February 26 2010
Gig Preview: Chants R&B
posted by Steven Shaw at 11:14 am
Chants R&B, returning to Christchurch this weekend
Chants R&B are playing two shows this weekend, at Al’s Bar in their hometown of Christchurch. The legendary band only turned out two singles back in the 1960s, when they were resident band at the Stage Door basement venue — the most revered cut being an incendiary cover of John Mayall’s “I’m Your Witchdoctor”. I spoke to lead singer Mike Rudd about their time as the hottest underground act in 1960s Christchurch…
Since their departure to Melbourne in the 1960s, most original members of Chants R&B have maintained a musical career — the band is fondly remembered by its original fans and has attracted new fans through their inclusion on CD compilations. They reformed two years ago for the Wild Things shows in Auckland and Christchurch, alongside other vintage NZ garage and rhythm and blues acts The Pleazers, The Breakaways, The Underdogs and Ray Columbus.
“The 2007 Wild Things shows went very well,” says Mike Rudd, “so we were encouraged to “give it another bash.”
“There were people in the audience that knew us very well and they came up and said hello. But actually I was more chuffed with the kids that were there who identified with the energy that we were putting out on the night.”
Rudd says they didn’t know the term back then, but they were residents at the Stage Door in Christchurch for a couple of years. And the residency meant they were isolated from any “scene” that may have been happening. “We very rarely ventured out of our little cabin,” he says. “We went to Wellington to record and to Timaru to play a birthday party – but that was about it. We weren’t familiar with any scene in Christchurch, let alone out of Christchurch. So apart from seeing the odd face on telly, which was rare in those days, we didn’t know anyone outside of Christchurch.”
So was moving to Australia a shock for them? “Had we toured around New Zealand first that would have been a shock as well, because we built up our own little idiosyncratic culture at the Stage Door and that hadn’t been exposed to daylight. So, yeah it was probably the same shock arriving here and we had to make some musical decisions when we got here as to which direction we were going in — because we played everything at that stage, although it all went through the Chants filter. It was an eclectic bunch of stuff that we did and that’s basically what broke the band up, trying to choose between the blues direction and the soul direction. We broke up within six months of our being here. Once I sorted out what was going on everything kind of flowed from there on, not just for me but for Trevor (Courtney — drummer) as well. We’ve both kept careers going in Australia. Tim, who’s playing with us this time around, who was our fill-in guitarist until we arrived in Australia — he has a career over here too — and Martin has kept a bass playing career going.”
“There were a couple of bands in Melbourne doing the much the same kind of thing as we were — I mean, I think our take on it was pretty fine. There was a bit of a dichotomy at the time about where we were heading. That probably counted against us. We didn’t do much recording here so we didn’t actually release a record here. There was lots of good stuff happening — here more than in Christchurch.”
“R&B — I never entirely discarded that, some of the numbers I still do although they’re a bit more measured these days than they used to be. But my roots are still very much evident in the music I play today. Nothing much has changed but of course the energy level has diminished somewhat. But it’ll come back for these gigs. The audience identifies with us and that era, it’d be sad to disappoint them.”
Chants R&B’s recorded music has been re-discovered by another generation of fans. Rhino included “I’m Your Witchdoctor” on a compilation, a CD compilation called Stage Door Witchdoctors was released in 2000 and a limited edition vinyl LP has been pressed by Norton Records. As for “I’m Your Witchdoctor”, Mike Rudd never left the song behind. “I still play that today, although it’s a different version,” he says, “but we’ll be returning to the wild, freakout version for these gigs!”
Chants R&B – Al’s Bar, Christchurch, Friday 26 February, Saturday 27 February, support by Barry Saunders
Clip: “I’m Your Witchdoctor”