Genitus Lung
Originally called Janitor’s Lung, Genitus Lung were formed in 1995 by H. Walker (formerly of Kazuki & Dave) on drums and vocals, and Tamlyn Martinovich on bass, while the pair were still at highschool. After a few failed attempts to recruit members of established bands they eventually settled upon their classmate Logan Poppelwell to front the group on guitar and vocals.
Janitor’s Lung’s first gig was an "evening recital" held in the band's school music room at St. Paul’s Collegiate, where their music tutor just so happened to be one Stan Jagger. The band’s sudden and unexpected delivery of industrial-grindcore-punk and raw, unadulterated noise caused a riot amongst their fellow schoolmates and some considerable damage to the school. Duly impressed, Stan organised a gig for the band at The Exchange, supporting Raleigh 20 - true to form, Janitor's Lung brought the house down.
During 1996 the trio regularly supported Disjecta Membra whom Martinovich was by this time a member of, and became aligned with the darker corners of the scene playing alongside FALLen, Lure, Usine and others of their ilk. They adopted the name of Genitus Lung when the organiser of a gig called Hell Is Real (featuring Disjecta Membra, Johnny Fist and the Tsunami Band) misheard the band's name over the phone and put Genitus Lung on the poster.
Membra and Lung's sets often melded into one another through improv-noise segues from one band to the next, while Genitus Lung often performed with walls of old TV screens on-stage screening looped footage of violence, chaos and destruction. At other times, screaming transvestites ran into the audience and threw pieces of raw meat at one another. Although Genitus Lung never released any recordings (one attempt to record them destroyed Michel's PA), a Live to Air performance with Disjecta Membra in Contact 89FM's Fridge was broadcast in late '96, from which recordings are still known to circulate unofficially.
Also during late '96 Logan Poppelwell formed a short-lived solo project known as Falling Cynic, which, when playing live featured Michel from Disjecta Membra on guitar and Bevis Langman Painter on drum-machines and various noises. Painter had moved to Hamilton from Auckland in '96 and became a regular sound-tech and musical contributor to both Disjecta Membra and Genitus Lung between '96 and '98.
In January 1997 Disjecta Membra relocated to Wellington taking both Tamlyn Martinovich and Bev Painter with them. Genitus Lung went into hiatus, but reformed between July and August of that year to support Disjecta Membra's Achromaticia New Zealand tour.
In 1998 Tamlyn went to South East Asia, H. Walker and Bev Painter moved to Auckland, and Logan Poppelwell went to live on Waiheke Island. On Tamlyn's return to New Zealand, he and H. Walker attempted to resurrect Genitus Lung with a new frontman (name unknown) based in Auckland, but this was short-lived.
In the meantime, H. Walker and Bev Painter had formed AVOTOR between 1998 and 1999, and have gone on to release two albums, numerous singles, remixes and compilation appearances, and have successfully toured both Europe and America. Bev left AVOTOR in 2004 (last seen heading for Japan) and was replaced by Tamlyn Martinovich, who joined the band on their US tour. AVOTOR are currently recording their third album, and still play in Hamilton on occasion.
