen interest in his older brother’s music. So that to have a look at Eddie’s rig after the show and it was spartan, almost low tech. It was apparent microphones were a variety from Neumanns through to was quite amazing. Shure KSM32s and SM98s. We had a lot of Avalon DI’s all that he had played everything in real time. over the place, with quite a bit of Avalon outboard gear as SMOOTHER… DEAFER PJ: His rig consisted for the most part of a well. For Nigel’s bass we had three Ampeg 4x10 cabinets MO’C: Were there any particular onstage placed in several locations around the stage to spread the Yamaha Motif keyboard. He also had a Nord challenges or was it quite straightforward? sound. And likewise we had an extension guitar amp on our Lead, which had a lot of little funny sounds side behind Nigel, so we could hear Neil nice and clearly. PJ: As a monitors engineer your greatest worry he’d pull up for and that sort of It’s an old-school technique, but it works really well. – once you’ve got everyone happy onstage with thing. Then he had this old 8-bit [E-mu] Emax what they’re hearing – is feedback. But there sampler with a floppy disk drive where he has �������� were no technical catastrophes to speak of. They all the Shark Attack sounds and all that stuff. were all very evenly balanced, timbre-wise. In He spent a few weeks fiddling around because ������������������������������ fact it was all quite uncannily smooth, the whole he couldn’t work out how to get the samples tour. I mean, we were probably all slightly deafer from the Emax into the Motif, so he ended up than we were 22 years ago – an occupational redesigning all the sounds on the Motif just hazard – but otherwise it was unbelievably from listening to the old ones. The only thing smooth and comfortable. And looking back on it that he gets assistance on is in Poor Boy, where ���������������������������������������������� I would probably even venture to say that it was there’s a little keyboard line and he just has an kind of a joyful experience. echo on it which gives it a little double – he MO’C: Yes, it felt that way in the audience. used to play it syncopated between the left and right hand. That delay and a few other Nord PJ: In my experience, having worked with effects were just from a guitar pedal that he various incarnations of those bands, the borrowed off John Walsh, the guitar tech. The Crowdies and the Finns and Split Enz, I think rest is all flourish. And he’s got quite stumpy that was always the way the music tended to little fingers, and they move all round the place. affect people too. You never got violent crowds He’s got great left/right control. His left hand R 8 K storming out of the venues or anything; there can independently do anything he wants, while B o O M i a was always a pretty nice vibe at shows. And it’s he’s playing a different rhythm with his right b C m o B D b still there, which is good. l r B B B a c hand. It’s quite extraordinary to watch. And he’s b B a n u l k self-taught! c K u a o a l l MO’C: Given the fact that there were only seven i o i s e u b e t i g e t b l t w M e b o t y a t u o e n b s i i l l l u r f r e l e s r l d e y y Australasian Distributor Australasian Dealers A P A C A U D I O P T Y L T D QLD Brisbane Sound +61 7 32571040 www.brisound.com.au Tel. +61 2 9683 4752 VIC Factory Sound +61 3 96908344 www.factorysound.com Fax. +61 2 9890 5928 ACT Pro Audio Supplies +61 2 62497766 www.proaudio.com.au Email. [email protected] Better Music +61 2 62823199 www.bettermusic.com.au w w w. a p a c a u d i o. c o m . a u NSW Apac Audio +61 2 96834752 www.apacaudio.com.au

AT 42 NZ Oceania Audio +64 9 8493114 www.oceania-audio.co.nz More Power to Create

Le f t : A Fe n d e r D elu xe a m p m ike d w i t h a N e u m a n n T L M 170 ce r tain l y i s n ’ t yo u r a ve r a ge s t a ge co m b o. Top Le f t : T h r e e Vox a m p s a r e b e t te r t h a n o n e ! – eve n t h o u g h o n l y t wo a re m ik e d . A b ove : N eil F i n n ’s S pli t En z se t u p, fea tu r in g a bea u tif ul G re ts c h g u i ta r a n d a n asso r t m e n t o f p e d a l s . B elow : N o t to b e o u td o n e by a ll t h e a m p s , S pli t En z to u re d w it h t wo d r u m kit s fo r go o d m e as u re.

