Celebrating NZ music throughout May: 4 – Th’ Dudes / theSlacks

It’s Friday night in New Zealand, so let’s get into a party mood.

You can’t go past the NZ Music Month website pick for today to get into a laxed and chilled out mood. But first we need to talk…

What the hell does Yeah Nah mean?

To explain Yeah Nah, I first need to explain Yeah Right. This uniquely kiwi phrase comes from a series of ads for Tui beer. To the left of the billboard is some outrageous statement, and to the right it says Yeah Right, along with a picture of the Tui logo. Often the statement referred to some topical issue of the time. In essence, it means “when hell freezes over” or “and pigs might fly”.

Here’s an example from a recent competition Tui had. I picked this entry especially for @meesterboom, @tonyr and @son-of-satire. (Check the image source if you want to see more)

Image Source

Yeah Nah is similar in tone. It initially sounds like you’re saying Yes, but you’re not, you’re saying No.

“Can you help me shift flats on Saturday, bro?”
“Yeah Nah”

So, without further blathering, let’s start the party with Yeah Nah, by theSlacks. This song is so new, only the preview video has been released so far. It’s due for release on the 11th May.

On their website, theSlacks (Scott Armstrong, Mark Armstrong, Blake Gibson, Zane Greig) describe their style as:

‘Revisionist Retro Revival Rock’ - potent tone poems riveted to roughly-polished, campfire guitars, four-part harmonies and a combination of lyrical drumming and assiduous, melodic bass-lines that anchor theSlacks in rock all the while hinting at country soil and coastal roots.

I can’t describe their style any better, so fair enough! Going back to 2016, here’s their previous hit: Big Aroha. (Aroha means affection, sympathy, charity, compassion, love, empathy.)

And now let’s go back into the distant past for a kiwi classic.

Th' Dudes

Not to be confused with Calgary band The Dudes (1996), Th’ Dudes were a pop/rock band from Auckland, active from 1975 to 1980. Their hits included "Walking in Light", "Right First Time", "Be Mine Tonight" and "Bliss".

Kiwis are renowned world wide as party animals who drink and party hard, maybe because of this song. Bliss (1980) is the ultimate kiwi drinking song and party anthem. Legend has it that the lyrics were originally “drink yourself more piss” but that they were forced to change it to the rather nonsensical “drink yourself more bliss”. The video makes it clear what they were really singing about.

Here’s Walking in Light from 1979. Gosh, that’s nearly 40 years ago!

The founding members were Dave Dobbyn, Ian Morris, Peter Urlich and Peter Coleman. After Th’ Dudes, Dave Dobbyn formed DD Smash and then later went on to have a successful solo career. After going somewhat overboard in yesterday’s post, I’m going to take @themagus’s advice and slow down. So I’ll keep it short and sweet today and leave Dave Dobbyn and DD Smash till another day. But if I forget to come back to them, check ’em out!

In the meantime, carry on rocking out to @kiwiscanfly’s post about the Headless Chickens (and bonus tracks from Shihad and Strawpeople in the comments).

Thanks for listening

Videos from Youtube. Top image is the official logo and appears everywhere. This copy came from Eventfinda.

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