Stellar "Magic Line" 2001

...In December 1996 the band released the ‘Happy Gun’ single via the Papa Pacific label, run by Mark Tierney (Strawpeople) and Manu Taylor. The single also featured two other songs – ‘Ride’ and ‘Reprise’, both produced by Wayne Bell and Simon Raby for the Headlong film.
Further solidifying the connections, Second Child’s frontman, Damien Binder, was flatting at the time with Greg Johnson at Johnson’s house in Vine Street, St Mary’s Bay. Runga was a regular in the Greg Johnson Set and recorded on Johnson’s highly successful album Vine Street Stories, notably the standout vocal on ‘Don't Wait Another Day’. Both Runga and Maclaren toured with Johnson for this album, whereas on Johnson’s following album, Chinese Whispers, both recorded on the album but did not have the time for live performances or touring. With the pressure of dividing time between Stellar and Johnson, something had to give and the pair committed to their own material.
By 1997 Second Child had dissolved – a result of the familiar tale of critical acclaim not translating into a living – and van de Geer joined Stellar fulltime. Shanks saw through his recording commitments with Splitter (for the album Stereo Happiness which would go on to be nominated for Breakthrough Artist in the 1998 Music Awards), and by the end of 1997 the Stellar line-up was finally settled and complete...

...Over the summer of 1997-1998 the newly minted four-piece Stellar knuckled down to writing and demoing new material at Jim Hall’s Soundtrax studio in Eden Terrace. Sound engineer Luke Tomes, whom they had known since 1993, was behind the mixing desk on these sessions. Only two songs from these sessions (‘Breather’ and 'You') subsequently ended up being used on the debut album Mix.
Around this time, Pagan Records boss and long-time Greg Johnson guitarist/collaborator Trevor Reekie offered Stellar an opportunity to release their recordings through Pagan. Meanwhile, Runga completed an Australian promotional tour (guitar and vocals) with Strawpeople (whose 1996 album Vicarious was engineered by the ubiquitous van de Geer). On the journey back to Auckland, Runga ended up chatting with Sony's Managing Director Michael Glading, who enquired about Stellar’s progress and suggested that they send him a demo.
Things began to gather steam after this. A&R Manager Paul Ellis left Sony and was replaced by entertainment lawyer and ex-Netherworld Dancing Toys singer/songwriter Malcolm Black, who listened to the demos the band had left with Ellis. “I lived in Titirangi at the time,” says Black, “and distinctly remember driving up Titirangi Road on the way home from work and thinking that the [songs on the demo] were really great. Meeting them made the decision easy – great musicians, great songs and work ethic, a clear idea of who they were, [and] x-factor.”
Early in 1998, Runga and Maclaren were called to a meeting with Black and his assistant Cameron Young and talked around in circles for some time. As Maclaren remembers it, he eventually asked the obvious. “What are we talking about here? Are you offering us a deal? Do we need to get a lawyer?” To which Black said, “Yes, you probably do.”
Barry Blackler, long-time manager of The Exponents and a Dunedin school friend of Black’s, was brought in as manager and entertainment lawyer Campbell Smith (who was already representing and managing Bic) was retained as their legal representative. Blackler then re-organised the administration so that he and Smith were co-managers, playing to Blacker’s strengths in touring and management and Smith’s strengths in legal and international networks.With the Sony deal signed and a $60,000 recording budget approved, Black introduced Stellar to friend Tom Bailey as a potential producer. Having built a solid portfolio of diverse “non-pop” music projects post-Thompson Twins, Bailey was reticent to put himself back into the high-end commercial music world. (“I pitched him but didn’t really think he would do it,” says Black.) Nonetheless, a dinner was arranged by Black, ironically at a restaurant called Stella on Ponsonby Road. During the course of the dinner, the background music being played was from artists such as Grace Jones and Sly & Robbie, with whom Bailey had worked with, and he suspected the music was being played deliberately to coerce him into action. It was purely coincidental, but it did initiate a talking point and all attendant realised they shared similar tastes. The mutual music connection was made, and what would become a fruitful partnership was formed.
Stellar’s sound was noted for its electronic touches, although for the band the use of technology was nothing new. Maclaren had been using sequencers and synthesisers since the late 80s, and engineer Luke Tomes had been using Pro Tools for some time. “We didn't purposely [develop that sound] to differentiate ourselves from the multitude of Auckland guitar bands - it's just that we had all been involved with bands in this more traditional format for so long and we all personally wanted to experiment musically/production wise for our own creative diversification” explains van de Geer.
In August 1998 the band spent 16 days tracking at Revolver Studios in the salubrious environs of semi-industrial Greenlane including the future singles ‘Bastard’ and ‘Part Of Me’. Further tracking was then completed at Luke Tomes’ studio in Shortland Street, and at Runga and Maclaren’s house in Warnock Street, Westmere.
Not wasting any time, Sony released ‘Bastard (What You Do)’ which debuted on the charts at No.32 on December 6, 1998, peaking six weeks later at No.17 on January 24, 1999, eventually hanging around for 17 weeks (until May 16, overlapping the release of next single, ‘Part of Me’). Helping promotion, the band also supported Dave Dobbyn on a four-date tour commencing on December 4. The 1998 release date allowed the band to be nominated in the 1999 Music Awards where they won Most Promising Group and Runga won Most Promising Female vocalist. Second single – and in fact, the only other recording completed at the time – ‘Part of Me’ debuted on May 2, 1999 at No.11, peaking at No.4 on June 27 after nine weeks on the charts....to be continued... - audioculture

trax:

01 Are You Waiting 02 All It Takes 03 Taken 04 Star 05 Lightspeed 06 Imperfect 07 Crazy 08 Sorry 09 Magic Line 0 If I Could 11 One More Day
…served by Gaius…