from the morgue

Shihad, Flesh D-Vice and a Postcard

*** EDITED - SEE END OF ENTRY

So I've been listening the heck out of Shihad's new album, Beautiful Machine. (You can listen to much of it over on their MySpace page.) It's good, and occasionally great, and I think over time will settle comfortably into "second best" in their album catalogue, right after the unbeatable Killjoy.

The 'had are a funny wee band. A Welly high school metal covers band that grabbed its own sound and then never stopped evolving. Going through their catalogue and every single album debuted a new sound for them. They've never hit the big big time, but they make a living from their music and they're pretty much entrenched as NZ's favourite band. Their reputation as a live act is deservedly big. There's apparently a band biography on the way that I'm really keen to read - squaring the circle on their many contradictions will make for some fascinating content.

So, nice album. But that isn't what this post is about.

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When they started out, Shihad were managed by Gerald Dwyer, himself of seminal Kiwi hard rock band Flesh D-Vice. (Is that even the right label for Flesh D-Vice's music?) This new album reminded me of a Flesh-D-Vice oddity I've had sitting in my drawer for a while now.

In '06 I picked up the hardback 'The List of Seven' for a couple bucks at a book sale. This is a fun riff on Sherlock Holmes and pulp action by Mark Frost, co-creator of Twin Peaks. When I went to read it, a postcard fell out of the pages.

On closer inspection, it turned out it wasn't a commercial postcard - it was a photo that had been used as a postcard. The photo showed a wee girl wearing a hand-knitted Flesh D-Vice jersey. The postcard on the back had a Wellington 1990 postdate on it, sent by "Jennie & Ian" to "Sue and Gerald" in London. The writing mentions getting back from a Faith No More gig and that "Shihad played really well".

(Shihad's 1990 support for Faith No More was one of their earliest big moments.)

As I looked at this card, eventually the penny dropped - this was likely a postcard being sent to Gerald Dwyer. Why else the Shihad mention + Flesh D-Vice knit? (I tried to check out some facts - was Gerald in London at the time of Shihad's big gig? Was Sue his partner? No luck.)

Further realisation - the book it was in as a bookmark is a '93 release, so at the time it was being used as a bookmark it was already three years old. The photo was a keepsake for someone, and should properly be returned. But to who? I didn't have the first idea where to look. Dwyer himself died over a decade ago. I traded a few emails with Karl from Shihad, but he couldn't figure it.

So I now hand over to the internet. Maybe someone will Google Flesh D-Vice or "Gerald Dwyer" and find this post. Maybe a reader will know someone who knows someone - everyone knows everyone in NZ. I've got this photo/postcard that someone might care about, and it's easy enough for me to pop it in an envelope.

Here's the card (click for big version):

EDIT: The postcard has been returned to its rightful owner!

Posted by morgue at May 12, 2008 8:57 AM Posted to Things I've Seen