Artist Biography
Though New Zealand had its fair share of excellent garage bands in the '60s, the country really came into its own in the post-punk era. Right near the center of the action were the Jefferies brothers, Graeme and Peter. Working together (in the early Flying Nun band This Kind of Punishment) and separately (Peter as a solo artist, and Graeme in the Cakekitchen), the two created some of the most challenging and rewarding music of the era. Their first band of note was Nocturnal Projections, which existed between 1981 and 1983 and took the dark and majestic sounds coming out of the U.K. at the time (Joy Division, Wire) as inspiration and created a lo-fi, scrappy version that went under the radar at the time, but proved influential to New Zealand bands in the future.
The Jefferies brothers had already been in a few bands, but they found the right combination in 1981, when they brought in bassist Brett Jones and drummer Gordon Rutherford to complement Peter's vocals and Graeme's guitar. Nocturnal Projections' rough and exciting sound proved to be a draw in their hometown of New Plymouth, and the band was able to score a residency at local pub The Lion Tavern, where the foursome honed their aggressive sound and sharply crafted songs. The results of their work were documented on two demo cassettes recorded during their early days as a band, Things That Go Bunt in the Night and Emission Recordings.
Nocturnal Projections quickly outgrew the small city and moved to Auckland, where the group became a favorite opening act for bands like the Fall and New Order when they came through town. It wasn't long before they went into the studio and put songs on tape. An eponymous 7" was self-released by the band in April of 1982, and the five-song 12" EP Another Year was issued by the Hit Single label later that year. Along with haunting the stages of Auckland, they recorded another single in early 1983, a three-song self-titled EP that was released later in the year, by which time the band had folded. The Jefferies brothers weren't done making music together, though, and almost immediately formed This Kind of Punishment, with Rutherford staying on as drummer and Andrew Frengley added as bassist.
Though the career of Nocturnal Projections was short, their music proved to have legs. Songs of theirs showed up on compilations ("Words Fail Me" on 1986's Biding Our Time compilation and "Walk in a Straight Line" on 1990's Xpressway Pile-Up); the U.K. label Raffmond issued a compilation of singles, live songs, and rarities titled Nerve Ends in Power Lines (after one of their best-known songs) in 1995; and songs from their 1981 demo tapes have been issued on collections of New Zealand punk, including 1997's Hate Your Neighbours and 2002's Move to Riot. In April of 2018, Dais Records released Complete Studio Recordings, which collected all their studio singles, and Inmates in Images, which pulled together songs taped at live shows between 1981 and 1983. ~ Tim Sendra
Hometown
New Plymouth, New Zealand
Genre
Alternative