THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Take yourself back — 30 years ago, give or take a year or so. It was 1993, The Hard-Ons had called it a day after touring Europe and America for almost half the year. It just wasn’t working anymore. Prog-hardcore outfit Massappeal also folded around 1994.
Soon after, Massappeal‘s Peter Allen, and The Hard-Ons’ Peter Black and Ray Ahn found themselves starting a new band — Nunchukka Superfly. They tried out singers for almost a year before Harpoon’s James (aka JJ) McCann came along; luckily this time it clicked.
They hit the ground running with high-profile supports and festivals due to the reputations of their previous bands. This beast was something different, though; some punters pushed back as it wasn’t what they were expecting. This spurred the band on to give 110% and push their musicality to a new level. They were a powerhouse who often blew other bands off the stage. But the honeymoon didn’t last long; by 1995, cracks began showing as the band started to “not get on so well.”
The album Nunchukka Superfly 95 was recorded in one day; considering the hostility, the recording went exceptionally well. As the band describe the day and the music — “you can hear that tension” in the “volatile” and “intense” recordings. It was a moment in time captured on tape. If you tried to create it again, you couldn’t.
This lineup of the band played one last show at the Big Day Out in 1996, Blackie recalls the show: “We hadn’t even spoken, let alone rehearsed for fuck knows how long and I wasn’t even sure the other guys were gonna show up. Ha! But 10 minutes before we were meant to go on stage, there we were. We kinda grunted at each other and took the stage. Fucken hell, it was something!!! I’ll never forget that gig!”
Nunchukka Superfly continued with Ray and Blackie, the album was shelved and that was it. Well, until a couple of years ago when James found a copy of the master CD. The years had passed, and peace had been made between the four musicians. Listening back to the recordings, they knew this album had to see the light of day. So here it is, just as James describes it: “Raw and straight from the gates of hell.”
