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(pronounced: "fish")

by Wazzo Ghoti

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1.
2.
DDT 01:48
3.
4.
5.
Magnet 03:29
6.
Adder 03:51
7.
Squeeb USA 02:05
8.
9.
Brian's Song 02:51
10.
Eeyore 02:57
11.
12.
This Beast 03:16
13.
Chrysalis 02:28

about

I wanted to form a band - an obscure underground band with a cult following - that would be cool! Careful what you wish for...
I first met Chris and a guy named Paul Watson at Wellington Polytech around 1984, we had a shared love of punk - and Paul could play bass!
I met Rex after crashing a party at his place, he could play guitar and his mate Murray had a drum kit. They were definitely in -
whether they wanted in or not.
After some cajoling, we got together in a hall near my parent's house, Rex and me on guitars, Paul on bass, Murray on drums and Chris on vocals.
We tried out a few simple covers and they seemed to go alright, more or less, we were then keen to try writing our own songs.
"What should we call this band?" "We should name it after a really wazzo looking fish," said Murray "That's it - Wazzo Fish!" we said, "No I meant....'
said Murray, but it it was too late.
Paul added that we should spell fish "GHOTI" explaining the George Bernard Shaw approach to the English language
(you can look this up I'm not explaining it here, but its pronounced fish, alright?) "Righto," we said and Wazzo Ghoti we were.
Paul and Murray left the band soon after.
Chris picked up the bass, Rex took over lead vocals and we recruited Bill Morris on drums after he was suggested to us by mutual friends "The Paras",
who gave us our first show supporting them at the Cricketers Arms. Bill was self-taught with a great drumming style that fitted right in from the get-go,
our first show was great, and encouraged we continued to write more songs and look for opportunities to play.
For the next year, we played local cafes and bars, recorded a demo tape which got favorable reactions and airplay on student radio and found
ourselves on the bill with our contemporaries in the Wellington Alternative music scene - Flesh D-vice, Number Nine, Skank Attack, the Jonahs.
Steve Cochrane from Skank Attack established “Skank Records” and released “When the Wind Blows”, a compilation of contemporary Wellington
bands, our contribution “Magnet” was again played on student radio, and people started coming to see us play.
In March 1987, on his way home from a show, Bill was viciously assaulted, leaving him in a coma for 3 weeks and with head injuries from which he
would never fully recover. His main assailant received a 4-year prison sentence.
Shocked, and by way of keeping busy, we decided to re-mix our demo for a vinyl LP release.
This process began with committing burglary to retrieve the master tapes and ended with EMI refusing to press our record as the last pressing plant in
New Zealand closed down. It was on the “Skank Records” label and Steve had recently said uncompilmentary things about EMI on the radio ...
With Bill not able to return to the band in the foreseeable future, (although continuing to contribute lyrics) we’d begun playing live again with friends
Murray King and Pat McLaughlin (Shadowfax, Tokyo) then played and recorded new material with Andrew Downes (The Paras) drumming in 1988.
As we now had to get the record pressed in Australia, not so easy pre-internet, we added those tracks which were originally slated for a separate EP
release to the album released 12 months later in late 1989 as “Gone Ghoting”.
“Ima Hitt” records released “Adder” on the “Celebrate the Sonic Arts” compilation LP the same year. A video for “Dawns Early Light” also aired on
“Radio with Pictures”, New Zealand's only music video programme at the time, as part of a focus on Wellington bands.
Dean Riley (Number Nine) had joined on drums in late 1988 and for the next 18 months encouraged us to play some enthusiastic shows to equally
enthusiastic audiences in bar venues, and when those weren’t available, warehouses and community halls - including the infamous
“No Sleep ‘til Brooklyn” gig at the Brooklyn community hall with Sticky Filth and TAB, where we found ourselves onstage staring down the riot squad
who’d just shut down the show and now wanted us to abandon our instruments and equipment and leave, not likely...
We managed a demo recording session of some of the songs before Dean departed the band, but nothing from that period was released.
After an initial struggle to find a replacement Steve Cochrane (Skank Attack) joined us and we played regular shows throughout the early nineties
and released a cassette EP “Coelocanth” in 1993, engineered and recorded by Andrew Downes at his “Mediate Music” studio.
Well, that's it! Thanks to all who supported us and came to the shows. This release is a record of our time as Wazzo Ghoti and some of the recordings
we made. I’m happy to say that the original members of Wazzo Ghoti, including Bill Morris drumming, were able to perform together onstage
for a short set recently, and we look forward to some more live shows with this release. Spike 2018

credits

released March 16, 2019

WAZZO GHOTI

Rex Nairn - Vocals, Guitar
Mark “Spike” Roxburgh - Guitar, Vocals
Chris Goodall - Bass, Backing Vocals
Bill Morris - Drums (tracks 1-5)

Pat McLaughlin - Drums (track 6)
Andrew Downes - Drums (tracks 7-9)
Dean Riley - Drums (track 10)
Steve Cochrane - Drums (tracks 11-13)
Aaron Watson - Keyboards (tracks 11-13)

Tracks 1-4 recorded at Underground Studios 1986. Remixed at Writhe Studio 1987
Tracks 7-8 recorded at Writhe Studio Wellington by Nick Roughan 1988
Track 9 recorded at Radio New Zealand Bowen House Studios by Brian Mahoney 1988
Originally released on the “Gone Ghoting” LP 1989
Track 5 demo recorded at Underground Stuios 1986 originally released on the Skank Records
“When the Wind Blows” compilation 1986
Track 6 recorded live at the Railway Hall Wellington 1987
Track 10 demo recorded at Writhe Studios by Nick Roughan 1989
Tracks 11-13 recorded at Mediate Music Wellington by Andrew Downes 1993
Originally released on “Coelacanth” cassette EP 1993
All songs Wazzo Ghoti

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Wazzo Ghoti Wellington, New Zealand

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