The Economic Wizards "Starve The Lizards" EP 1984

Named after self-styled “economic wizard” Robert Muldoon, Prime Minister from 1975 to 1984, the Economic Wizards were one of the few overtly political bands to have emerged in New Zealand. Not content with aiming their lyrical barbs at “Piggy” Muldoon, they blew up his papier-mâché effigy on stage shortly before he was voted out of office in July 1984.
Formed in 1982, the Wizards were known for their zany humour, razor-sharp satirical lyrics, and a sound that one columnist described as “the most lunatic R&B you’ll ever hear” (Helen Collett, “Band Stand”, TOM, 22 June 1984)...
...Originally a four-piece, the band was formed in rural Taupaki, West Auckland, where the parents of Landy and John Brockie (guitar and bass) ran a farm that doubled as a foster home. The two brothers, sons of political cartoonist Bob Brockie, hailed from Wellington, as did Paddy Neville (vocals) and John Lowe (drums), also known as Jim Steel and Lois Flange respectively. (Hence the James Bond-influenced intro to the Wizards’ version of ‘Muleskinner Blues’: “My name’s Steel … Jim Steel”.)
I subsequently joined on harmonica, followed by Joanna Clouston on backing vocals. In later years the line-up was augmented at different times by Katie Brockie, Leisa Matthews and Buzz Worley, who sang lead vocals as well as BVs.
The band’s early songs were thrashed out in a converted pig shed, but before long they were venturing out into the then-thriving Auckland pub circuit. Rick Bryant, a friend and mentor from Wellington, offered the Wizards numerous support gigs with his bands The Neighbours and later The Jive Bombers, including two tours of Northland. In their early years, the Wizards also supported Daggy and the Dickheads (as featured on Country Calendar), Big Sideways, and the Dynamic Hepnotics, an Australian soul band.
The Wizards’ music defied pigeon-holing. “Surf-punk-blues-fun” was one attempt at a label, but this left out country and western, tongue-in-cheek crooning, and even a bit of early rapping. Influences were many and various: hardcore punks might be pogoing along to a New York Dolls or Buzzcocks cover, only to be sideswiped by ‘Long Tall Texan’ or a Hot Chocolate/Lou Reed mashup. This was perhaps one reason why the band never made the big time: some punters couldn’t cope with their wanton genre-hopping, though their diehard fans loved them for it. (Another reason may have been their fondness for what they referred to in ‘Short Arms & Long Pockets’ as “liquid thrills”.)
The band travelled to Wellington several times to play with The Pelicans, old mates whose friendship might have been tested by Ken Weir’s review of their joint gig at Cosgroves. This devoted most of its column inches to the limelight-stealing Aucklanders, describing their lead singer as a “demented … holiday camp master of ceremonies” and concluding: “They’re not slick – far from it – but deliver a joyously raw and raucous dose of cool, rocking music.”
Other reviewers also succumbed to Jim Steel’s undeniable charisma, and who could blame them? For Duncan Campbell, he was “a mean, bequiffed rockabilly rebel [who] sweats so hard. A workingman’s dude” (Rip It Up, January 1985), while Ken Double thought he resembled a Frankenstein-created cross between Tom Waits and Dr Feelgood’s Lee Brilleaux. Helen Collett was less gothic in her praise: “Ebullient frontman Jim Steel is as audience captivating as the band is musically talented.”
Having graduated from support gigs, the Wizards headlined at the Cricketers and the Pulse in Wellington, The Gluepot, The Windsor Castle, and the Globe in Auckland, the Waihi Beach Hotel, and numerous country halls. They played at all the North Island universities in an orientation week tour, and in 1984 were runners-up in Radio Active’s Band of the Year competition at Victoria University, resulting in the aforementioned prime-ministerial conflagration.
As far as subject matter was concerned, nothing and no one was sacred. The Pope, Miss Universe, property developer Bob Jones, racist politicians, fundamental Christians, the woman who sold her babies for two bottles of beer, the entire US of A – all were grist to their mill.
Starve the Lizards ... It’s the Economic Wizards, the band’s first EP, was unleashed upon an unsuspecting public in 1984 on the Wellington-based Eelman label, distributed by Jim Moss’s Jayrem Records. Produced by Alastair Dougal and Steve Buckland, it included four tracks: ‘Pakuranga Girl’, ‘The World is Beautiful’, ‘Short Arms & Long Pockets’, ‘If Anyone Can the Vatican Can’.
In a review entitled “Witty Wizards”, Mike Fallow described the EP as “a notable arrival on the record shelves” that “deserves to sell a tonne”. ‘Pakuranga Girl’, an angst-ridden doo-wop ballad that gently lampooned beauty pageants, was the standout track and remains the best-known Wizards song to this day. Who can forget the immortal line (even if they want to): “I almost wet my trou when you showed them Kiwi girls are the grousest!”
Starve the Lizards reached No.1 in the Radio B Top Ten, appeared on the 1ZM playlist, and soon sold out...to be continued... - Andrew Campbell and AudioCulture

trax:
01 Pakuranga Girl 02 The World Is Beautiful 03 Short Arms & Long Pockets 04 If Anyone Can the Vatican Can
…served by Gaius…