The Puddle are a New Zealand rock band originally formed in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

in 1983 by George D. Henderson. They had a mini-album, a live album, a studio album and a single released on New Zealand independent record label

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 ...

between 1986 and 1993. The group has continued to exist since then, with several line-up changes and periods of inactivity. Since 2006 the group has released four albums on Dunedin independent record label Fishrider Records."The Puddle" on Fishrider Records' website
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Early history

Prior to forming The Puddle George D. Henderson had been a key member of

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, New Zealand experimental avant-garde punk groups The Amps and The Spies. In 1980 he relocated to

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

and formed The And Band who self released one 7-inch single. Very early line-ups of The Puddle included Shayne P. Carter on drums, replaced briefly by current drummer

Ian Henderson Ian Henderson may refer to: *Ian Henderson (footballer) (born 1985), English footballer for Rochdale * Ian Henderson (musician), New Zealand drummer * Ian Henderson (news presenter) (born 1952), Australian news presenter *Ian Henderson (police offic ...

who is George's brother. The first settled line-up of the band, which recorded the min-album '' Pop Lib'', released on Flying Nun Records in 1986, also included

Peter Gutteridge Peter Gutteridge (19 May 1961 – 15 September 2014) was a New Zealand musician, credited with pioneering the Dunedin sound with The Clean and The Chills.Joyce, Colin"New Zealand Indie Rock Icon Peter Gutteridge Dies"''SPIN''. 15 September 2014 ...

(keyboards), Lesley Z Paris (drums),

Ross Jackson James Thomas Ross Jackson is a Danish-Canadian economist, author and philanthropist born in Ottawa, Canada in 1938. In 1971, J.T. Ross Jackson co-founded SimCorp A/S: one of the world's first financial engineering companies. Later, Jackson began ...

(bass), Norma O'Malley (flute) and Lindsay Maitland (coronet & French horn). Maitland died of an accidental drug overdose in 1987 and Gutteridge left to form Snapper. The remaining line-up recorded a live album ''Live at the Teddy Bear Club'' released on Flying Nun Records (FN172). It was followed in 1992 by a studio album, ''Into the Moon'' (FNCD164), recorded by

Alastair Galbraith Alastair Galbraith (born 1965) is a New Zealand musician and sound artist from Dunedin. Career Galbraith's first band was The Rip, which he formed with Robbie Muir, and Mathew Ransome and later Jeff Harford (of Bored Games). They released two ...

, which was released on CD together with the " Pop Lib" EP. Henderson was imprisoned in 1991 for drug-related offending. On his release a new Line-up of The Puddle was formed. This line-up recorded a 7-inch single "Thursday"/"Too Hot to be Cool" released on Flying Nun Records in 1993 (FN278). At this time this line-up of The Puddle recorded an album ''Songs For Emily Valentine''. This album was not released until 2005Chilton, Chris
"Puddle Deep, Mountain High"
''Southland Times'', 8 July 2011 although two songs from it were released as a 7-inch single on French label Acetone in 1993. In the second half of the 1990s Henderson contributed songs to the Dunedin collective group Mink. In 2000 The Puddle (with Ross Jackson back on bass and Alan Haig on drums) performed at the Dunedin Sound music event organised and broadcast live on California's

KFJC KFJC (89.7 FM) is a student-run college and community radio station licensed to Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California. The station, which has a Variety format, broadcasts a broad spectrum of musical genres as well as public aff ...

radio station, and are included on the double CD released by the station as ''KFJC 89.7 FM Presents The Dunedin Sound''.Entry for ''KFJC 89.7 FM Presents The Dunedin Sound'' on Discogs.com
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2001 to present

The Puddle (Henderson and Jackson, with ex-Mink drummer Heath Te Au) continued to play from 2001, although Henderson's health was affected by continued drug use and the effects of

hepatitis C Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. During the initial infection period, people often have mild or no symptoms. Early symptoms can include ...

. In 2005 Henderson began to address his health issues. This coincided with a studio recording session in Wellington organised by a friend Richard Steele (which produced the 2010 album ''Playboys in the Bush''). Since then The Puddle have recorded another four albums, all released on Fishrider Records. The current line-up of The Puddle (since 2006) is Henderson (guitar, vocals), his brother Ian Henderson (drums), Gavin Shaw (bass) and Alan Starrett (viola, keyboards). They are occasionally augmented by keyboard/ trumpet player Lucy Hunter from fellow Fishrider Records band Opposite Sex.

Discography

Albums

Singles and other appearances

* "Christmas in the Country" appeared on a

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

Bnet compilation ''Weird Culture Weird Custom'' * ''Live in the palm of your hand'', cassette, Infinite Regress (

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

) * "Friends (live)" appeared on a split Onset/Offset label 7-inch around

* "Thursday"/"Too Hot To Be Cool", 7-inch, Flying Nun (

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

) * "The Power of Love"/"Mamelons damadou", 7-inch Acetone (France) (

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

) * "Average Sensual Man", on split 7-inch single with Robert Scott/Adalita Srsen (

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

) * "Secret Holiday"/"Victory Blues", Fishrider (

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

)

References

* * * *

External links

The Puddle on Myspace

George D. Henderson on Myspace

ThokeiTapes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Puddle, The New Zealand indie rock groups