20 years ago on the 17th,March 1991 a pop band appeared on the NZ music scene a band that would make itself known not just in NZ but through out Britain aswell.
Their name The Mutton Birds formed by Don Mcglashan, Ross Burge and David Long Alan Gregg would join a little bit later.At the time of their formation though they were not called The Mutton Birds the other name contenders were The Black Robins, The Boxing Days or The Unmade Bedouins but a friend of Don’s gifted the name to them so The Mutton Birds were born.
In 1992 they released their Debut Self titled album with the hit single Dominion Road and they also managed to revive a kiwi classic Nature ( A cover of the 60s band The Formyulas hit song) by rocking it up into the 90s. Another event to occur during that year for the band was it was their first year at the NZ music awards they ended up walking away with awards for Best Group, Best Single and Best Album for the year of 92.
A few years passed by and then The Mutton Birds sophomore album appeared in 1994 under the title Salty the reason for the big gap between releases was the band were looking for a record deal and ended up signing with Virgin records, this album spun us the hit singles The Heater, and the Apra Silver Scroll winner Anchor Me.
In 1995 The Mutton Birds relocated to the UK and released a compilation called Nature, which was a collection of songs from their first two albums.
In 1997 they released their most critically acclaimed album Envy Of Angels this one managed to make the UK Sunday Times top ten list when it was released (the album was later re-released with a bonus track of the Blue Oyster Cult track Don’t Fear The Reaper which was recorded for The Frighteners film sound track.
In between their 3^rd and fourth album they released two unofficial albums the first entitled Angle Of Entry which is an acoustic show recorded at the 12 Bar Club, Denmark Place, in London, on the 7th July, 1997. Then in 1998 they released a treasure trove of B sides and unreleased tracks on an album entitled Too Hard Basket B Sides And Bastards.
In 1999 their fourth studio album was released entitled Rain Steam and Speed this album was released on the groups own label Sssshhh, another album that was released by these guys on this label a year later in 2000 was entitled Live In Manchester which was recorded at the Band On The Wall, in Manchester 14th February in 1999.
When 2002 rolled around they finally ended their run by releasing The Best of entitled Flock with a new song, a cover of The Sneaky Feelings song Not To Take Sides. 20 years later and the music from this band have stuck in the hearts and minds of a lot of people the evidence can be found in a few places like titles of books (The Falls by Ian Rankin which even mentions Envy of angels and references the album Rain steam and speed) the Canadian band captain tractor who covered dominion road the songs resonate with the land, people and they tell us mini stories from stories of travelling, love and commitment as well as observations.
Where are they today? Don Mcglashan has been busy with solo work and movie scores his most recent is the upcoming film Matariki , Ross Burge can be found session drumming most notably with Dave Dobbyn, David Long can be found mainly producing albums as well as music for television and dance and Alan Gregg is living in the UK he had the project Marshmallow and was also in the band House Of Downtown.