Purely by chance, later in the evening following the Chavez screening I got to see a rare live video of the last ever performance of New Zealand music group The Skeptics.

I have long regarded this group as certainly the most interesting band to come out of New Zealand. Their music is strange, dark, magical – in the sense of conjuring up strange half-felt emotions and responses. Their final recordings and songs show a much greater command of melodic expressiveness which combines powerfully with their earlier more oppressive and sinister moods.

Skeptics music evokes a wide range of responses. It makes my sister actively uncomfortable – not that she doesn’t “like” the music, just that it gives her the heebie jeebies. Others like myself have an almost cultish interest in this most grandly unlikely band of musical adventurers. Singer David D’Ath died of leukaemia in 1990, while other members went on to become sound engineers and pop stars (sort of.) It was a rare privilege to see this video – and an interesting insight into how black super taper jeans were big back in 1990.

Thanks to those who dug this one up from the archive.