Peter Gutteridge is the man who launched a thousand Flying Nun bands. Founding member of The Clean, the Chills, the Great Unwashed, Snapper and the Puddle, Gutteridge released one solo album, Pure, on Xpressway Records in 1989 which was recorded between 1986–1987.
"1989 Xpressway, 1 of the finest labels ever 2 exist release Pure. A collection of fragments and completed songs recorded on a Fostex 4 track. They were all written 2 tape, ideas going down as I made them up. I was my own technician. There were no studio bills or aesthetics 2 deal with. Recording in a studio after this experience was a frustration.
"Once in a while, I believe u become a kind of channel, even if slightly muddled. The tainted shamen? I don’t know. What I can say is this record yer hopefully holding in hand had its genesis long b4 I ever picked up a guitar. Ive always loved a dirty drone. Notes corrupted and split apart by the miracle of the sympathetic note- ie. Bagpipe, chanters, organs, piano’s, ad infinitum. Throw a few clear notes in and you achieve creation on yr own terms. Link it up 2 the background hum of the universe doing its thing and u have hypnosis in a sound. Shmaya.
"Now a word about distortion- fate smiled on me the day an Alron Doubler fell into my hands. Transistors are indeed wonderful things- that multiplicity of notes generated bespeaking some giant periodic table of the cosmos spewing song out of yr humble speakers. I was always blown away by the sheer variety of directions made possible by this small simple piece of divine circuitry with just 2 knobs! And I had the time, I realized this was the moment. This thing had been breathing through me all my life! The stars were in the right position 2 deliver a dose of cosmic junk 2 the hungry ears of N.Z. (The guys 2 doors along View St, Morley, Merritt and visiting co-conspirators thought the same, getting onto and forming their own opinions and units of corruption. ie. Dead C and other miscellaneous. Details- I havnt really got the patience today- whew Dunedin 1986, 7, & 9, quite a remarkable place.)
"Pure. Chris Hazlewood, that fine and erudite man slipped me a few notes on the subject. It comes down 2 the essence of things. Music is the food upon which our souls thrives. Its not a luxury. Its an essential. Children simply don’t grow up properly without it. Look back 2 any relatively sane part of human history and u find pulse and melody were a natural part of human existence.
"Pure- it’s a 7 yr old called Fenris with his 1st guitar and a Marshall stack, he visits his grandma Liz over the road and if Im lucky pops over, takes in the pulse and sound of things. Immersion in the sacred tide. Ive taught him Buddy. Shmaya- the light and vibration in A. He has a brother called Nate who’s autistic and calls himself Beethoven- shards of language and music flowing him all the time. Now, that’s Pure.
“Pure- 1989, this humble cassette strikes the deck and b4 u know it- everybody’s using it, wence b4 its only commercial use was 2 describe Speed. As Ive discovered personally use the word Pure and yve got a long way 2 fall- take note any 1 using this word! Pure= you betta B!”