Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Lost Treasures With BLACKIE & JAMES From NUNCHUKKA SUPERFLY

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Lost Treasures With BLACKIE & JAMES From NUNCHUKKA SUPERFLY · HEAVY Music Interviews

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  Black. I played guitar in Nunchuka ninety five. I'm James McCann and I
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  sing a nunchuck of ninety five. Beautiful gentlemen, thanks for joining us to
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  stat today. Will pleasure so pleasure. Nunchuck A Superply finally released your debut
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  and only album, nunchuck A super Fly ninety five, back on April twenty
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  six this year. Guys, like must have been a strange feeling for you
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  is actually having it released after so long. I guess you could call it
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  strange, but I mean at the same time, and it felt really good.
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  And I think we can thank James for that because I didn't even have
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  a copy of the recording, so I forgot what it was like even But
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  James got in touch maybe about a year and a half ago and said,
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  man, have you heard that fucking thing we did all those many moons ago.
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  It's really ferocious. We should release it. Remember just thinking yeah,
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  yeah, maybe one day and then he goes, no, no, I'm
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  serious, And then he sent me a copy and I was like, holy
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  fuck, he's right, this is fucking mad. So yeah, you can
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  thank James for that that I had. You can hear me, all right,
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  yeah. I had it on cassette for years, and I think we
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  all had cassette copy initially. Then I kind of wore that out eventually.
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  But in Sydney, Jason Blackwell, who recorded it, was working across the
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  road from where I lived at the hopetonn Hotel on the weekends, not pop
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  in on the weekends to watch bands, and he went, oh, I
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  have that DAT tape of that Nunchucker Superfly recording. Do you want to copy?
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  And I said, yeah, yeah, give me a copy, you
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  know, the little tapes, the little dat tapes, And so I got
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  a copy of that, and I sat on that for years as well,
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  because I didn't have a DAT player or anything. Then I had access to
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  this old nineties DAT player about ten years ago, maybe not even that,
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  at a friend's studio, and so we put it in, plugged in the
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  old player in the studio and put the cassette in and bam, there it
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  was loud and clear, and somehow, you know, I'd stored it away
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  well enough and hadn't you know, obviously hadn't lost it. So that was
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  the start, and I got it digitized and sent it to Blackie and Ray.
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  I think I can't remember just Blacky to pass it on and that's that
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  was two nineteen and then you know the pandemic, so it slowed everything down.
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  That's how it happened. In a nutshell, he's a release now how
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  it was originally recorded? Or did you touch it up a little bit?
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  Actually the way it was we got it mastered, which you got to do
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  anyway after a recording. But no, it's exactly how it is. No
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  touching up, no, no fake mustache is drawing on it, no,
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  nothing. That's going to be the easiest album release in history. Then you
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  didn't have to play on it, didn't have to do funk all. You
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  just said it to way to get mastered and put it out. That's not
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  yeah, no, no, we still had to record it initially five years
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  ago, twenty eight. Who's I can't count that? I How was the
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  reception for I once I got out? Guys, like, did people still
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  remember who he was wearing? They rush out to buy it? Or it
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  was instead of a bit slow? I don't know. I mean, it's
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  not like I ring up the record company every day, Hey how's my record
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  going? What? I got better? Things to do? Well? On
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  on social media, there was a reaction to it from people who remembered seeing
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  his playback, and there was a lot of people going, finally, you
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  know, you know obviously lived here back then. Well, like fucking hell,
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  I had no idea, you know, I used to see you guys
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  all the time when you first started. This is so cool that this has
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  happened. So yeah, it'd be pretty predud good. It'd be pretty feeling,
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  would like actually coming across something that you recorded that long ago that people
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  still get into today, not just that, like you know, even like
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  I know, we spoke amongst ourselves, you know, before releasing it,
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  because you know, you don't just release shit really nearly, or you know,
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  I wouldn't anyway, you know, all of us sort of listen to
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  them when holy fuck, you know, I forgot how ferocious we you know,
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  we were. This definitely deserves to be put out there. So yeah,
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  you know, again, I'm really grateful, and it's aged well as
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  well. I think it's not there's not a real cringe factor when you listen
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  to it. Yeah, I think, yeah, there's a little bit of
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  I mean there always is. You know, if you're a continuing artist,
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  you always listen back to something you did years ago, and like, I
