Coconut Rough

03-03-10 Coconut Rough

7" AS GOOD AS IT GETS / BALANCING ACT MUSHROOM NZ K 9049

1983 2 TRKS with pic sleeve

LP COCONUT ROUGH MUSHROOM NZ L 38216

1984 10 TRKS P. Judd cover art

7" LEISURE TIME / ONCE IN A WHILE MUSHROOM NZ K 9701

1984 2 TRKS no pic sleeve

7" MAGIC HOUR / PASSENGER SEAT MUSHROOM NZ K 9055

1984 2 TRKS with pic sleeve

12" SIERRA LEONE (1^st vers.) MUSHROOM NZ X 14036

1983 3 TRKS with pic sleeve

12" SIERRA LEONE (2^nd vers.) MUSHROOM NZ X 14045

1983 3 TRKS with pic sleeve

7" SIERRA LEONE / MONKEY PUZZLE MUSHROOM NZ K 9047

1983 2 TRKS with pic sleeve

LP WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK CBS NZ SBP 247956

1983 10 TRKS Live, 'split' album w/ The Narcs

Kiwi pop music. I did this one in real time, so I think I have listed all known works of the NZ band Coconut Rough. Mark Bell came from Blam Blam Blam and Andrew Snoid (aka Andrew MacLennan) came from Pop Mechanix. Later in their career, they were joined by Bones Hillman, who was in The Swingers. Who remembers me touting this band in ‘83/4?

First out of the gate was the ‘split’ live LP (“Whistle While You Work”) with The Narcs, another decent kiwi 80’s band. It was good, but I knew they could do better.

I must’ve been the exact intended audience for this band. Their debut studio LP even had cover art by Split Enz songwriter Phil Judd! As Split Enz were well on their way to breaking up in ’84, it seemed to me that there was room for a commercial kiwi band to take their place – and, for the most part, Coconut Rough were that band.

But it was not to be. I never had the opportunity to see them live; the studio LP didn’t get good notices in NZ. “Sierra Leone” had been received decently, but the LP…on the nascent Mushroom NZ label didn’t appear to capture the imagination of the Australasian punter. Perhaps some of the band members had a ‘dis-taste’ for Australia?

I remember trying to hook them up with a guy at Arista Records in New York City. He must’ve stayed at Arista, because eventually Arista did get a kiwi band – Straitjacket Fits, to be exact.

I probably read in the pages of Rip It Up or saw on Countdown RTR (Radio With Pictures?) that they broke up – no real 2^nd album for Coconut Rough. Ah, well.

I went to New Zealand 7 times in the 1980’s, and I had the good fortune to see lots of great kiwi bands, and I got to meet lots of kiwi musicians…I’m even a page in the John Dix book (in reference to my cassette of a D.D. Smash show in Auckland being used to acquit Dave Dobbyn of inciting a riot). Coconut Rough deserved better than they got. As far as I know, their Mushroom NZ album hasn’t ever been re-issued on CD.