The Lemmings

The Lemmings formed in 1981 in Rotorua from the ruins of "Zener and the Diodes" and was comprised of Zed Brookes, Sue Toms and Malcolm Lofroth. Influenced by British synth-pop bands like Depeche Mode, they had no guitarist, instead relying on Brookes' chordal/melodic fretless bass-playing, Toms' naively left-field synth playing and the drum-machine-like playing of Malcolm Lofroth. Many of their songs were instrumental, but there were a few classic sung tracks, for example "The Lemming Song", most of which were sung by Malcolm, with Zed gradually adding more vocals to the mix as time went on. Later, Brookes incorporated a 12-string acoustic to the band, over sequenced basslines.

Toms and Brookes moved to Hamilton in 1983 and formed Step Chant Unit.