SHE'S INSANE : SHE'S INSANE ALBUM EYE016
SHE'S INSANE: HISTORY
The name of the band had been an issue for quite some time. Names of feminine products did not quite suit, so after some wisecracks by Tasha the drummer the name SHE'S INSANE seemed fitting. Talk to her you'll see why . . . From out of nowhere, well New Brighton to be exact come SHE'S INSANE led by the twin vocal harmonies of sisters Tasha French (drums) and Maria Due (rhythm guitar), ably backed up by the lads - guitarist and original member Pete Thomson and recent recruit (bassist Adam Gallagher ex HOLY TOLEDOS and FINNEGANS).
The band's self-titled debut is choka full of power pop that has a definite rock edge via that punchy, crunchy guitar, see 'em live and you'll know. After just 18 months these guys can foot it with the best of them, "Definitely one NZ band you do not want to miss - they rock" NZ Musician Nov 1998.
Winners of the Christchurch REJUVINATION Battle of the Bands 1997, SHE'S INSANE beat 60 other entries. Remembering that The Feelers won the 1996 contest. They were the most requested band on RDU in 1998, now getting the same kind of response on commercial radio in Christchurch.
Their debut self titled album has15 Songs covering their year or so in existence, here we have a recording that has captured the bands energetic live performance along with tunes and vocals where they should be - UP FRONT. It's Infectious, with many stand out tracks, especially on the buoyant pop of DAISY, NAVARO, SUCH LIVIN', BABY ONE and BROKEN, so much so that they're fast becoming the pop darlings of the South. When it comes to 3 minute pop tunes SHE'S INSANE send you right back to the alternative pop glory days of the late 80's and early 90's.
Short snappy bouncy up tempo pop, with gorgeous female harmonised vocals . At first listen SHE'S INSANE are the kind of band that is compared to so many before them, with few naming the same group that they're supposed to sound like . . . THE BREEDERS, VERUCA SALT, THE PRIMITIVES, CATATONIA, THE BANGLES, SIOUXSIE, THE PIXIES, REPUBLICA, ELASTICA . . . the list goes on from person to person, given time (remembering they'd only been about for 18 months when the album was released) this band's twin vocal harmonies, songwriting and musicianship will develop a sound of their own for NZ to enjoy into the new millennium.
SHE'S INSANE give us timeless music from a guitar, bass, drum combo . . . simplicity, its a wonder why more bands don't follow this style of accessibility, skills that few possess and testament to this band as a pop-music and song creating force .
SHE'S INSANE : REVIEWS
THE LISTENER : Nic Bollinger
SHE'S INSANE till a grungy turf on their self titles debut, but this Christchurch group's great asset is the melodic vocal front-line of Maria Due and harmonising drummer Tasha French. Due has a great trashy pop voice, evocative of 60's girl groups such as the SHANGRI-LAS, and her band has the cut to the chase immediacy of early RAMONES. The last 40 years of pop culture is up for grabs in these songs; ELVIS and TELETUBBIES are both name checked. With a demographic so wide, surely these bubble-grungers can't miss.
NZ MUSICIAN : Jennifer Scott
SHE'S INSANE is a Christchurch group apparently brought up on a pop diet of THE PIXIES and VERUCA SALT - and a healthy diet this has proved to be. While hugely derivative of these bands, the 15 track CD has an infectious and fresh energy about it that is irresistible. The main strength of the album is the strong vocals from sisters Maria Due and Tasha French that always stay on the right line of alternative cool rather than being merely pretty. The album was recorded, mixed and mastered at Blast studios in Christchurch and produced by the band, and has a clean, accomplished sound. The vocals particularly are clear and loud and it may have been better to have the guitars rocking out a bit more in tandem. While some of the lyrics are a bit cutesy (TELETUBBIES) when the band extends beyond its influences it comes up trumps, as on stand out track BROKEN. The best thing about this album is that it contains a tremendous sense of fun. Definitely the sort of album you can put on, turn up and dance around your bedroom singing into your hairbrush to.
CHRISTCHURCH PRESS : Sharon McIver
The first thing you notice about SHE'S INSANE's debut album is that the vocals have been brought right to the fore, which emphasises the wonderful harmonies of sisters Maria and Tasha. There is an unmistakable Boston connection (Tanya Donnelly, Kim Deal), especially on the buoyant pop of tracks DAISY, NAVARO and SUCH LIVIN', but elsewhere the Christchurch band develops their own style - a eulogy to the king, ELVIS takes a surfin' grunge guitar line and dresses it up with BANGLES style harmonising, while BABY ONE finds a more introspective groove. The album is let down by a couple of throwaway novelty tracks, but when it comes to three minute pop songs, SHE'S INSANE send you right back to the alternative pop glory days.
CD STAR : Internet Music Retail Site
Fifteen tight and punchy power pop songs from one of Christchurch's best kept secrets, but not for long. Absolutely has been getting good airplay on the b Net stations and this debut signing with Yellow Eye, should spread the word about the talented four piece that rocks like the RAMONES and sings like LUSCIOUS JACKSON. Less than half the songs here make it past three minutes in length but thats plenty of time for SHE'S INSANE to state their case in witty, sometimes scathing, capricious fashion. You've got to warm to a band that introduce themselves with DAISY - a DEVO leaning ditty about a mad cow and corporate immortality and follows on with a tongue in cheek tribute to TELETUBBIES and ELVIS. VITRIOL never sounded so cute and sexy. There maybe a few recycled guitar riffs evident on SHE'S INSANE but they never hang around long enough to bother, and hell with fifteen potential singles, who cares? Check em out you're mad if you don't.
