Typical Girls: Women in Punk/Post-Punk/Underground Music (Circa 1975-1980s)

[Alan Holt & Stella Corkery <bunni AT ihug.co.nz>]

NZ Teen Girl Punk

In the late 90's there was a explosion of teen girl punk bands in NZ and we
documented a bunch of them on our labels Girl Alliance and Pink Air.

We did three vinyl 7"s and a lathecut 7". The bands we released were
Goldifox, The Jewl Of Bessamoocho, The Coolies and the Revengers.

Goldifox started the whole thing off. They were a high school band from Keri
Keri which is a small town a few hours drive from Auckland. They were
comprised of Liz, Penny, and Ami. They were super primitive but really
inspired and great. The 7" was recorded on a cassette tape deck in Penny's
family's rumpus room.

Jewl Of Bessamoocho was a spin off band of sorts from Goldifox the same
members minus Ami but with the addition of Eri the japanese exchange
student. Eri sang and came up with a lot of the concepts. She had a very
unusual voice. She sounds like a young Japanese Nico... We put a couple of
show on for them and they were phenomenal. I have a tape somewhere which I
must hunt out and listen to again..

Both the above bands broke up before their records came out.

The Coolies were (are?) from South Auckland and at the start were one of the
most amazing bands we ever witnessed. I think Sjionel was 15, Tina 16 and
Melissa 17 when we first met them. They had a cassette tape of the most
incredible songs that they recorded in Tina's mom's garage. We did a bunch
of 4-track recording with them over the following year which we used 4
tracks of for a 7"s. Their initial songs were very unusual and
unselfconscious, full of hooks, kind of primitive and sophisticated at the
same time and they made a great use of screams. After 6 months as a band
they discovered the Donnas and decided that that was the direction they
wanted to go in. It was still cool but for me I love the songs from the
start of the band best.

The Revengers were Sjionel (Coolie) and Liz and Penny from Goldifox. It was
their 'metal' band. We did a lathecut 7" of two songs they recorded during
practice. One original and a Germs cover.

We still have a few copies of the Goldifox and Jewl Of Bessamoocho 7"s if
anyone is interested. The others are sold out.