Double Happiness

Released on Monday, November 23, MUZAI Records presented two bands on one split CD. First is Auckland hardcore punk outfit God Bows To Math, with four tracks of spitting aggression and spiralling feedback. Then it’s TFF, the Dunedin teenagers who craft long, noisy jams using high pitched guitar screeches and crooked saxophone playing. I had a chat with both bands about putting the split together and about their future plans to tour the country together.

Rory MacMurdo, drummer in TFF, remembers quite vividly how the two bands first met. God Bows To Math were touring the South Island and Rory says “God Bows To Math sent us a myspace message asking us to play a gig and we kind of read it then completely forgot about it. Then the week that we actually had the gig we started seeing posters advertising it, so we ended up meeting this band kind of by accident and playing a show with them.” Martin Phillips and Tom Morrison (GBTM) put the lack of organisation down to their bass player Jeremy Amos, who used to live in Dunedin.

Meeting in Dunedin, the two bands had an instant reaction and agreement towards each other’s musical influences. Rory remembers, “we just started talking about music and had an instant agreement on bands and stuff like that. We just really liked each other’s styles.” They then played together again in Christchurch, and it remains the only show TFF have ever played outside of Dunedin. It was during the trip from Dunedin to Christchurch that Rory first remembers the split being discussed, “like bands do” he laughs, “kind of bullshitting.”

Martin says releasing a split seemed like a good way for both bands to reach a wider audience. “A lot of people in the South Island don’t know much about the Auckland scene and a lot of people from Auckland don’t know much about the Dunedin stuff, so it was a nice way of joining the two together.”

Initially the idea for the split seemed like it was just talk and that little action would ever take place to complete it, but when MUZAI Records became more of a serious record label the idea was motioned as a definite serious proposition. “It was kind of a bullshit thing for like a year and then it became serious about four or five months ago,” explains Rory.

“We recorded all the music live and quite fast, like first takes, and then Lisandru recorded the vocals later” - Rory, TFF

Both bands started recording songs for the split several months ago, but both ran into some unfortunate problems. God Bows To Math’s four songs come from two different recording sessions, the first session was recorded by Sam Shepherd (BMX Rapists) but Martin says “we did kind of a rushed job and we changed a couple of the songs.” The band then recorded with Tyler Burke, including their cover of TFF’s ‘Tornado Paul’.

Rory tells a much more amusing and painful story of TFF’s recording experience. TFF needed three separate recording sessions to get their material finished for the split, due to members and recording technicians falling ill. “Only one of our members, Lisandru, knows how to record properly. So we were going to record at school and it was going to be all good, and then on the day, me, Harley and Miki got to Logan Park High and started setting up shit and Lisandru never came… So we ended up recording without him because he just wasn’t showing up, we had no idea where he was and we were like, fuck, we have to hand these songs in in a week so let’s record. So we recorded without Lisandru and he ended up having kidney stones.”

Thankfully God Bows To Math wanted to discard half the songs from their first recording session, so it gave TFF time to re-record their songs. Unfortunately bad luck struck again, this time it was the band’s recording engineer Nick Graham that ended up in hospital with lock jaw. “So two times there was hospital issues and then finally a week later we recorded it with Nick again.”

“We recorded all the music live and quite fast, like first takes, and then Lisandru recorded the vocals later. So we did it at my house and at Nick’s house but it took a really fucking long time.”

“I was thinking it would be pretty cool if they could fly up here and we could drive them back and play shows in Wellington, Whanganui, Christchurch etc.” - Tom, GBTM

Both bands mutually decided to record a cover of one of the others songs. God Bows To Math chose to cover TFF’s ‘Tornado Paul’ and TFF choose God Bows To Math’s song ‘Hepatitis’. Martin and Tom joke, “that’s the only song we could figure out.” Martin’s request for some guitar tabs was declined by Lisandru, so he had to figure one of the songs for himself. The resulting cover of ‘Tornado Paul’ is very different to the original. Tom says “TFF play very fast and there’s a lot of noise so it can be hard to figure out what they’re playing anyway.”

“That’s the best way to cover someone’s song, don’t learn the lyrics, just learn a little bit and then the rest of it is up to you.”

TFF originally recorded a cover of ‘How To Beat Your Dad At Chess’, but decided to go with ‘Hepatitis’, a faster, noisier song for the split. Martin describes TFF’s cover of ‘How To Beat Your Dad At Chess’ as “a twelve minute stoner extravaganza” and Rory says “we just jammed on the riff for like twelve minutes.”

God Bows To Math is playing two release shows for the split, but unfortunately they are without their southern partners. TFF simply can’t afford to head north to play the shows, but plans are in the works to do a nation wide tour together next year. Tom shares his thoughts, saying “I was thinking it would be pretty cool if they could fly up here and we could drive them back and play shows in Wellington, Whanganui, Christchurch etc. That would be pretty cool and a way of helping them out, but they would have to be all-ages shows.”

God Bows To Math/TFF Split Release Show
Friday, November 27 at The Basement, Auckland
with guests, Sharpie Crows, Nevernudes, Freudoids and Nice Birds

 TFF- Beer Keg: MP3

God Bows To Math- Only Dead Fingers Talk In Braille: MP3

 TFF- Myspace

 God Bows To Math- Myspace

Buy the split CD from MUZAI Records’ online store

Posted by Nick Fulton under Auckland, Dunedin, New Zealand