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  like it, but I would have done this. I like it, but
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  yeah, yeah exactly as James says, Yeah, you know I listened to
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  it when fuck I'm stoked with this. This holds up right? And I
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  read that the whole album was actually recorded in just one day originally. Is
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  that true? Yep? Back to the old days when everything was like old
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  encumbassome and you still did it one day. That's awesome. Yeah, probably
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  without even a dinner break or a lunch break. Probably had a bag of
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  nuts and some dates. Yeah for breakfast for those unfamiliar with the Nunchuck and
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  Superply story. But like, the band was formed in ninety ninety three by
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  Ray and Blackie from the after the band initially split that year, So fill
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  us in from there? Like what was? What was? Was it supposed
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  to be a proper band? Was it a fill in band? Was a
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  bit of fun? No? No, it was. It was definitely a
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  proper band, but it was it was actually Pete and Ray got together first
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  and had a jam and then I think they were jamming with I can't remember
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  who might have been Troy and he was busy and Ray goes, you want
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  to join us and like, yeah, ill have a bash and you know,
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  really enjoyed it. And then yeah, we played for a while and
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  we're like, man, you know what we need. We need a fucking
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  ferocious singer. And then we went through what we called the Gong show looking
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  for a singer, and then James walked in and from the first moment he
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  opened his mouth was like, we found our vocalist. Ferocious. So it's
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  funny because I was the twenty third person apparently to to have tried out.
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  That's what I was told at the time in twenty three is my lucky numbers.
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  That's a good enough story. I like it. They didn't how the
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  process work, like did you were your time in the Gongs? It was
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  whoever lasted the longest without the gong got the gong or ah, you know
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  I think I okay, look, I think it works a because James is
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  a musician first, so you know, when you try out vocalists, I
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  guess you do get a lot of people like Betty and we had a lot
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  of people who walked in hands in pockets. It's like okay, so you
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  know, you know you're you can sing, and it's like, oh sing
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  at a party once Mace reckon I was pretty good. It's like it's not
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  going to be fun. Yeah, no, I hope. I've got my
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  facts right here, but you guys, break up the lie. The last
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  show he's played as a band was a Big Day Out in nineteen ninety six.
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  Is that correct? Yep? Yes, So what do you memories of
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  that show? How good it was? It was nerve racking because because we
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  were all four of us were very volatile personalities, and by then we sort
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  of I guess the band was so freaking intense in every aspect that by the
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  end of it we kind of needed a break from each other. But we
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  all agreed to do the Big Day Out, but we haven't even spoken or
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  rehearsed or anything for about is it two months or so something? Almost?
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  Yeah, yes, I didn't even know if it was going to happen.
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  And then on a day, like literally ten minutes before we had to get
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  on stage, all four of us rocked up on the stairs leading to the
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  stage and nodded to each other, and then all I can remember was forty
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  minutes of one of the best gigs I've ever fucking played my life. Like
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  it's one of those gigs I'll take to the grave with me. Wow,
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  that's awesome. That was the next level. There's something else, something in
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  the air, that kind of feeling. Yeah, and the energy was just
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  sort of beyond you know, the kind of like getting ready to levitate,
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  you know, definitely. You know Johnny Rtten used to I used to love
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  saying this. Johnny Wrtton used to always say, well, we hate each
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  other, but you know, for that gig, we kind of did.
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  We didn't what we did, but we didn't, but we didn't. You
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  know. I had a quick look at that light up for ninety ninety six
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  at the big day out into the Aussie bands on it and out of it
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  there's still Nick Cave Tumblewe she had regurgitated Spider By Magic, the Super Jesus
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  and a few others that are still going. And that's twenty eight years ago,
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  like and she shows that the longevity of Australian music. It's awesome,
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  Yeah, totally. The original lineup of You Guys is setting off on a
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  three date run of shows, starting in Marrickville and Dry the nineteenth, then
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  you hit Brinceville and on the twenty seventh, and Velvet on August is second,
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  and so what can fans expect from that show? Well, you know,
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  before we even talked about playing, we all just wanted to have a
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  jam first to see what it would feel like. And faired income. It
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  almost felt like that fucking gig a pig day out. It was incredible.
