The Earthlings
In late 1991 the Earthlings were formed in Rotorua by Dave Bishop (aka Davey Bishara), previously of Christchurch's Big White Undie Band and Rotorua's three-piece Adult Mayflys. Dave hooked up with Andrew White, previously of Rotorua indie band P. D. Corp, and Paul Tregilgas (ex-Boogadagas, Da Hubcaps and Calamari Bushmen), on drums. After Paul T emigrated to Hamilton, two other drummers drummed for the Earthlings; Barry Mackay from Mamaku and Adrian Bergman (younger brother of David Bergman from Christchurch's Throw and Cinematic). Rotorua musician and producer Rodger "Rodgerson" Cunningham joined as second guitarist for a short time after recording the band at the local iwi radio staion.
The Earthlings gigged and recorded up to mid-1993 when Dave moved overseas and Andrew moved to Auckland. During this time the band played numerous local gigs in Rotorua, Tauranga and Hamilton, as well as support slots for the Straightjacket Fits, Jan Hellriegel, the Muttonbirds, the Bats and the Chills. It was at the Chills support that Dave and Andrew met Earl Robertson, the then Chills drummer (on the 1992 Soft Bomb tour), who later joined as Earthlings drummer in Auckland in 1994. The Earthlings recorded 8 songs in the studio that were released together with one live track as The Complete Earthlings Volumes I, II & III. Six of the tracks were recorded at Rotorua's iwi radio station studio by Roger Cunningham and featured Paul and Adrian on drums, while two tracks were recorded at Tandy's studio in Hamilton by Dave Whitehead. The 1993 release was on cassette only via Rotorua's indie label Elbow (also home to the Calamari Bushmen) and about 80 copies were sold. The last of the Rotorua based Earthlings gigs were in Hamilton and Tauranga supporting the Straightjacket Fits in May 1993.
In 1994 Dave had returned from overseas, moved to Auckland and reformed the Earthlings. Andrew had got to know Earl Robertson better (both now also living in Auckland) and asked him to join the band as drummer. Rehearsals took place at the Frisbee Leisure Lounge practice rooms on Symonds St, in the main area or the vault, where the band were locked inside for several hours one night! Gigs were few and far between - mainly at the Kings Ams and the Temple on Queen St. No studio recordings were made but many live tapes of practice sessions exist. The existing Earthlings catalogue was reworked with Earl and new songs were written. In 1995 the Earthlings track K.I.S.S. was included on John Pitcairn's Opus Locus label's compilation Slaves of Nevermind Vol.4 alongside Chris Knox, Tinitus, Smoothy and others. When not performing as the Earthlings, Earl and Andrew went on to be the rhythm section for a number of artists including Bic Runga and Damien Binder; Dave, Earl and Andrew became the live band for singer/songwriter Ana Strong; Dave and Earl formed the Peter Styvesant HitList with Chris Anderton, Dave Goodison and Dominic Blazaar (who Andrew played with for Greg Fleming & The Trains). Andrew also guested on keys with Dom's band Smoothy live, played in Reader's Wives with ex Chainsaw Masochists Ricky McShane and Murray Cawley and in Real Fabrica with Scotty Pearson (Elemeno P) and Matt Ruys amongst others. Andrew is also behind electronic act Tomorrowpeople. Earl provided the vocals for the Tomorrowpeople track Got The Time, which was released on the NZ Fashion Week CD compilation in 2004. Earl has played with numerous acts including Upper Hutt Pose, Grace, City Newton Bombers, Billy Squire and the Rye. Aside from guitar duty in many bands Dave released a solo record Fold In Two in late 2008. Dave also contributed guitar parts to Tomorrowpeople's remix of the 2001 K'Lee hit Broken Wings. The Earthlings have never officially split.
