Skeptics "Chowder over Wisconsin" (Mini LP) 1983

From the early 1980s, The Skeptics made music of rhythmic collisions and contortions and they heartily journeyed into zones of discordancy. David D’Ath’s almost painterly style of using words and sounds set the band apart from its contemporaries. In the mid-1980s, The Skeptics were early adopters of samplers, creating a strange and otherworldly body of music with oddly symphonic components……After a protracted stay in Auckland, The Skeptics returned to Palmerston North. In 1983 they played shows at the Eiffel Lounge at the Cafe De Paris Tavern, and supported the Birthday Party at Massey University in May; Nick Cave stood at the front of the audience watching their set. Shortly afterwards the Skeptics performed at the Cricketers Tavern in Wellington, and all of the Birthday Party were present. Robin Gauld recalls, “They were the only audience we had that night in Wellington.” In July 1983 they recorded the eight-track 12” mini-album Chowder Over Wisconsin in one day with Doug Hood and a PA borrowed from the touring Naked Spots Dance and Stones. Released in late 1983, Chowder shows The Skeptics in exhilarating form, with their choppy mixed rhythms and D’Ath’s Burroughsian word-play becoming a unique musical style… - Michael Canningtrax:

01 Boo-Chang 02 New Barking Riff 03 Aud Balmoral 04 The Broach 05 Stella 06 The Old Grey Whistle Test 07 Chowder 08 Jelly

…served by Gaius...