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Redeye

Decade(s) active:

Elsewhere online:

We say:

Line-Up:
Dennis Mason (Percussion / Saxophone / Vocals)
John O’Connor (Guitar)
Frits Stigter (Bass Guitar)
Tom Swainson (Drums)
Bob Smith (Keyboards / Guitar / Lead Vocals / Backing Vocals)

When the Cabin opened up in Wellington in late 1973, Ray Johns hired some musicians to play there. They comprised mostly of ex-Quincy Conserve members, Kevin Furay on guitar, Dennis Mason on saxophone and vocals, Rufus Rehu on keyboards, Graham Thompson on bass guitar and Mike Conway on drums. They didn’t last long and Johns asked Mason to put together a new band.

He put together Section, which comprised of Mason, Rehu, John O’Connor on guitar, Frits Stigter on bass guitar and Chris Fox on drums. Frits was also from Quincy Conserve and Dizzy Limits before that. As well as playing at the Cabin, they also provided support for a number of international artists who passed through Wellington at the time. In a short period they became very popular with a repertoire of soul music.

Chris Fox left and he was replaced by Tom Swainson. Shortly afterwards, Rufus Rehu left and was replaced by Bob Smith. With his departure, a name change was decided, and Redeye came about in 1976.

Redeye were one of Wellington’s better known rock groups in the mid seventies. They were much underrated and hardly played outside the Wellington area. They had occasional appearances on television’s “Ready To Roll”, and also managed to do some session work at EMI.

On the recording side, they released three singles, the first, “Who Said That”/”I Wish You Well” in 1976, and “Little Miss Lonely Heart”/”Mind Seasons” and “He’s My Man”/”So Damn Fine” in 1977. They also released an album “Redeye” in 1977, which contained the singles, but it was not a good seller.

redeye

Redeye disbanded in April 1978.

Grateful acknowledgement is made to Bruce Sergent for letting us use this material from his great discographical site New Zealand Music of the 60’s, 70’s and a bit of 80’s.


4 Replies to “Redeye”

  1. Manawaiti Bell

    If memory serves me correctly, Redeye was, for some considerable time, the resident band at the Slack Alice nightclub, Williams Building, Plimmer’s Steps.

    Underrated is an understatement. The band was outstanding. Thanks for the memories.

  2. Jim Burn

    Very interesting to read.
    I was involved in a small way in the Wellington music scene playing drums in a number of bands in the early 70’s. In 1973 I joined with 3 others into a band which we called Redeye and mainly played in pubs such as Royal Tiger, Quins Post and others. We disbanded in 1974. Interestingly, John O’connor from the 1976 Redeye rented our house in Pukerua Bay in the early 70’s. So I guess maybe the name we started was revived in 1976 subconsciously.
    The 1976 band version were far better than we were.

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