''Stunt Clown'' is the debut full-length studio album by the New Zealand rock band

Headless Chickens The Headless Chickens was a New Zealand band. Going against the grain of the Dunedin sound that dominated the Flying Nun Records roster at the time, the Headless Chickens made extensive use of electronic instruments in their music. They reco ...

. The album, released in 1988 through

Flying Nun Records Flying Nun Records is a New Zealand independent record label formed in Christchurch in 1981 by music store manager Roger Shepherd. Described by ''The Guardian'' as "one of the world's great independent labels", Flying Nun is notable for bringi ...

, peaked at number 18 in the New Zealand charts.Stunt Clown - Album by Headless Chickens
''Spotify''. Retrieved 28 February 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2021 a
''Discogs''
Primarily produced by Rex Vizible and Roland Morris as well as the Headless Chickens themselves,

Strawpeople Strawpeople are a New Zealand band. They were created by Paul Casserly and Mark Tierney after they had met while working at the Auckland university radio station now known as 95 bFM. Over the years, Strawpeople has brought together various Ne ...

member Mark Tierney also served production duties on the album's bonus tracks. It was reissued in 1995, affixed with the tracks featured in the band's 1986 EP that had previously been included in some international releases of ''Stunt Clown''.

Background and development

In 1986, the Headless Chickens (as Chris Matthews, Johnny Pierce, and Michael Lawry) released their self-titled debut EP, consisting of seven songs. Tragically, Pierce committed suicide shortly afterwards. This resulted in Grant Fell joining the band as the replacement bassist. Around the same time, Rupert E. Taylor and Bevan Sweeney also became part of the band, Taylor as a second vocalist and Sweeney as a drummer. This new line up controversially won the 1987 Rheineck Rock Award, a music award to help develop the careers of upcoming artists. The cause of the controversy was the band's sound being considered too alternative and therefore unprofitable; one journalist writing for ''Metro'' magazine wrote that awarding the prize to the Headless Chickens "showed a severe lack of judgement." Nonetheless, the band continued their ventures. ''Stunt Clown'' (excluding the bonus tracks) was recorded at

Mandrill Studios Founded in the early 1970s, Mandrill Studios was a recording studio in Parnell, a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. Many of New Zealand's prominent artists had their work recorded there. The Mandrill record label grew out of the name of the stud ...

in Auckland in January and February 1988 with the assistance of the Rheineck Rock Award prize money. However, there were numerous issues with the development of the album; one of the most major was it going $7,000 over budget, leaving the band members in large amounts of debt. There were also technological issues and conflicts between personnel, including the engineer at Mandrill refusing to communicate with producer Rex Vizible.

Singles

The first two tracks of the album, "Expecting To Fly" and "Soulcatcher," were released as singles in 1988. The album tracks "Do The Headless Chicken" and "Donka" were featured as

B-sides The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

. Despite ''Stunt Clown'' reaching the top 20 of the New Zealand charts, neither of the singles charted.

Accolades

In April 2018, three decades after its release, ''Stunt Clown'' received the Classic Record Award at the

Taite Music Prize The Taite Music Prize is an annual New Zealand music award event. A prize of the same name (sometimes called the Taite Music Main) is one of five to be awarded. It recognises the best New Zealand album from the previous year. The prize is named ...

. Media commentator Russell Brown, who presented the award, described the album as "an ambitious, strikingly varied work" and that "the Taite judges got it right when they chose 'Stunt Clown''to honour."

Track listing

Sources: Spotify and CD liner.

Personnel

* Rex Vizible – production, cello (track 6), clarinet (tracks 5, 11), backing vocals * Roland Morris – production, engineering * Jac Dwyer – cover art *

Chris Matthews Christopher John Matthews (born December 17, 1945) is an American political commentator, retired talk show host, and author. Matthews hosted his weeknight hour-long talk show, ''Hardball with Chris Matthews'', on America's Talking and later on M ...

– vocals, guitars, emulator, percussion, drum programmes, cello,

minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...

, piano * Michael Lawry – guitars, emulator, minimoog, sequencing, drum programmes, tapes, backing vocals * Rupert E. Taylor – vocals, acoustic guitar (track 5) * Grant Fell – bass guitar, backing vocals * Pip Anderton – cello (track 5), violin (track 5) * Peter Hanneveldt – piano accordion (track 3) * Peter Moerenhout – percussion (track 5) * Roland Morris – drum programmes, sequencing * Mark Tierney – engineering, production * Johnny Pierce – bass, vocals (track 13) Source: CD liner.

Charts

References

{{Headless Chickens 1988 debut albums Flying Nun Records albums Headless Chickens albums