Split Enz
aka Split Ends
Arguably the most important New Zealand band of all time, and certainly the most successful, Split Enz redefined the way New Zealand wrote, created and enjoyed music, traversing a path from eclectic folkies to stadium filling superstars in their 14 years.
Split Enz emerged from the leftfield of the New Zealand music scene in the mid-1970s, but they gradually built a mainstream audience on both sides of the Tasman. Although based in Melbourne and signed to the indie Australian company Mushroom Records for most of their career, they remained as strongly identified with New Zealand as the buzzy-bee and the All Blacks.
Split Ends 1973 L to R: Wally Wilkinson, Phil Judd, Mike Chunn, Geoff Chunn, Brian Finn
Photo credit:
Murray Cammick Collection
Phil Judd backstage 1976
Homegrown Profiles: The Finns (2005)
Split Ends 1973
Tim Finn finds that the visual side of the Split Enz show can be a little uncomfortable at times. Noel Crombie creating the 1976 trademark Finn hair in London.
Mental Notes publicity shot - L to R: Wally Wilkinson (back), Timothy Finn (front), Noel Crombie, Eddie Rayner (back), Jonathan Michael Chunn (front), Philip Judd, Emlyn Crowther (as they were called on the album)
Photo credit:
Simon Grigg Collection
Split Enz - Late Last Night (1976)
The press release for the first single 'Split Ends' / 'For You'
Photo credit:
Murray Cammick Collection
Phil Judd, Split Enz, Auckland Town Hall, 1975
Photo credit:
Bruce Jarvis Collection- Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1704-1043B-34
The promo pack sent out by Split Enz's management for the 1975 release of the Mental Notes album
1974 Students Arts Council tour
Photo credit:
Murray Cammick Collection
Tim Finn, Split Enz, Auckland Town Hall, 1975
Photo credit:
Bruce Jarvis Collection - Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1704-1043A-15A
Promotor Ian Magan with Tim Finn in the early 1980s. Magan, a "pirate" founder of Radio Hauraki, worked with Split Enz for a decade as their promoter, from the 1975 university tours to the later stadium shows.
Photo credit:
Photo by Murray Cammick
Spellbound (Live on Grunt Machine 1975)
Split Enz 1976. L to R: Noel Crombie, Malcolm Green (back), Phil Judd (front), Mike Chunn, Tim Finn (lying), Rob Gillies, Eddie Rayner
Bold As Brass
I Got You (Paul Hogan Show 1980)
Live at the Auckland Town Hall, 1976
Split Enz fanclub magazine, 1980
Message To My Girl
Tim Finn, Split Enz, Auckland Town Hall, 1975
Photo credit:
Bruce Jarvis Collection - Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1704-1043B-21
I Hope I Never (1980)
Down at the old saloon, Auckland, 3 February 2020. A reunion with (from left) Mike Chunn, Murray Grindlay, Barry Coburn, and music journalist Phil Gifford. In December 1972 promoter Barry Coburn presented Split Ends at its second gig, at Levi's Saloon on Customs Street, Auckland. Grindlay and Gifford, of course, also have many tales to tell.
Photo credit:
Tyler Coburn
Phil Judd, 1976
Maybe (1975 Telethon performance)
Tim Finn and Mike Chunn, Split Enz, Auckland Town Hall, 1975
Photo credit:
Bruce Jarvis Collection - Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1704-1043A-32A
Creem magazine (USA) gets it rather wrong, April 1981
Photo credit:
Murray Cammick Collection
Split Enz receive platinum records from PolyGram New Zealand in 1980 for sales of the True Colours album. After a dispute with Festival Records in NZ over their promotion of the Frenzy album Enz moved their local distribution to PolyGram for three albums. With them is PolyGram's Stuart Rubin.
Eddie Rayner radio station ad
Photo credit:
Simon Grigg Collection
Eddie Rayner, Split Enz, Auckland Town Hall, 1975
Photo credit:
Bruce Jarvis Collection - Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1704-1043B-28
Nigel Griggs, Tim Finn, Eddie Rayner, Neil Finn, Paul Hester, Noel Crombie
Split Enz, c 1979/1980
Poor Boy
Tim Finn pre-show, 1976
Split Enz fanclub magazine, 1977
I Got You
Neil and Tim Finn interviewed in 1984
1975 publicity shot in Auckland domain. L to R: Noel Crombie, Tim Finn, Phil Judd, Eddie Rayner, Mike Chunn, Paul Crowther, Wally Wilkinson.
Early 1977: Michael Gudinski and a Mushroom colleague celebrate with Tim Finn and Mike Chunn.
Split Enz, 1977 - back: Neil Finn, Tim Finn, Nigel Griggs, Eddie Rayner; front: Malcolm Green, Noel Crombie
Spellbound (Documentary, 1993)
1973 press ad for the first single
Tim Finn and Phil Manzanera having a chat (2021)
Phil Judd 1976
Photo credit:
Murray Cammick Collection
Noel Crombie in a shoot for Cha Cha magazine, mid-1980s
Photo credit:
Murray Cammick Collection
I See Red
Split Enz, Auckland Town Hall, 1975
Photo credit:
Bruce Jarvis Collection - Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1704-1043B-02
Canadian cover for the 1980 single 'Poor Boy'
Mike Chunn, Noel Crombie, Tim Finn – Split Enz, Auckland Town Hall, 1975
Photo credit:
Bruce Jarvis Collection - Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1704-1043A-22A
History Never Repeats
1976-77
Split Enz fanclub magazine, 1982
1976
Photo credit:
Murray Cammick Collection
1980: L to R: Neil Finn, Tim Finn, Nigel Griggs, Eddie Rayner, Malcolm Green, Noel Crombie
A slide of the original Phil Judd painting used for the cover of 1975's Mental Notes album. The original is now in Te Papa
Split Enz, 1978 - clockwise from bottom left: Malcolm Green, Eddie Rayner, Neil Finn, Tim Finn, Noel Crombie, Nigel Griggs
Enz With A Bang (Final NZ tour 1984)
'Haul Away', live in Canada, June 82.
1978-79 - L to R: Noel Crombie, Tim Finn, Eddie Rayner, Neil Finn, Malcolm Green, Nigel Griggs
Tim Finn and Noel Crombie, Split Enz, Auckland Town Hall, 1975
Photo credit:
Bruce Jarvis Collection - Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1704-1043C-18A
Mike Chunn, Split Enz, Auckland Town Hall, 1975
Photo credit:
Bruce Jarvis Collection - Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1704-1043A-23A
Noel Crombie in the early 1980s
Members:
Paul Hester - drums
Tim Finn - vocals, piano, guitar
Geoff Chunn - guitar
Malcolm Green - drums
Mike Chunn - bass
Miles Golding - violin
Neil Finn - vocals, guitar, mandolin
Nigel Griggs - bass
Noel Crombie - drums, percussion
Wally Wilkinson - guitar
Robert Gillies - sax