The Demon Nation story, as told by Nigel Von Toxic
Demon Nation logo courtesy of Martin Emond

Demon Nation Music (Established 1997):- My first album was relased on Brian Wafers Ima Hitt label, unfortunately EMI had thrown the only vinyl press in NZ into the ocean. True to the punk DIY. ethic that I had been raised around it was clear with no vinyl press Ima Hitt could only make cassettes and we had the contacts to do that ourselves. Wasteland Records was born as a co-op for the New Plymouth underground bands to release under a unified name, in time it became mostly used by me.

Step 2- It was time to move on to CDs. I became involved with new Auckland label Handgun Syndicate run by a former band member and friend. We learned how to make a CD and put out Evilis - 'Cult of Youth' EP and the '20th Century Animal' compilation, showcasing the best of NZ music we felt was being ignored. With my flat in Auckland demolished I returned to New Plymouth in 1997 & started my own label (hobbie), Demon Nation Music, which was non-profit and DIY. The only concern I had was to have enough money from the last release to pay for the next! As a musician, singer songwriter and con artist my goal was to have a label with a cool logo (Thanks to Martin Emond-RIP) that I could use to release my many projects and help other local bands by releasing their CDs or puting them on my compilations, as well as re-establishing tour circuts, putting on shows and making contacts worldwide. No small feat from a small town like New Plymouth! Demon Nation is still going strong to this day, still looking for new talent, new conections and new deals. Making music videos and albums with the same DIY concept I started with.

The Internet and PC are becoming the greatest tool we have, the future will hopefully be pressed on vinyl but the next step is giving albums away as free downloads. We have made the new {Horror Story} album available this way and will eventully have our back catalog available via download too. Music before money! We have released 25 albums, 5 EPs and 4 compilations (Our archives are ready to burst) and we have bands included on many local and international compilations. We continue to support local punk, metal and
underground ventures.

Horror Story are playing at The Royal, Palmerston North on 18 August with Dr. Monster, Black Chrome and The Methadonnas. Full gig details are here.

- Nigel Von Toxic

Thanks to Nigel Von Toxic for providing write ups for all band features in this newsletter.

Above image courtesy of M. Hurtardo

Having started this band almost 13 years ago things seem to be winding down, that said it's business as usual. 5 albums, 3 EPs, 7 music videos (all self made and funded), a handfull of compilations and a whole lot of live shows covered in sweat, white facepaint, studs, spikes and skeleton suits, winning a tour of USA and being NZ's 4th most downloaded band on MySpace (both in 2005), a video with almost 80,000 YouTube hits and opening for punk legends like The Misfits and UK Subs to mention just a few!! This has all been a build up to this years new album 'This Graveyard Earth'!

3 bass players and 4-5 drummers later we have the best line up so far enabling us to make a mature & layered album. With the help of some local Arts Council funding & cheap rates of King St Studios in our home town of New Plymouth, we not only made our most viable product to date but did so at a small enough cost to give the album away as a free download available from www.horror-punks.com and on our Facebook page. We hope this will go viral. In the mean time we plan on making more videos to help connect with our international fanbase. CD copies of the album are now available from us at gigs or message us, Vinyl Countdown in New Plymouth also stock our stuff and do mail orders. Internationally you can get our CDs at www.interpunk.com USA and Contra-Light records in Germany.

The ultimate step would be to see the new album and our back catalog out on record, we have plans to make all our stuff available for free download. For the immediate future we are playing what is being billed as our last tour, we aren't splitting up but are at a point where the live thing will only happen on special occassions. We will be in Palmerston North on August 18 (The Royal) and New Plymouth on August 24, if you want us in your town let us know - more dates are to be confirmed. If you like melodic punk, horror movies and corpse paint, we are your new favorite band! Catch us live with our boys Black Chrome and label mates Dr. Monster!

Horror Story is Dr Hell (vocals), Nigel Von Toxic (guitar), S Toxic (bass) and J Mayhem (drums).

