Chris Knox
Encyclopedia
Chris Knox is a New Zealand
rock and roll
musician, cartoonist, and DVD reviewer who emerged during the punk rock
era with his bands The Enemy
and Toy Love
. After Toy Love disbanded in the early 1980s, he formed the group Tall Dwarfs
with guitarist Alec Bathgate
, much loved for their honest, unpolished sound and intense live shows. His 4-track
machine was used to record most of the early Flying Nun
singles.
He has also released a number of solo, self-produced albums which feature his Casiotone
. Knox has also released an album under the pseudonym 'Friend'.
At the 2001 New Zealand Music Awards
Knox's song, ballad "Not Given Lightly" (1990) was announced as New Zealand's thirteenth best song of all time, as voted by APRA members. A love song written for "John and Leisha's mother" - his partner Barbara - this track never scaled commercial heights though it has belately generated some income for the songwriter through its use in TV advertising (notably for Vogel's bread).
Knox has played live in front of audiences all around New Zealand, winning a reputation for his sometimes confrontational style, and performed annually at Wellington's infamous Bar Bodega
. He has also extensively toured internationally. His swing through the US in 1995 included, among others, stops in Seattle to play the Crocodile Cafe
. His minimalist, DIY sound played well to ears then-focused on grunge
, with its retro-punk stylings.
A long-time resident of Auckland
, Knox has spent time as a newspaper columnist and film reviewer for Real Groove. His satirical comic strip Max Media appeared in the NZ Herald every week for more than fifteen years. He has also been an occasional television film reviewer, hosted a Television New Zealand
season of classic movies, and presented two seasons of arts series New Artland.
Knox launched his own label 'A Major Records' in 2006 to release the album Chris Knox and the Nothing. This was the first album Knox recorded in a professional studio, rather than in his trademark DIY style, since his time with Toy Love.
Knox's "It's Love", from the 2000 album Beat, has been used in "Share the Good", a Heineken Premium Light
commercial directed by Todd Haynes
and cinematographed by Edward Lachman
.
On 11 June 2009 Knox was admitted to Auckland hospital suffering from a stroke. The album Stroke - Songs For Chris Knox was released in New Zealand on 16 November 2009. It features 33 artists performing Knox's songs. The album is a way for Knox's fans to contribute to the costs of his rehabilitation. All artists contributed their time and talent without charge. Artists include Jay Reatard
, David Kilgour
, The Mint Chicks
, Shayne Carter
, Yo La Tengo
, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Bill Callahan, The Mountain Goats
, The Bats
, The Chills
, The Verlaines
, Jeff Mangum
, The Nothing (including Chris), Tall Dwarfs and Lou Barlow
.
The Greenwich Village
arts venue Le Poisson Rouge hosted a benefit concert for Knox on 6 May 2010. Artists included Jeff Mangum and Yo La Tengo, who both participated in the 2009 benefit album for Knox.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
musician, cartoonist, and DVD reviewer who emerged during the punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
era with his bands The Enemy
The Enemy (New Zealand band)
The Enemy were a band from Dunedin, New Zealand, that are often seen as the starting point of the Dunedin Sound rock movement.Though the band did not release any official recordings, some of their performances are available in bootleg form. They are seen as hugely influential on the development of...
and Toy Love
Toy Love
Toy Love was a New Zealand New Wave/punk rock band fronted by Chris Knox. Other members were guitarist Alec Bathgate, bass player Paul Kean, drummer Mike Dooley, and keyboard player Jane Walker...
. After Toy Love disbanded in the early 1980s, he formed the group Tall Dwarfs
Tall Dwarfs
Tall Dwarfs are a New Zealand rock band formed in 1981 by Chris Knox and Alec Bathgate who, through their do-it-yourself ethic, helped pioneer the lo-fi style of rock music. The duo formed out of the ashes of Toy Love....
with guitarist Alec Bathgate
Alec Bathgate
Alec Bathgate is a New Zealand musician who was a key member of The Enemy and Toy Love, as well as being one half of Flying Nun Records act Tall Dwarfs alongside Chris Knox. As well as playing guitar in these bands, he has released two solo albums....
