An Afternoon With Victor Dimisich

Stephen Cogle (music/vocals/guitar) and Peter Stapleton (lyrics/drums) are one of my absolute favourite songwriting teams and musicians. Their compositions can be heard through essential bands such as Victor Dimisich Band, The Terminals, Scorched Earth Policy, Minus 2, and more. Peter was a lovely fellow who died in March 2020 and he is greatly missed.

Their work is haunting, beautiful, and surprisingly funny – and this new collection is no different. "An Afternoon with Victor Dimisich: Stephen Cogle/Peter Stapleton 1981" comprises demos of VDB's tunes in which Peter and Stephen work through nascent arrangements for use by the Pin Group, and I suspect the posthumous recording of the one and only VDB EP in 1983. The chatter between songs suggests friends simply hanging out in an afternoon, casually delivering a stunning set of unique and timeless songs over a crate of beer (well Roy Montgomery has said as much).

Native Waiter, included on this release, is one of my top ever tunes and has been marked for my funeral. Here's the original version below.

Over the years, Siltbreeze has been a great supporter of obscure and amazing NZ music, bringing to light hard to find classics such as this. Often featuring this songwriting team or others in their orbit.

This is a "one time pressing" that also features detailed liner notes from Bruce Russell. At time of writing, it isn't clear where you can buy this release other than directly from Siltbreeze.

Either way, I'll get it as should you.