Garageland

Auckland’s Garageland made a big splash with their debut record ‘Come Back Special’ on Flying Nun in August 1995.

The bFM favourites came out with five fresh pop songs that suggested a new wave of musicians were clutching the classic Flying Nun catalogue for inspiration and taking off to the garage to jam.

With their guitars turned up to warm reverb and tossing off words not just with the lazy abandon so favoured by the modern American underground but in the way that great NZ bands have always mumbled their way through a catchy tune, Garageland are mining a rich musical vein.

Garageland started out two years ago playing on the fringes of the Auckland scene and posting tapes of their songs to student radio stations around NZ.

They watched incredulously as these songs strode up the radio charts and bands came up to them and said “Support us”. Next thing they’re writing letters to Flying Nun with “Garageland – undoubtedly the world’s greatest guitar band” typed along the top.

The label’s staff, already tuned into the music, found the thought of making another band look like fools as they attempt to live up to their self-created hype too good to ignore and Garageland were signed.

So Garageland rode the back of their great ‘Come Back Special’ debut with a tour of NZ and a visit to Australia with King Loser and Loves Ugly Children, where they went down a hit but had their best guitar stolen by some unfriendly bastard in Sydney. Undaunted Garageland went off and wrote a pile of new songs.

In 1999 Garageland released their second album, ‘Do What You Want’ after completing a successful tour of the US, UK and Aussie.

2001 sees the release of their third album, ‘Scorpio Righting’, and rumour has it that they are currently working on their forth album.

Jeremy Eade now fronts a new band, titled Black Drum.