Website Links

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Amplifier Page
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Formed in New Plymouth in January 2010, Von Toxic (Horror Story/Cyclotrode X) started teaching Dave Monster how to play bass. With Von Toxic on drums, they were soon joined by Stefan X (Red Hot Pussy Liquor/Death City Rockers))on guitar, local metal singer Mike Jaques (Life Lament) brought it to life with a deathly howl and graveyard croon, bringing a fresh take to the horror punk and dark rock sound produced by the band.

An album worth of songs was recorded live at Studio 15 in June 2010. Von Toxic added a second guitar and mixed the album in early 2011. Their debut album 'From Beyond' (2011) was released on Von Toxic's Demon Nation label and included a 5 song EP recorded earlier in the year.

Fast forward to 2012- we have added a second guitar player (Glen Reaper of Cyclotrode X) and released our second album 'Death Devine' which is starting to get noticed in its genre, available in USA on www.interpunk.com. We have also appeared along with fellow Demon Nation Bands Horror Story and Cyclotrode X on a 2011 free download compilation from www.horror-punks.com and we are also about to appear on this years compilation. We have a link on our Facebook profile that will take you to a free download of our new album Death Devine!

We are getting ready to play the Horror Story album launch in Palmerston North on August 18 at The Royal, then we play New Plymouth on September 1, followed by another gig in Palmerston North a week later playing at the Brutalitees Birthday Bash. Future plans are to work on a third album, make a video or 2 and play more live shows.

Dr. Monster is Mike Jacques (vocals), Nigel Von Toxic (drums), Stefan X (guitar), Glen Reaper (guitar) and Monster (bass).

Website Links

Muzic.net.nz Page
Facebook Page

Death Devine Album Review

Formed in November 2006 when Horror Story main songwriter, guitarist and backup vocalist Von Toxic wanted to get back to the front of the stage to sing (having been singer in Post Mortem Depression, Toxic Avengers, Nefarious, Death City Rockers, Nekrotika and Flesh D-Vice). He was joined by Horror Story drummer Craig Psycho and bassist Shawn Toxic with newcomer Nik Feratu on lead guitar and Death City Rockers guitarist Glenn Reaper for the 'Fang Club' recording in January 2007. Like all of Von Toxic's CDs it was released on his Demon Nation label.

In 2008 Psycho left both bands to sing in his new band, Shut the Hell Up! He was replaced by Jackal Mayhem, who is now also in Horror Story. The new line up released the 'Slaughterhouse Heart' album in 2008 followed by a promo clip for 'Burning' (made by C.Psycho). With their instant cult classic 'All I Wanna Do (Is Fuck The Dead)' appearing on two compilations, 'Control Freaks Rule The World' and Dead Records' 'Generation Dead'. Recordings from 2009 were recently released as 'Return Of The Crimson Ghost'. At this time Stefan X from Dr. Monster and Red Hot Pussy Liquor took over as lead guitarist. Having re-recorded some earlier tracks the band are working on songs for a new album. More promo clips and gigs will follow...

Cyclotrode X is Nigel Von Toxic (vocals, guitar), S.Toxic (bass), G.Reaper (guitar), Stefan X (guitar) and Jackal Mayhem (drums).

Website Links

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MySpace Page
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This May, 1080 got back together after 8 years and played thier 18th anniversary show to a full New Plymouth bar. Demon Nation came through and re-released the bands two out-of-print albums as a remastered CD collection! It was such a good night and we are hoping to do it again next year and play a few shows around the island. We are also planninng to put a new album out to coincide with this. Our guitarist lives in Australia and we all have other bands (Renee sings and plays bass in CO3 and Radio Therapy, Craig drums in Rouge Bombers, Dan is in bands in Australia and I play in Horror Story, Cyclotrode X, GFNR and Dr. Monster) so it's on the back burner right now.

We are happy to have the new collection CD out and between that and the gig we have been inspired to do what we can. To have fun and connect with others is a great thing, to have people enjoy what you are doing is a big pay-off, let's face it there's not alot of money in it so support and a positve audience reaction play a big part in confirming that you are a good band with good songs. We come from the punk underground so we never got into it for fame or money. If that's your motivation to make music it's a bad one.