SHE'S INSANE : AUTO-BIO
MARIA DUE
Music, although not musicianship wise (apart from the banting of Mums Ukelele), was a major part of our upbringing. I still recall the tapes of us 3 girls singing pre-school, the weekends where the stereo would blare full bore from early Saturday morning to Sunday evening and the carpet worm where we would dance and sing all weekend long. (I was always proud of the fact that we had the coolest stereo in the street). The many trips away where we would sing in the back seat in 3 part harmonies to THE KINKS, THE BEATLES and the Rock Operas that we had down pat having not even seen them. The talent quests we would enter at all the picnics etc and how we used to win them all except for one where we sang a song I had written and we came 2nd. I was devastated.
In school I was always interested in all the production shows and in the 1st form. I put together a small show of a couple of scenes from GREASE and I played John Travolta and thought I was totally cool. In High School I hated science, so I'd go to class for Roll Call then I'd sneak off to the music room and play with the guitar there with a few other school mates and ended up being the guitarist in a very uncool band (I could play A, D and open chords) and played one evening performance in front of a full assembly hall of parents and hated every minute of it.
A year later I got a job working for the Commercial Bank, now known as Westpactrust whom I have been with for 17 years. About the age of 26 I decided I wanted to learn to play guitar and met up with Kerry who was going out with the guitarist in MURDER INC - a band I was majorly into at the time and she was keen to learn bass so we went to lessons together and decided we needed some drums to add some oomph to our jams. (We were ready for the big time after mastering our first song A FOREST by THE CURE). Tasha was now part of the unit and we just needed a singer so we got my husband Mike to sing and this enabled us to move from the garage to the living room. Pete was a long time friend and had loads of experience in the music scene having been in bands before so he would come and assist in the jamming and drinking.
Six months later we were supporting PUMPKINHEAD for our 1st gig. I was breast feeding my 6 month old baby Georgia at the time and between sets would take off home to feed here. This gig I think was the worst experience of my life . . . their engineer told me I needed to practice some more.
From here we did many cover gigs but we weren't your average cover band. We were pretty narrow minded (and still are) about music that we like so we only covered music we were into. Mostly the BUZZCOCKS, WIRE, ANTI PASTI, THE PIXIES, THE BREEDERS, VERUCA SALT, BUTTHOLE SURFERS, THE CLEAN, MURDER INC, THE SWINGERS, TOY LOVE, we are all major NZ music lovers.
After a while the cover thing got boring as we were exploring with a couple of songs I'd written - DAISY and SCHEIT.
At the end of '97 a music competition came up and you only needed to play for 20 minutes so we got busy and put together 3 more songs and entered. We were blown away to win our heat and even more shocked to win the competition. The prize enabled us to record a 10 track live recording which we sent to a few record labels and eventually we signed with Yellow Eye. People often ask "where do you guys come from?" and we say "New Brighton!!!!!"
TASHA FRENCH
Since childhood we have always been a musical family. Not in an instrumental sense but we loved to sing. Mum and Dad made sure that we listened to all the major musicals from HAIR to JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR - songs which still get bashed out by Maria and I whenever we're on tour.
Since my older two sisters were into punk music I was bound to follow, a phase that my new intermediate school politely accepted. I don't mind admitting that I was never the brightest student but I loved the school choirs and finally being able to take drum lessons in the fourth form made school that much more pleasant to attend. After a year of banging on a little rubber pad I decided I'd had enough and gave up until the seventh form when I was approached by a friend and asked if I would like to be lead singer for a Christian cover band. Although I wasn't a practicing Christian the thought of being in a band was exciting. My first major gig was in front of 2000 Christians at the Christchurch town hall- a gig that went well but one that I would rather forget. Needless to say I was only in that band for a couple of months before they realised that I never went to church on a Sunday and they weren't keen on a non-believer. So once again my dreams of being a rock goddess were shattered.
Still not knowing what I wanted to do when I left school, I threw myself at the mercy of the government, doing part-time jobs here and there until I'd saved enough money to embark on my first on many trips to Hawaii, totally unaware that Maria had started taking guitar lessons. Upon my return I get a phone call from her telling me that she had met a girl called Kerry who had just started taking bass lessons and that I should use my hard earned Government money and purchase a snare drum and some brushes so that we could have a jam. Although our attempts at playing songs by THE CURE, U2 and THE VIOLENT FEMMES were bad there were many a hearty laugh to be heard coming from the garage we proudly called our jam room. Most of the songs we were picking to cover were sung by males so we roped Maria's husband Mike into singing for us. By then I had obtained an extremely old but much treasured drum kit and we had been promoted to jamming in the lounge - maybe the fact that the liquor cabinet was far more accessible might have had something to do with it.
The name of the band had been an issue for quite some time- names of feminine products didnÕt quite suit so after some wisecracks by myself the name SHE'S INSANE seemed fitting and so we were born. I had been roped into doing some back-up vocals and with the addition of another singer and an extra guitarist we were given our first gig with the mighty PUMPKINHEAD. Maria recalls this gig as the worst ever. I, on the otherhand, was so excited to be up there playing our punk covers and having such a great time. I had finally found what I wanted to do!!!!!!