Waves -

Waves were a New Zealander folk-rock combo that released a 1975 self-titled album on Direction Records.

Members: Michael Matthews, Kevin Wildman, Graeme Gash, David Marshall

Background

Waves formed in 1974 when singer-guitarists Graeme Gash, Kevin Wildman, and David Marshall teamed with bassist Michael Matthew.

Gash and Wildman met as art-and-design students at Auckland Technical Institute and played with Geoff Chunn in the acoustic trio Rosewood, which worked folk-night settings at Levi’s Saloon and played the 1973 Great Ngāruawāhia Music Festival before Chunn joined his brother Mike in Split Enz.

After Rosewood, Gash and Wildman developed new material. Their future manager, Laurie Bell, connected the pair with Marshall, while Matthew entered through the same Auckland musician circle. Gash, Marshall, and Matthew lived in an eight-bedroom Jervois Road villa opposite Stebbing Recording Studios, where the group rehearsed several times a week.

Waves avoided the licensed pub circuit and worked concerts, folk clubs, schools, and Radio Hauraki Buck-A-Head shows. They shared Buck-A-Head (one buck per entry) bills at the Tole Puddle with Split Enz and His Majesty’s Theatre with Chris Thompson.

Hot Licks editor Roger Jarrett connected Waves with Direction Records owners Kerry Thomas and Guy Morris. Direction grew from a record-store and import network and revived its label operation in 1973 for select New Zealand recordings and licensed American albums from the Casablanca and Capricorn labels. Thomas and Morris proposed an album for Waves amid Radio Hauraki airplay and Auckland concert momentum.

Waves

Waves released their singular self-title album in October 1975 on Direction Records.

The album presents Waves’ established quartet with Gash, Wildman, and Marshall as the three-guitar vocal front line. Select tracks feature Salty Dogg pianist Mike Harvey, Split Enz bassist Mike Chunn, guitarist Mike Caen, and Underdogs singer Murray Grindlay. Waves guest credits also name multi-instrumentalist Roy Mason (flutes, bass clarinet, recorders) and percussionists Vic Williams and Kerry Thomas.

“Wornout Rocker” saunters with plucked chords, faint twang, and hillbilly verses that cut to a flowing refrain of open-seventh chords and windy CSN-style spectrum harmonies. “Waterlady Song” widens the acoustic base into the album’s most developed turn. “The Dolphin Song” braids close voices, spanner-slide figures, and recorder color.

“Arrow” cuts the acoustic grain with a pointed electric lead. “Thoughts From Venus” places flute inside the vocal-acoustic weave. “Letters” shades the compact format with bass clarinet. “Waitress” adds a saxophone break and extra percussion. “Castle Gates” closes its supported detail on mouth-harp color.

A1. “Clock House Shuffle” (2:29) – Marshall
A2. “Wornout Rocker” (4:29) – Gash
A3. “Thoughts From Venus” (2:29) – Marshall
A4. “Waterlady Song” (3:37) – Marshall
A5. “Letters” (2:02) – Gash
A6. “The Dolphin Song” (3:58) – Gash

B1. “Arrow” (2:54) – Wildman
B2. “Ocean/Neon Song” (3:05) – Marshall
B3. “Elouise” (3:48) – Gash
B4. “At the Beach” (2:55) – Gash
B5. “Waitress” (2:38) – Marshall
B6. “Castle Gates” (3:47) – Gash

Sessions ran July 7–11, 1975, at Stebbing Studios in Auckland with engineer Phil Yule and Farmyard/Fourmyula producer Peter Dawkins. Yule worked beforehand on Higher Trails by John Hanlon. Waves retained the Dawkins mixes of “Waterlady Song” and “Arrow,” then remixed the remaining titles at Stebbing with Yule.

Graeme Gash designed the brown sleeve art, which places a blue angular Waves logotype beside a gramophone horn, framed by a thin border and corner ornaments.

Direction issued “Dolphin Song” as a 1975 single (b/w “Letters”). “Arrow” (b/w “Clockhouse Shuffle”) and “At the Beach” (b/w “Waitress”) followed the same year. Waves reached No. 6 on the New Zealand album chart.

Postlude

In 1976, Graeme Gash commenced a second Waves album at Mandrill Studio with Marshall, Wildman, drummer Rex Carter, and bassist/singer Michael Mason. Gash self-produced the sessions with engineer David Hurley. They recorded nine songs for the unfinished Misfit, including “Life Wrecks,” “Mrs X,” “Cold Palisade,” and “Jacob and El Tornado.”

In 2013, Ode reissued Waves on CD and vinyl with Misfit as a bonus second disc. Stebbing transferred unplayed original LP copies for the reissue after the Direction master tapes disappeared.

Waves guitarist/singer Dave Marshall later played in the New Wave bands Lip Service, Martial Law, and Neons. Graeme Gash cut a solo album (After the Carnival, 1981) and later issued an electro single with Snap. Kevin Wildman recorded with Chunn’s Citizen Band.

Discography: