No Great Oaks

Songwriter Dan Birch called 1981 single 'No Great Oaks' a reflection on growing up in South Asia. He and brother Nino dealt with the culture shock of moving to 'grey' Wellington after their Hong Kong childhood, by making music. They formed Beat Rhythm Fashion and joined a post-punk scene that included groups like L.I.F.E and Naked Spots Dance. This video includes drummer Caroline Easther (The Chills) who briefly joined the band in 1982. Band members swap characters in a dreamy series of scenes, a wander through Manners Mall and a bus ride, touching on themes of capitalism, greed and isolation.

We did a gig called Not The Royal Wedding at Rock Theatre in Wellington (in late July 1981). We got up onstage and there were all these boot boys yelling 'get off the stage you’re too pretty'. I don’t really think our music was at all pretty although we did go to great effort live and in the studio to get a good sound. We ran a big rig. I ran my guitar in stereo chorus. My brother had a really good bass rig. We spent a lot of time on drum sound and getting a really full sound, even if the club was small.

– Guitarist Nino Birch remember the heyday of his band Beat Rhythm Fashion, AudioCulture, 22 April 2013