Give It A Whirl 3 - The Summer of Love (Episode Three)

We went through a whole bunch of managers, because we were sort of unmanageable, really.

– Dragon bassist Todd Hunter

You always knew when Paul had had a hefty royalty payment … because he’d be sporting an elegant, preferably silk, new outfit. Sharkie was rich, and he lived the rock’n’roll lifestyle absolutely shamelessly. Bless his soul, he was another of life’s uniquely beautiful people.

– Dave McArtney on Dragon songwriter Paul Hewson, AudioCulture , 9 July 2014

It was the guitar riff...as soon as it was played people knew that this was gonna rock them, and Paul [Hewson] was right: it should have been more like AC/DC. My guitar part sounds like a bloody rusty banjo, you know. If Angus Young had done it it would have been a worldwide hit. Another reason why it wasn't a worldwide hit was America didn't want anything to do with Cuba...

– Dragon rhythm guitarist Robert Taylor on iconic hit 'April Sun in Cuba'

We had huge love and rapture from the press initially and then extreme cynicism quite quickly afterwards. It was an odd thing to go through. And there would be groups of punks after our gigs standing in front of the stage ... arguing about whether they could support us or not.

– Split Enz singer Tim Finn on English punks trying to decide if the band were acceptable, in 1976

Everybody knew that when Hello Sailor sang about gutter black, that the gutter was in Ponsonby, it wasn't in London and it wasn't in LA or New York.

– Former Auckland Star music writer Phil Gifford on Hello Sailor embracing the local

He pranced about in an olive, canary and pink candy-stripe suit. For the second half he sauntered and leapt about the stage in black, plum and gold velvet. He cast disdainful eyes at his delighted audience, then raised a hand to his forehead in mock shame."

– Christchurch Press review of a concert by Space Waltz, date unknown

We didn't originally have the introduction to 'This Time' and Peter suggested we take a section out from the middle and put it at the start of the song. We said fine. He had a structural sense that we listened to and followed.

– Dragon guitarist Robert Taylor on the role played by producer Peter Dawkins on album Sunshine, AudioCulture's profile of Peter Dawkins, 14 May 2014

For a long time I was the guy that no one talked to about how much drugs were being done and all that sort of stuff, because I'd get so angry. And as each person died it just became more of a phobia with me. I had the master key of any hotel we stayed in and I'd go around and check on everyone to see if they were still alive...

– Dragon bassist Todd Hunter on the casualties of Dragon's rock'n'roll lifestyle

I have to give Graham [Brazier] a bit of credit, really. Palm trees, Hawaiian shirts and 'British West Ponsonby' were very much part of the early Sailor schtick. Maggy and I were living 50 metres from Takapuna Beach, so in terms of the imagery that’s where a lot of that came from. I was just messing around with that party strum and it’s one of those songs that kind of wrote itself...

– Hello Sailor's Harry Lyon on writing 'Lyin' in the Sand', AudioCulture, 11 March 2022

Having us come up with this radical musical and visual statement I think just rocked a lot of boats. It actually upset people who were in the industry.

– Space Waltz lead singer Alastair Riddell, on the band's polarising glam rock single 'Out On The Street'

They were pretty negative and it really didn't surprise me — I've been insulted by experts. But it was the public that mattered, and they loved it.

– Space Waltz singer Alastair Riddell on criticism of his song 'Out On the Street' from judges on TV talent show New Faces in 1974

By the time the mid 70s came along, there was a large enough group to sustain bands like Hello Sailor and Dragon and so on. Because there were people who really wanted to hear something different, that wasn't pop music — was actually really and truly rock music, and rock music that had very much a local feel to it.

– Former Auckland Star music writer Phil Gifford on a growing audience for Kiwi rock

They had a sense of drama about what they did ... I wasn't really into the progressive rock side of things, but early Split Enz had a real darkness and a real sort of edge to them. The Christmas Pandemonium concert was one in particular I went along and saw. In the second half of the show they had the whole stage decked out as a beach, and Phil Judd's lying on a deck chair strumming one of his slightly demonic songs on an acoustic guitar .... it seemed like a complete contrast. And they blew my mind — I'd never seen anything quite like it. I walked out flabbergasted.

– New Zealand music veteran Simon Grigg on witnessing Split Enz in the 1970s

...we were playing away and all of a sudden he just appeared — stood there looking at us as if to say "this is something you're going to have to get used to boys". Pulled off his white gloves, put them in his coat pocket, pulled out two spoons and just...shuck da dooka dook...we just went 'oh, that is so brilliant'.

– Split Enz bassist Mike Chunn recalls Noel Crombie's arrival in the band

I guess what I drew from mainly was sort of classical and contemporary circus and kind of vaudevillian imagery ... one of the nice things about all of that, the costumes and the hair and makeup and everything, was the pre-show ritual was very defined for Split Enz, and we'd always be there an hour before the gig and we'd spent that time together, getting ready.

– Split Enz percussionist and design guru Noel Crombie on adding theatricality to the band