Split Enz

Split Enz is one of the most distinctive pop-rock groups of all time. This is the story of a band that dreamed its own path and refused to behave, and in the process changed the shape of Australasian music. A collectable, full-colour, lavishly illustrated hardback created with the full participation of the band.

'My favourite band. Ever! And certainly the best dressed.' Sam Neill

Split Enz were never designed to fit. Emerging from art school mischief in early-1970s New Zealand, they turned pop into surreal theatre: costume, character and melody colliding in a rock band that refused to behave like one.

At the centre of that vision was Noel Crombie-percussionist, performer and the band's in-house visual architect. Noel shaped Split Enz's look from the inside: the angular suits, the hand-painted faces, the restless, theatrical sense that anything might happen next. Split Enz didn't just sound different, they looked like nothing else.

Years of cult acclaim, shifting line-ups and near misses gave way at last to an unlikely global breakthrough with True Colours in 1980, a record that carried their eccentric vision into the mainstream.

Created with the full participation of the band, this book gathers photographs, costumes, designs and memorabilia alongside new interviews spanning every era of the group by music journalist Michael Dwyer. It traces the songs, the imagery and the peculiar chemistry that made Split Enz singular, and still impossible to imitate.

'Split Enz rejected all of the iconography and mythology of rock'n'roll. They were really a reaction against it.' Neil Finn

'We would be in the dressing room an hour beforehand, getting dressed, doing make-up ... It was a completely indivisible unit, ready to go out there together.' Tim Finn

'This wasn't just a band that made music. This was a movement.' Jenny Morris

About the Author

Noel Crombie became an accidental member of Split Enz in 1974 and is the band's visual architect. His roles have included costume and hair design, album cover design and music video direction. On stage he is a singer, percussionist and weirdly magnetic presence best known for his spoon solos.

Michael Dwyer has been a music journalist for four decades, writing for Rolling Stone, Melody Maker, The Age and The Guardian, among many other publications. He has broadcast on Triple J and been a music commentator on ABC TV and radio.