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  Yeah, it sounded to me the same and felt the same. Black uses
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  the same guitar, Pete had the same, He's got the same drum kit,
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  so the sound, the sound is the same. I feel like maybe
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  I was sort of holding it back to scrip, trying not to scream as
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  much and lose my voice like I did back then. But it sounded amazing,
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  Yeah, very much. So Yeah, when you say about Pete,
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  I remember Pete was like, oh man, I'm keen to give it a
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  go, but I haven't drummed in ages, But you couldn't tell. Yeah,
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  what a freak like he's. He has a very unique and insanely propulsive
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  way of drumming. And it really felt good. Man, he felt good
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  being in that room, I can tell you. Yeah. And how do
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  you go? I got on the first chaand back for these shows like how
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  did I relearn? And all those old songs I did Did you connect with
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  them still twenty eight years later or with some of them like, yeah,
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  yeah, totally it. I don't know which one said it first, but
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  I was like, I felt like we just sjammed last week. Oh hell
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  yeah. I think I think because I'd worn out my cassette and then when
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  I got it digitized, you know, I listened to that a thousand times
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  just for fun at night. I kind of knew it all my head anyway
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  when I walked in there, and you know, I had to read the
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  lyrics of course, because there's so many lyrics, and you know, some
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  of the lyrics are a bit different, but I could still kind of hear
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  it all in my head because I'd listened to it so much leading up to
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  it over the years. I guess yeah. I think we definitely had a
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  really great chemistry, and the chemistry connected quite easily between four of us,
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  so it really Yeah. Like trust me, I personally wouldn't go out unless
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  I thought this was, you know, shit hot and work doing, because
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  you know, there are sometimes in our bands that reform or you know,
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  blah blah this bah bah that you know, do some sort of reunion tour
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  and it's you know, never, not never, but you know a lot
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  of the times, you know, more than eighty percent of the times.
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  It's a little bit of going through the motions. And you know, I
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  don't think any of us would have you know, been happy for us like
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  that, and it definitely wasn't, so you know, and I mean,
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  I know Pete says he hasn't played in ages, but you know, me
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  and Raven never stopped. James has never stopped. So you know, there's
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  you know, we're still working musicians. You know, we still play,
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  We're still right, we still create. So you know, it just felt
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  good, just a different configuration and you know, one that had something before
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  and obviously still does. What are your plans? Who are after those three
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  shows are over? Guys, he's going to go back to your respective other
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  projects and shelved Unchuck of super Fly again? Or is this sort of giving
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  you a bit of a spark to maybe put another all of them out in
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  twenty eight years spores shows? Four shows? Yeah, shows too, I've
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  got three on my list. So the help they haven't got Castlemane. Maybe
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  they didn't write that castle all right? What date's Castlemane? That's the next
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  night after the hotels, so that'll be the third of auguste. No,
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  they didn't send me the one. What are you doing? I think your
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  four shows are up? Then? I don't know, To be honest,
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  I mean, this feels good, feels fun. You know, we all
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  live in different states now, but I don't know. Let's let's just see
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  what happens. Yeah, yeah, I see how it goes. If it's
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  good fun and we want to do it again and there's some gigs on the
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  offer, then who knows. Be fun. I'm definitely not shutting the door
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  because you know, in a way, I guess, because we're all young
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  and immature, especially myself. Back then, you know, the lineup didn't
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  last as long as it should have. And you know, now you know
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  that we've reconnected and it feels so freaking good. Maybe something else can come
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  out of it. I'm definitely leaving the door open for whatever happens. How
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  about for now we tell people that you haven't got anything else planned, so
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  they get their asses along to this show in case they never get another chance.
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  Yeah, and to buy to buy the LP as well. Where can
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  they get no, where can they get hold of it? Any good record
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  shop? Through saying and you know their distrosen order online. Very good boys
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  with the record shop and say I heard about this record, I want to
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  buy it, No get it for you, no worries. Well makes for
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  your time, guys. It's been a pleasure chat reading and get to know
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  more about the band. The album Nunchuck and Super Prime ninety five is out
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  now. The show's kick off on July the nineteenth, so get amongst it
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  and fucking nun chucked. Fantastic, Thanks Chris, Thanks good time man.
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  Very appreciated.