, much loved for their honest, unpolished sound and intense live shows. His 4-track
4-track
4-track or 4-track tape may refer to:* The 4-track cartridge as an analogue music storage format popular from the late 1950s* A 4-track tape used in professional recording studios for multitrack recording...
machine was used to record most of the early Flying Nun
Flying Nun Records
Flying Nun Records is an independent record label formed in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1981 by music-store proprietor Roger Shepherd.-History:The label was formed in the flurry of new punk rock-inspired labels forming in the early 1980s...
singles.
He has also released a number of solo, self-produced albums which feature his Casiotone
Casiotone
Casiotone refers to a series of home electronic keyboards released by Casio Computer Co. in the early 1980s.These first keyboards used a sound synthesis technique known as Vowel-Consonant synthesis to approximate the sounds of other instruments...
. Knox has also released an album under the pseudonym 'Friend'.
At the 2001 New Zealand Music Awards
New Zealand Music Awards
The New Zealand Music Awards show, is a major annual New Zealand music event where musical acts and singers are awarded each year. It has occurred every year since 1965 to outstanding New Zealand musicians and groups....
Knox's song, ballad "Not Given Lightly" (1990) was announced as New Zealand's thirteenth best song of all time, as voted by APRA members. A love song written for "John and Leisha's mother" - his partner Barbara - this track never scaled commercial heights though it has belately generated some income for the songwriter through its use in TV advertising (notably for Vogel's bread).
Knox has played live in front of audiences all around New Zealand, winning a reputation for his sometimes confrontational style, and performed annually at Wellington's infamous Bar Bodega
Bar bodega
Bar Bodega is a music venue in Wellington, New Zealand. Founded in 1991, it originally occupied a house earmarked for demolition by Transit New Zealand to make way for an inner city motorway extension...
. He has also extensively toured internationally. His swing through the US in 1995 included, among others, stops in Seattle to play the Crocodile Cafe
Crocodile Cafe
The Crocodile is a music club at 2200 2nd Avenue at Blanchard Street in the neighborhood of Belltown in Seattle, Washington, USA. Opened as the "Crocodile Cafe" on April 30, 1991 by Stephanie Dorgan, it quickly became a fixture on the local music scene. It closed on December 15, 2007...
. His minimalist, DIY sound played well to ears then-focused on grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
, with its retro-punk stylings.
A long-time resident of Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, Knox has spent time as a newspaper columnist and film reviewer for Real Groove. His satirical comic strip Max Media appeared in the NZ Herald every week for more than fifteen years. He has also been an occasional television film reviewer, hosted a Television New Zealand
Television New Zealand
Television New Zealand, more commonly referred to, and stylized as TVNZ, is a government-owned corporation television network broadcasting in New Zealand and parts of the Pacific. It operates TV1, TV2, TVNZ7, TVNZ Heartland, TVNZ U and new media services....
season of classic movies, and presented two seasons of arts series New Artland.
Knox launched his own label 'A Major Records' in 2006 to release the album Chris Knox and the Nothing. This was the first album Knox recorded in a professional studio, rather than in his trademark DIY style, since his time with Toy Love.
Knox's "It's Love", from the 2000 album Beat, has been used in "Share the Good", a Heineken Premium Light
Heineken Premium Light
Heineken Premium Light is a light beer brewed by Heineken for the United States market. It was introduced in 2005. Heineken light reportedly has: 99 calories per 12 oz. bottle and 6.8 grams of carbohydrates. The beer has fewer calories, fewer carbohydrates, and less alcohol than lager beers...
commercial directed by Todd Haynes
Todd Haynes
Todd Haynes is an American independent film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his feature films Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Poison, Velvet Goldmine, Safe, and the Academy Award-nominated Far from Heaven and I'm Not There.- Style and themes :The writes that "Haynes is...
and cinematographed by Edward Lachman
Edward Lachman
Edward Lachman A.S.C. is an American cinematographer. Lachman is mostly associated with the American independent film movement, and has served as director of photography on films by Todd Haynes and I'm Not There in 2007 and Steven Soderbergh such as Erin Brockovich ...
