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.

Another casual meeting of musical minds in Wellington saw [Caroline] Easther perform with a short-lived 1982 live version of the post punk Beat Rhythm Fashion, centred around the brothers Dan and Nino Birch. Less than a year later the band played its final gig at the Clyde Quay tavern. In 2018 BRF was resurrected and Easther recorded drum tracks at the Surgery in Wellington, with founder guitarist Nino Birch in Melbourne Australia and bass player Rob Mayes of Failsafe Records working out of Japan.

– Writer Andrew Schmidt, in an AudioCulture profile of musician Caroline Easther, 4 April 2019