SANZ: In the beginning how did you come to name the band Garageland
JEREMY: we started out in garages in pakuranga suburbia so we named it after our environment and Garageland is the last track on the first Clash album
SANZ: cos when you google Garageland you don't come up with you guys you come up with the clash track
MARK: Yeah we are going to have to sort out our google analytics stuff
JEREMY: I love that song. Its a bit of tongue in cheek thing when we started we had no fans I think its an ok name
MARK: It seems to be one for people to remember anyway
SANZ:Now you guys signed to the legendary label Flying Nun who would some of your favourite acts be on that label
JEREMY: Me and Andy were in that time when it was just starting to come out. First one we bought was the chills rolling moon if you were there Verlaines death and the maiden, they were quite poppy songs and of courseTally Ho The Clean didnt really think of them as being indie I just thought kind of cool 60s type songs
SANZ: and they all ended out to be on Flying Nun
JEREMY: yeah yeah. It kind of happened real quick in 81. Pink frost was a big one it went top 10 and it just gave everyone goosebumps these guys are just putting out cool song after cool song
SANZ: Speaking of the chills How did you come to choose to cover Heavenly pop hits for the under the influence album 21 years flying nun
JEREMY: we saw no one else was doing the chills and we wanted to honor them really we were thinking about doing some of their songs then I just found it hard to do martins singing style so we came up with this idea to do it in a surf style
SANZ: It worked
JEREMY: I really like it there was some really good playing on it I didn't have to sing so it took a job away from me more laziness it pays homage to how quickly that melody moves so it worked quite well
SANZ: Speaking of tributes you did the abbasalutley how did you come to join in on that
JEREMY: that was the first thing we recorded
MARK: That was way back
JEREMY: when we joined chris knox was organising it with flying nun it was that kind of tongue in cheek
MARK: Nobody had picked Dancing Queen that was one of our favourites
Jeremy we thought we'd go for the obvious No point of going with the obscure Some hidden b side no ones heard of
SANZ: Sometime I think in 03-04 there was an announcement for a best of entitled Treasure Trove but we never ended up seeing that release what happened with it
JEREMY: whoa good point I think it was festival records were trying to do it then the record industry ended the next yeah.It was an idea and I dont think we were actually that enthusiastic about it because we just felt like it was too soon and probably we just missed the opportunity because record companies are run completely different i guess its what they tended to do four years after they split up put out a best of
SANZ: In 2016 Mark you posted you had opened up the archives of tapes you had of rehearsals,gigs and live on radio and were working to digitize them how is that project going
MARK: It’s complete but its only in my private folder at the stage I haven't shared it with anybody I managed to go through hours and hours of stuff
SANZ: I look forward to hearing it
JEREMY: So do I
MARK: There is really rare early jams with stuff that were really great that never eventuated it's all there in the cloud
SANZ: the one session i'd love to hear is the live at helens session
JEREMY: ohh yeah there is a session we did a good version of not empty on the piano
SANZ: I love Not Empty
SANZ: How did this reunion come about
MARK: We were thinking about the 25th anniversary rolled around pretty quick quicker than we were expecting because you time flies you know I think flying nun wanted us to do something from memory but it was coinciding when we were going to do our own tour anyway but obviously covid ruined it for everybody
JEREMY: we all live in different parts
MARK: It’s not like the old days where we could just meet up on a tuesday night and have a rehearsal. So yeah it was an idea that got floated and just felt right
JEREMY: we were supposed to have done all this last year we would have been on to our second reunion tour now
SANZ: Is there any chance whatsoever we could get another album from you guys on top of that could we get any more tours (especially since scorpio writing turns 20 soon)
MARK: is it jeez
JEREMY: we just got to see how everyone is
MARK: we’re still talking to each other
JEREMY: it's a good idea it just takes organization the problem is we’re just not in the same city anymore
MARK: but technology helps we had looked at some sort of releases a couple of songs for this tour but again we couldn't get around to organising it in time but technologies there to make it easy i mean it’s possible
JEREMY: it’ll be different subject matter cos im not doing the things I was doing in my 20s
MARK: Watching tv and knitting