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MO’C: Yet the keyboard sound out front, which one. And basically what we do is just adjust PAUL JEFFERY ON ’S NEW STUDIO the right ear so it balances with what he hears sounds so lush and hi-tech, suggests a far more “Neil’s building a fairly elaborate studio complex in sophisticated setup. from the wedges with his left ear. And he’s Auckland in a large three-level building that he bought very comfortable with that. The rest of it was PJ: He’s always been like that. I mean, in the a couple of years ago. It has a floating room in the wedges, and we had a little bit of side-fill to add middle designed by the American acoustician, George early days they had and all sorts of some more body because we were playing some Augspurger [See an interview with George later this fabulous old analogue keyboards doing all that issue], a distinguished gentleman of acoustics, who’s big rooms. The drummers just had a couple of stuff, so he used to carry a lot more kit with him. based in California. I’m involved in all the audio wiring wedges each with a single 18-inch subwoofer. The technology forced you to. and that side of things there. Neil has bought this Advanced Instrument Research by Digidesign. Based in Germany, Noel had a couple of wedges on percussion. And beautiful old Neve that was built originally for The this specialized team of software engineers is dedicated to MO’C: In terms of onstage monitoring, did you that was it. Who – the only black one ever built. It was in Todd Rundgren’s studio, Bearsville, for years. It’s been fully creating great-sounding, tightly integrated virtual instruments use in-ears? ® MO’C: No different mixes for different songs or refurbished and currently installed in Tim’s studio for the Pro Tools platform. Combined with the power of PJ: I tried to force Eddie into using in-ears for people moving around the stage? up on the top floor where they’re busy all the time. Pro Tools 7 software, Digidesign gives musicians and producers Neil’s just recorded a whole bunch of demos for a new because in the past it’s been… not difficult, but even more power to create. PJ: No, only if somebody moved from the piano record there. it gets pretty loud up there and he often had a to the front, or if someone else came to play lot of trouble hearing the detail of his sounds. the piano I’d pull the piano out of Tim’s ears So I gave him some in-ears to practice with for – but no, bugger-all really. Because, you know, a month or so before the tour but he decided they’re sort of old-style musicians. Once they to run with the monitors. As it was, the stage feel comfortable… there’s a strong element of level was pretty comfortable so he was very trust built up because I’ve worked with them so happy with his wedges. The only person who much. But they also tend to play to the particular www.digidesign.com © 2006 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Avid, Digidesign, M-Audio, and Pro Tools are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or had in-ears was Tim – actually, he just wears other countries. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. Product features, specifications, and system requirements are subject to change without notice. AT 44 COMPACT LINE ARRAY

• Wide 150° Horizontal Dispersion • Optional Amp Control and Monitoring “ soundchecks became more environment that they’re in – even in the old MO’C: And the live versions were reasonably (PN102LA only) days, when they played in those boomy old faithful to the recordings? • Self-powered or non-powered of a walk down memory lane rooms, they would just adapt to that space Giles. Yeah, pretty much. Again, Eddie • Optional CobraNet (PN102LA only) rather than spend the whole night wanting this • Dual 10” and dual 1” drivers as they dug out songs that Rayner did a good job of programming those turned up or down or brighter. They’ve always • Optional companion dual 18” subwoofer old keyboard sounds, which makes it a lot had never been recorded” been very good to work with. And having been • Full range 60Hz to 18kHz performance (self-powered or non-powered) easier. Instead of having tons of old keyboards a musician myself, you tend to know what they to make all those sounds, they all come out of • Compact dimensions want before they ask for it. one modern device. MO’C: A high point of the evening for me was • Lightweight (38kg self-powered, MO’C: Was it quite a simple setup to mix? Noel Crombie’s spoon solo performed to Eddie 33kg non-powered) Rayner’s fantastic solo piano piece. In fact, Giles: Probably the most complicated aspect Noel’s percussion was crystal clear in the mix of mixing the show was having two drumkits all night, which for some reason to me was a and percussion all side by side, which meant I measure of the overall clarity out front-of-house. had a lot of channels. PJ: