Post-punk trio Blam Blam Blam coalesced in Auckland from the remains of band The Whizz Kids: Don McGlashan (drums), Mark Bell (guitar) and Tim Mahon (bass). Their second single was ‘There is No Depression in New Zealand’ — legendary theme song for the Springbok Tour-marred winter of 1981. A van crash seriously injured Mahon and spelt the end of the Blam. McGlashan later formed The Mutton Birds, before going solo. Mark Bell played in Coconut Rough and The Jordan Luck Band, and has written for NZ Musician. Tim Mahon joined Dead Sea Scrolls and spent time as Manukau City Council's arts coordinator.

A bittersweet Auckland 'goodbye' from Kiwi post-punk band Blam Blam Blam, after bad luck stopped them in their tracks. In 1982 bassist Tim Mahon was seriously injured in a van accident and the band decided to call time. In 1984 they briefly reunited and recorded this Radio with Pictures special for a live album. The footage is intercut with reviews tracking their career, and a brief interview with Don McGlashan and Mark Bell. The euphonium takes centre stage for 'Don't Fight it Marsha...' and McGlashan takes over drums for alternative anthem 'There is No Depression in New Zealand'.

Don McGlashan has played drums, horns, guitars and PVC pipes, created memorable songs with Blam Blam Blam, The Mutton Birds and as a solo artist, and won a run of awards for his soundtrack work. As Nick Bollinger puts it in this backgrounder, his songs are good for occasions big and small. 

It's the holidays: time to let your hair down, have a swim, give in to your appetite...and have a boogie. From Kings to The Clean, from 'Ten Guitars' to 'Trippin', let NZ On Screen supply the music, with this epic playlist of classic Kiwi party songs. In the backgrounder, music fan and publicity maestro Nicky Harrop takes us through the tracks, before bidding adieu to NZ On Screen.

NZ On Screen has selected this collection of 30 Kiwi love songs, which spans 50 years of music. The list ranges widely — from an early Loxene Golden Disc winner for Ray Columbus and the Invaders, to Dragon in the 70s, and in the 80s, everyone from Blam Blam Blam to Prince Tui Teka. Entries from later decades include Tiki Taane and Unknown Mortal Orchestra. That's not even the half of it: along the way, check out a trio of classics whose take on romance is positively oceanic: 'Anchor Me', 'Sway' and 'Not Given Lightly'. 

Blam Blam Blam’s second hit from 1981 was angular and artsy, hook-filled but unsettling: all qualities captured in a theatrical video, directed by Andrew Shaw. Clowns, magicians, fire-eaters and trick cyclists join the band, while actors play out the saga of ‘Don’t Fight It, Marsha’. The actors — including Phillip Gordon (Came a Hot Friday), Michael Hurst and Donogh Rees (Constance) — were directed by Harry Sinclair, who would later join Blam band member Don McGlashan in The Front Lawn. The Len Lye-style scratch effects were by Jenny Pullar, the Blams’ lighting designer.

This track by Auckland post-punk trio Blam Blam Blam became a theme song for the long, troubled winter of 1981, as New Zealand was wracked by division during the Springbok rugby tour. Poet and playwright Richard von Sturmer wrote the lyrics; the music was by Blams drummer Don McGlashan. The video features the band after dark on the roof of TVNZ’s old Shortland Street studios in Auckland, alongside fleeting shots of Kiwi celebrity lawnmowing. The dancing Marmite and Vegemite jars were originally created for a piece of political theatre written by von Sturmer.

Former Blam Blam Blam, Front Lawn and Mutton Birds member, Don McGlashan takes time out from making his first solo album to talk about songwriting in this episode from a series made for high school music students. McGlashan is passionate in exhorting his audience to write their own songs and make their own voices heard. Acoustic versions of his classic 'Dominion Road' (written about a neighbouring street) and another Mutton Birds number 'White Valiant' (based on a dream) underline his enthusiasm for writing about immediate surroundings, not faraway places.

Don McGlashan began his career as a restless teenage French horn player. He started to thrive in the post-punk era, writing iconic songs with Blam Blam Blam, mixing theatre and music with The Front Lawn and composing for film and TV, before forming The Mutton Birds in 1991. This episode of Sunday traverses McGlashan's life as he launches his belated solo career. Friends like Dave Dobbyn and Mike Chunn wax lyrical about McGlashan's talents, and snippets from his 2003 Auckland Festival show at the St James Theatre demonstrate why he is so beloved in Kiwi music history.

In 2006, Th’ Dudes reformed after 26 years. This documentary follows them on a national tour as members Peter Urlich, Dave Dobbyn, Ian Morris, Lez White and Bruce Hambling reflect on their former lives as late 70s pop stars. Encouraged to behave like stars, they didn’t disappoint. There are frank discussions about sex, drugs, an obscene t-shirt, on-stage nudity and other bad behaviour — but also the stories behind classic songs like ‘Bliss’, ‘Right First Time’ and ‘Be Mine Tonight’, which still captivate adoring, if aging, audiences a quarter of a century later.