SPLIT ENZ - Time and Tide 1982

 

I got to Auckland, New Zealand in November 1974, just as Split Enz were about to leave. I didn't take it personally.

They'd been around as Split Ends since 1972, when founding member Tim Finn got university and school friends together. By '74 they'd got some local fame after touring with John Mayall and the odd TV performance.

Never really suited to pub performances because of their style they took on some radio sponsored shows called 'Buck-A-Head' .. meaning $1 entry, where they played in theatres and clubs. They also changed the band name from Split Ends to Split Enz, a play on words and a patriotic nod to New Zealand.

They put out a few singles in New Zealand but knew they needed a bigger market and so in '75 they moved to Australia. Their first album 'Mental Notes' was recorded there and released in 1975. After supporting Roxy Music on an Australian tour a couple of the Roxy's helped get Split Enz a deal with Chrysalis Records in England and they flew over to the UK to record 'Second Thoughts'.

Some band member changes, fallings-out, comings and goings meant in April 1977 Tim Finn's brother Neil joined them to replace co-founder Phil Judd. Later in '77 they toured in the U.S. then back in the UK and Europe until early '78. Despite all that, the band was falling apart, more people coming and going and the rest of 1978 went from bad to worse. They lost the Chrysalis deal, had no agent, couldn't get bookings and went on the unemployment line.

Amazingly, fortunately, the New Zealand Arts Council gave them a grant of $5000. They were able to turn things around, make demos, get some promotion and get back on their feet.

By 1981 they began a world tour including North America, where they co-headlined with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. They also released their multi-named album ... in New Zealand it was called 'Waiata' which is Māori for songs and singing and in Australia the album was named 'Corroboree' which is Aboriginal for the same thing.

Two great songs from this album, 'One Step Ahead' and 'History Never Repeats' both made the charts around the world.

Then we get to todays feature album 'Time and Tide', produced by Hugh Padgham who had worked with the likes of Genesis, XTC and Peter Gabriel.

The two lead-out singles from the album, 'Dirty Creatures' and 'Six Months in a Leaky Boat' both charted well in Australia and New Zealand and 'Six Months .. ' even got to #7 in Canada, but instead of being the breakthrough hit they wanted in the U.K., it was effectively buried.

The timing could not have been worse. The Falklands was taking up all the headlines and after the sinking of the Argentine warship 'General Belgrano' by the British Navy, the BBC included the track on it's blacklist of 'songs not to be played' because of possible negative references and inferences to the war.

If nothing else it did manage to spread a couple of Māori words around the world. In 'Dirty Creature' they mention a Taniwha - a sea creature
"Taniwha is waiting for me just below the surface so bright (Yeah)"
and in 'Six Months ..' they use the Māori word for New Zealand, "Aotearoa". 

By 1984 the band was starting to fracture, with members doing their own projects and solo work and in December '84 they did their last concert.

In 1985 Neil Finn and drummer Paul Hester formed Crowded House who finished the 80's by getting some of that international chart success that always seemed to have eluded Split Enz.

I See Red (1978) - YouTube
Six Months In A Leaky Boat (1982) - YouTube