We have so many great bands in NZ that go virtually unnoticed while the people of big industry tell us what is good, all they care about is money. The best NZ bands have to be sort out. Thanks to sites like www.muzic.net.nz and the web for giving us a platform. The modern musician needs thier band/instruments and the internet! If you're in a band you should support other bands, go to shows - when you aren't playing! The live experience should be inspiring not a empty bar! Don't let anyone bring you down and don't give in, play and record as much as possible. I'm in it for life, when I die my skeleton will still be playing shows and a ton of albums will represent me when im gone!

1080 is Craig Hanscombe (drums), Nigel Toxic (bass), Daniel Gretch (guitar) and Renee 'Ragdoll' Leishman (vocals).

Website Links

Muzic.net.nz Page
MySpace Page

theaudience.co.nz announces July’s unreleased Focus Chart winner - Lisa Crawley

Following the much-anticipated launch on 1 June and a hugely successful first chart month, theaudience.co.nz has continued to move from strength to strength, with new artists and tracks being added each day. Boasting an impressive 500+ artists using the site, over 400 released tracks, close to 700 unreleased tracks and more than 100,000 website visitors in just over 2 months, the website is certainly a valuable addition to the New Zealand music industry.

Appealing to a wide range of musicians, bands and New Zealand music fans the website attracts visitors from as far away as Romania and the Philippines, all with one thing in common - discovering new music. These visitors have all been streaming, sharing, downloading and voting for their favourite artists and there’s been some fierce competition this month, particularly between the top two, Marc Pritchard and Lisa Crawley.

Despite the neck-and-neck dash to the finish line, theaudience.co.nz is proud to announce that Lisa Crawley is the second recipient of the NZ On Air ‘Wild Card’ Making Tracks grant, finishing in the #1 position at midnight on 31 July. Her song ‘What Would I Give” was the most popular ‘unreleased’ track on the Focus Chart for the month of July on theaudience.co.nz, and you can listen to her winning track here: http://www.theaudience.co.nz/lisa-crawley/what-would-i-give-demo/

Full Article

Going Global Music Summit 2012 - Now Going To Christchurch

Independent Music New Zealand is proud to announce that the GOING GLOBAL MUSIC SUMMIT 2012 will include CHRISTCHURCH as well as repeat visits to Wellington and Auckland this September - the dates are listed below.

The Christchurch leg of the Going Global Music Summit is proudly supported by CHART, RDU98.5fm, CPIT, Dux Live and CJ’s Musicworks Christchurch.

If you are looking to take your music overseas, come and hear from people who are working with both new and established artists on the global stage.

Full Article

Dawn Raid Entertainment Signs Reggae Band Brownhill

It’s no secret that Pacific Reggae has made big strides on the world music stage in recent years and Dawn Raid Entertainment are pleased to announce the newest addition to the iconic local label, Wellington-based nine-piece band, BrownHill.

BrownHill is made up of nine Samoan friends all born & raised in Wellington, who individually harnessed their musical abilities through strict Church upbringings.

Independently releasing their own self-titled EP in 2011, the irresistible appeal of singles “First Love” featuring Reggae legend Fiji, and “My Girl” found an immediate audience with Reggae fans all over the world.

Lead singer Caesar Masoe’s deep and arresting vocals struck a cord with Dawn Raid founder Brotha D who recognized a classic Reggae sound, which mixed with talent and a stamp of creativity from the other eight members made an exciting proposition.

Full Article

New Releases, Tour and Gig Announcements

New Album for Dear Times Waste

New Way Home release debut album

Electric Wire Hustle to play Europe's Best Major Festival

Ed Sheeran returning to NZ in 2013!

Billy Bragg NZ Tour

Ryan Kershaw on tour

Musiq Soulchild Announces One NZ Show

Far East Movement, Karmin and Jupiter Project play Auckland Town Hall in September!

The Lyttelton Rough House Revival Tour

The Concert, Christchurch

The Warratahs Announce 25 Year Anniversary South Island Tour

Other NZ Music News
Gig and Tour News
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Alistar interviewed SansArcade for muzic.net.nz. You can read the interview here.

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The next muzic.net.nz newsletteris going out on Sunday 26 August
and will feature Both Sides of the Line!

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