NZ Music Month - Retro: 70s to 00s NZ Music Pix by Murray Cammick

For May NZ Music Month, Ellen Melville Centre presents a show of photos of local musicians by photographer Murray Cammick. More than 250 images will be projected on to the large screen of the Helen Clark Room throughout May – many of the photos will be seen in public for the first time.

The photographers 2017 exhibition AK•75 to 85 at Black Asterisk Gallery had 45 framed images in total but the projected format of this year’s show will allow more photos and musicians to be seen.

Cammick studied photography and design at Elam School of Fine Arts prior to his co-founding local music magazine RipItUp Magazine in 1977. This photo show is heavy on images from the early years of RipItUp magazine but Cammick also photographed behind-the-scenes and mosh pit mayhem from the 90s grunge era involving acts such as Shihad, HLAH and Supergroove.

The images projected will be in both black and white and colour and include classic images such as the portrait of Dalvanius that featured in the movie Poi E and numerous photos that have never been seen before. Photos with members of The Screaming Meemees smoking in an early photo shoot never appeared in print as over the years, Cammick tried to avoid using photos of musicians smoking. 

The range of images would be from punk to pop and include key NZ indigenous artists such as Herbs and heavy rockers such as Head Like A Hole. Some the acts that would feature from the various decades include:

The 70s: Split Enz, Hello Sailor, Sharon O’Neill, Mark Williams, The Scavengers, Golden Harvest, The Terrorways, The Suburban Reptiles, Th’ Dudes, Citizen Band, The Spelling Mistakes, Street Talk, Larry Morris etc.

The 80s: DD Smash, Herbs, The Screaming Meemees, The Dance Exponents, The Mockers, Blam Blam Blam, Pop Mechanix, The Pink Flamingos, Jenny Morris, Dalvanius, Graham Brazier, The Newmatics, Netherworld Dancing Toys etc.

The 90s to 2005: Shihad, Supergroove, Head Like A Hole, Straitjacket Fits, Crowded House concert Sydney Opera House, Upper Hutt Posse, Pumpkinhead, The Chills, grunge mosh pit photos etc.

Retro: Friday May 4 – 11am to 3pm – NZ Music Only DJ set - The Ellen Melville Centre

Coinciding with the NZ Music Month Retro: 70s to 00s show of local music photographs by Murray Cammick, the photographer will DJ NZ-ONLY vinyl grooves in the Helen Clark Room Friday May 4 from 11am to 3pm at The Ellen Melville Centre.

As a DJ, Murray Cammick is known for hosting 95bFM’s weekly Land Of The Good Groove on 1pm Fridays. Cammick’s NZ-ONLY DJ set will not be as funky as usual as it will encompass NZ music from the 1960s to now – including the decades when he was actively taking photos of local music and the decades before and after.

As a vinyl-only DJ, Cammick has more than enough vinyl goodies to get him through a four-hour set. As a teen he was a big fan of local music as seen on the C’Mon pop music TV show and he purchased 45rpm singles or EPs by artists such as Dinah Lee and Larry’s Rebels. In recent years NZ Music Month has seen the reissue of many classic local recordings on vinyl, making it possible to hear some of the great tunes of the 60s, direct from fresh new vinyl grooves.

New Zealand has not had a vinyl pressing plant since 1987, so not many contemporary recordings are released on vinyl. Working as a vinyl-only DJ in recent years, has Cammick to search out or import vinyl releases by Fat Freddy’s Drop, Lord Echo, Ladi 6, Lorde, Evermore, Gin Wigmore, David Kilgour, Ladyhawke, Nathan Haines, Sola Rosa, Silicon etc.

Many of the musicians who appear in Retro: 70s to 00s will also feature in Friday 4 May DJ set: Split Enz, Hello Sailor, Sharon O’Neill, Dalvanius and the Fascinations, Dragon, Golden Harvest, Th’ Dudes, The Screaming Meemees, Herbs, Toy Love, Mark Williams, Shihad etc.