JEREMY: watching tv on a friday night trying to avoid people
MARK: never say never
SANZ: What is your favourite album you have released
JEREMY: I like this one (Last Exit) because it was quite an exciting one to make Yeah it was the one that gave us a little bit of momentum here and australia america and britain it’s funny for a long time I was pretty blank to it it’s hard to listen to your own music
MARK: they have stood the test especially those singles
JEREMY: It's good to play the singles on this tour and suddenly the room goes wahhh
SANZ: Do you have a faveourite song from the Garageland catalogue
MARK: I've always liked pop cigar
JEREMY: yeah same
MARK: just the feel the vibe the sound the size of that song its different to alot of other stuff we ever did
JEREMY: yeah we recorded it really fast sometimes those things just fit together really fast
SANZ: Out of all the videos you filmed what is your favourite
MARK: Well i wasn't in the favourite but the favourite for me was life is so sweet that jeremy did in fiji just tongue in cheek good fun and it just suited the song. The first video we did which took 24 hours when we did come back that was a long day first video shoot
JEREMY: it’s hard I don't really like them all i think probably a bit of ego i wanted more input its just really hard at the time to put input into them cos they’re done so fast but they’re kind of funny I didn't make them aye
SANZ: Did you have a least favourite out of the videos
MARK: We cant say
JEREMY: I don't like the not empty one
MARK: I died in that one
JEREMY: I'd give them ideas and they'd change them all on the day the ideas would change and they'd be like you cool with that and they’re sitting around with a hundred people and i'm like guess i'll have to be don’t I
SANZ: Now as of 2005 the video who the hell was classed as the most raunchiest NZ music video how did the idea for that video happen
JEREMY: we had this idea to have a black and white rock n roll video and then we lost track of it and then it looked really cool and then miles who was doing it suddenly you lose track of things and suddenly there was a stripper in it you know I remember just looking at it oh ok we probably can't do that you know cos its got a stripper in it you know i'm not into stripping I'm not a strip club kind of guy and I thought oh they'll take that out and they didn't
MARK: they just blanked certain parts
JEREMY: It had a little bit of controversy to be honest it had nothing to do with us
SANZ: Was there any thoughts that the video may not get aired due to its nature
JEREMY: Yeah I think that's what they were thinking they were trying to be risque. I actually think it's a good looking video but its just a bit try hard looking with a stripper in it
SANZ: I think it got only screened twice once was after midnight
JEREMY: That's what i said I went to the office and said obviously thats needs to be edited cos it won't get played and it looks kind of try hard but you know
MARK: a lot of effort
JEREMY: The guy made it and he put a lot of effort into it.
I would have loved to make my own video but then again it would have taken along time and we were working quite fast back then you know nz calling in lots of friends for videos
SANZ: The song Life is so sweet was the theme song to the tv series the strip how did that come about and did you find that helped bring more fans to your music
JEREMY: I think it definitely helps they were looking for a theme and good luck to get this stuff whoever wrote the theme to friends is worth alot.It was nice it was kind of the thing we were fishing for make the music themes to tv shows.the thing is i dont think everyone worked out it was garageland so we'd play and they'd be like I know that song
SANZ:What are your thoughts on the music industry now compared to when you started out
JEREMY: It’s just different
MARK: it's more accessible for artists to get things out there of course it was a slog for us get some money go and record these days is wake up turn on your computer and start write songs
JEREMY: yeah its different we had big retail and concrete and mortar the record companies were big there's people in those organizations but different. Its funny guitar music isn't as popular as it was in the 90s its done a bit of a slow death which is kind of interesting
SANZ: What would you prefer to do record in a studio or performing live
MARK: that's a tricky one well they are both parts why you do it
JEREMY: I like studio because it kind of fun lives great if you have a good video live is a bit more disciplined but studio the creative juices flow
SANZ: What is the best thing about performing live
JEREMY: meeting you it's actually good to meet someone who knows the songs we ran away from it all recognition of songs. I think we got a couple of stonkers in there to pump the audience up just happy faces good to have fans easier to have fans.