In the 90s, Bill Direen was working clubs, cabarets and theatres with drummer Derek Champion when Peter Jefferies brought them to Dunedin for gigs and recordings. Bill slept on the floor of the Volt studio, and guests dropped by to add their genre of Dunedin brilliance to the Direen / Champion grooves.
The album features luminaries like Alistair Galbraith (violin) and Rob Thorne (guitar), while Peter Gutteridge gave advice on how to drive items from his private collection of keyboards. Stephen Kilroy (organ) and Kiri Winders (vocals, My Deviant Daughter) added harmonic layering, while Brendan Hoffman mixed and masterminded. Brendan integrated some recordings made at a home studio, plus a live recording serendipitously recorded by the late Terry King (R.I.P.) in which saxist Steve Wolf and reed emulator Victoria Singh guested. Bill and Derek took off for a whistle stop tour of the USA, taking in San Francisco, Chicago and New York City, while Hoffman synchronised a CD release with the tour. The critics sought ways to describe it, with CMJ calling it “perhaps Direen’s finest work yet”.
Tracklist
- One Body
- Snake (Drive Drive)
- Nil Nil
- Fashion
- Sheets of Ice (Song of the Snow)
- Repossessed (Guitar Version)
- Worry
- Swing (In Your Tree)
- Prag
- Say
- Lookin' Up
- Famous Smile
- c.b.a.z.y
- Let It Go (Cut)
- Poke
- Paint Fume
- Glory
- Close-Up
- Seaweed (South Island)
- Do You
- Repossessed (Live Reprise)