I think that’s Giles. It’s hard for me to say MO’C: Did you have to ride those a lot or could whether he’s brilliant or not, because I rarely get you eventually arrive at a stage of set and forget? out there to hear him. But all reports I hear are Giles: When both drummers were playing at that he does a splendid job. But you also need to once I had to ride it quite carefully. If things bear in mind that you’ve got a great product in start to flam you’ve gotta make a pretty quick the first place – he’s getting delivered quite well decision as to which part of the flam you want arranged music. You know, they don’t overplay at to bring down to keep the timing clear. all, so Giles has got a great product to start with, The Renkus-Heinz PN102LA (self-powered) and with lots of space in it. MO’C: There was great clarity to the percussion, PNX102LA (non-powered) compact line array systems all those nuances and subtleties really came feature a super-wide 150° of horizontal dispersion, PA SPECIFICS GILES WOODHEAD – FOH ENGINEER through and added to the whole sound without often eliminating the need for out-fi lls and in-fi lls. Englishman, Giles Woodhead, doesn’t have quite Paul Jeffery: I used a Yamaha PM5D as my monitor getting lost in the mix. How did you mic them? Available with both integral touring or installation the same history with the Enz, instead having console. I didn’t have any outboard EQ or effects; I just GW: Mainly Shure SM98 clip-ons. But I guess hardware, the PN/PNX102LA are simple and intuitive used everything that was built into it, which worked become acquainted with their material while with the percussion everything comes downw to rig. AimWare prediction software takes the guesswork really well. I’ve had a couple of baptisms by fire with mixing the Finn Brothers’ tour everything! (laughs) The woodblocks come out of line arrays allowing you to quickly and easily them – including a full orchestral concert – which is over the last couple of years. probably the best way to learn. The wedges were Clair down the bongo mics, and the bongos down the work out how many cabinets are required, the ideal 12AMs, while the side-fills were L-Acoustics ARCS. MO’C: Were you familiar with the Split Enz woodblock mics. I think it’s just mainly about trim height and whether to use a straight, curved material prior to this tour? trying to get an even coverage over the whole or ‘J’ array. GW: Yeah, Neil and Tim played quite a few area. Noel never stands in one place, never plays of the hits in their show, usually in the encore. the same thing in the same song at the same AimWare Prediction Software Featuring unique Renkus-Heinz technologies including The Finn brothers had this thing whereby if time twice in a row. an Isophasic Plane Wave Generator and an Acoustic you shouted out a song, any song from the back MO’C: And the vocals? Diffractor Baffl e, the PN102LA and PNX102LA offer catalogue, and it just happened to sort of fit GW: I use Audix OM6s to mic the Finns’ superior fi delity and coverage and are suited to the mood in the set at that time, then they’d vocals, which is a choice that was pretty much both touring and installed applications. play it. So there were quite a few of the old a legacy from the Finn Bros tour. They’ve got a Split Enz songs that had been played at some great clear midrange. Options include amp control, monitoring and CobraNet point or other during those two years. But the for the PN102LA while the PNX102LA is available arrangements were completely different, because MO’C: You used a Midas XL4 console, is that in an all weather option for permanent outdoor there’s no Eddie Rayner. your weapon of choice? applications. Both models are available in custom MO’C: Eddie being something of a vital GW: I just think they’re a good-sounding desk. colours. ingredient in the mix? If you have good inputs, a good sound source on stage, good microphones plugged into a good Giles: Yeah, I think so. He adds all that desk and then plug that into a good PA, it just quirkiness to the Split Enz sound. Without Eddie sounds good. You make it really easy for yourself. it’s more a drums/bass/guitar type setup. All those Some of the digital boards have got a lot of fancy odd sounds make it interesting and kind of fun. processing in them but I don’t think they make MO’C: So did you refer to the original recordings your life much easier. In fact, they can end up NSW (02) 9647 1411 WA (08) 9228 4222 to bone up on the arrangements of the songs VIC (03) 9890 7477 SA (08) 8352 4444 making your life more complicated. I think for an QLD (07) 3852 1312 NZ (09) 415 9426 when you were preparing for this tour? act like Split Enz, where it’s largely all analogue, Giles: Yeah, absolutely. I also went to Melbourne you might as well have an analogue board. www.audiotelex.com.au for band rehearsals, sat in and made notes. AT 46