Fire Drill by Split Enz: Great B-Sides

Split Enz are still perhaps New Zealand’s best-loved band. In their early days, they were art-rockers, releasing the strange art-rock of Mental Notes. When a teenage Neil Finn replaced original songwriter/guitarist Phil Judd, they steered closer to new wave pop.

1982’s Time and Tide is the strongest album from their pop era. Produced by Hugh Padgham, it featured the hit ‘Six Months in a Leaky Boat’ and the should-have-been-a-hit ‘Take A Walk’.

It also brought back some of their early weirdness. ‘Haul Away’ is an autobiographical sea shanty written by Tim Finn, while Neil Finn gets arty on the claustrophobic ‘Log Cabin Fever’ and the prog-tinged ‘Giant Heartbeat’.

‘Fire Drill’ was recorded during the sessions, but didn’t make the final cut – instead it served as the B-side for ‘Six Months in a Leaky Boat’.

However, ‘Fire Drill’ became unusually prominent for a non-album b-side. It opened many of Split Enz’s 1982 live shows.

‘Fire Drill’ feels like a b-side – like a few instrumental ideas stitched together with some vague lyrics. But there’s still some magic, and it would have been among the stronger tracks on Time and Tide – it might have helped lift the slightly sluggish end to the first LP side.

Time and Tide was almost the last gasp of excellence from Split Enz. Shortly afterwards, Tim Finn released a successful solo album and quit the band. Neil Finn formed Crowded House, while Noel Crombie, Nigel Griggs, and Eddie Rayner reconnected with Phil Judd in Schnell Fenster.

Coincidentally, Radio New Zealand is currently rolling out the results of a New Zealand’s 100 best songs poll. So far there’s only one Enz song in the 81-100 range, but I’m expecting a few more.

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