Flight X-7
Flight X-7 was a band from the late 1970s to early 1980s that was based in Hamilton. They were initially called Flight 77, which formed after another band, Euphoria, broke up. They played the Nambassa Music Festival in front of 45,000 people in 1979 (as Flight 77), and appeared on the associated compilation "Festival Music". They released two singles in 1980, and on 15 September that year supported XTC at the Logan Campbell Centre, Wellington. After Flight X-7 broke up, Tim Powles and bassist Warwick Keay went on to Wellington band The Knobz.
Flight X7 played support for Roxy Music at the Sweetwaters Festival in Ngaruawahia 1982 to a crowd of over 75,000.
Band Members
- Jeff Clarkson (lead vocals)
- Bill Hill (guitar)
- Paul Jamieson (guitar)
- Warwick Keay (bass)
- Phil Smart (drums)
- Tim Powles (drums)
- Mark Stubbs (keyboards)
- Paul Turney (keyboards)
- Alan Johnson (drums)
Paul Turney moved to England in 1995 after a two year stint with Alastair Riddell playing as a duo on the upper North Island circuit, and played several years with the Variety Club of New Zealand on their week-long BASH to raise money for the Club. IN that time it was thought, according to organizer Tim Kay, over 1.5 million dollars was raised for this charity that used an old car rally format with many NZ celebrities on a car race through New Zealand's small towns and cities.
Paul Turney went on to work in audio at London'S Chop 'Em Out mastering studios, in West London's Cambridge Gardens. Chief engineer at 'Chop' was Simon Heyworth, who engineered Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells. Chop 'Em Out was a SOny Professional beta-tester, and it was here DSD gained it's momentum. Other employees included Murray Harris and Phil Kinrade, ex DJM engineers and others from the Marcus Studios when they closed. Turney began to specialise in archival techniques working on the Barbican's catalogue (UK Lottery funded) of live recordings over a two year period. He was also responsible for mastering records for release and was the resident vinyl expert. In the Millennia year Paul Turney was commissioned by Sony Broadcast and Professional UK to present the brand new Sony DMX-R100 digital audio mixer to the European arm of the Audio Engineering Society at the Paris Convention. He left London in 2000 and went on to win a contract with the British Library Sound Archive where he continued to work on obsolete technologies for eight years and is still a preferred contractor to The British Library. He lives with his wife and two daughters in a lovely old stone house in the South Cotswolds, England, where he remains a much sought-after archival engineer with recent projects including the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, Travellers (Gypsy) recordings from the Paul Wilson Collection (UK Lottery funded) at Wren Music, The Voyager Press collection of anthropological Wax Cylinders from 1904 in East Africa, the J Krishnamurti Foundation collection of recordings to be remastered for recent publication, and the life work of Sting the musician from various analogue and digital formats. Turney also has a recording studio on site with a fully equipped drum room, Underground studio, using Millennia Media preamps, Manley tube DI's and Studer valve technology. He has presented papers to the Society of Archivists (UK), is a current member of the Audio Engineering Society.
Releases
I Lose Control single, 1980
Don't get too Close single, 1980
Rendezvous appears on the 1979 compilation Festival Music (as Flight 77)
Numbers appears on the 1980 compilation Radio Trax
I Lose Control appears on the 2006 promo CD Kiwi Gold Disc III