.
On 11 June 2009 Knox was admitted to Auckland hospital suffering from a stroke. The album Stroke - Songs For Chris Knox was released in New Zealand on 16 November 2009. It features 33 artists performing Knox's songs. The album is a way for Knox's fans to contribute to the costs of his rehabilitation. All artists contributed their time and talent without charge. Artists include Jay Reatard
Jay Reatard
Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr. , better known by the stage name Jay Reatard, was an American musician from Memphis, Tennessee. Lindsey was signed to Matador Records...
, David Kilgour
David Kilgour (musician)
David Kilgour is a musician from Dunedin, a city in the South Island of New Zealand. He first started playing guitar as a teenager in the late 1970s...
, The Mint Chicks
The Mint Chicks
The Mint Chicks were an experimental noise rock/power pop group originally from Auckland, New Zealand, who relocated to Portland, Oregon, USA in 2007...
, Shayne Carter
Shayne Carter
Shayne Carter is best-known for being the Straitjacket Fits' principal singer/songwriting/guitarist in the late 80s/early 90s, and later on a founding member of Dimmer.Carter comes from a musical family...
, Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo, sometimes abbreviated as YLT, is an American alternative rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan , Georgia Hubley , and James McNew .Despite achieving limited mainstream success, Yo La Tengo has been called "the quintessential...
, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Bill Callahan, The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats is an American indie rock band formed in Claremont, CA by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. For many years, the sole member of the Mountain Goats was Darnielle himself, despite the plural moniker....
, The Bats
The Bats
The Bats are an influential New Zealand rock band formed in 1982 in Christchurch by Paul Kean , Malcolm Grant , Robert Scott and Kaye Woodward...
, The Chills
The Chills
The Chills are a guitar and keyboard-based rock band from Dunedin, New Zealand. In the 1980s and 1990s, they were one of the proponents of the Dunedin Sound.- History :...
, The Verlaines
The Verlaines
The Verlaines are a rock band from Dunedin, New Zealand. Formed in 1981 by Graeme Downes, Craig Easton, Anita Pillai, Phillip Higham and Greg Kerr, the band went through multiple line-ups before going on an extended hiatus after their 1997 album Over The Moon. In 2003 a career retrospective, You're...
, Jeff Mangum
Jeff Mangum
Jeff Mangum is a musician best known for being the lyricist, vocalist and guitarist of the band Neutral Milk Hotel, as well as being one of the cofounders of The Elephant 6 Recording Company. Mangum, along with the other founding members of the Elephant 6, attended Ruston High School in the late...
, The Nothing (including Chris), Tall Dwarfs and Lou Barlow
Lou Barlow
Louis Knox Barlow is an American alternative rock musician and songwriter. A founding member of the groups Deep Wound, Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh and The Folk Implosion. Barlow is credited with helping to pioneer the lo-fi style of rock music in the late 1980s and early 1990s...
.
The Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
arts venue Le Poisson Rouge hosted a benefit concert for Knox on 6 May 2010. Artists included Jeff Mangum and Yo La Tengo, who both participated in the 2009 benefit album for Knox.
Discography
- Songs for Cleaning Guppies (1981)
- Guppiplus (1987)
- Seizure (1988)
- Croaker (1991)
- Polyfoto, Duck-Shaped Pain and Gum (one CD, 1993)
- Meat (compilation of tracks from Seizure and Croaker, 1993)
- Songs Of You And Me (1995)
- Yes!! (1997)
- Almost (bonus CD to go with Yes!!, 1999)
- Beat (2000)
- Inaccuracies & Omissions (as Friend, 2002)
- Chris Knox And The Nothing (as Chris Knox and The Nothing, 2005)
- A Warm Gun (as The Nothing, 2008)
- Stroke - Songs for Chris Knox (various artists, 2009)
External links
- Official Chris Knox website
- NZ Listener Interview with Chris Knox
- Chris Knox + 0 - official MySpace site
- NZOnScreen collection of Chris Knox's music videos
- NZOnScreen biography
- Interview with Knox by Roger Shepherd Part 1 and Part 2