Neavus are from Christchurch, New Zealand, and have been together now for nearly 7 years. It all started way back in 1997 when Alex and Tim used to play their guitars together and they decided to form a band called 'Gimp'. After trying to find a bass player and failing they looked towards their good friend Crawford to play which he did without hesitation.
Then came the task of finding a drummer. They asked their good friend and fellow 3GO classmate Simon Matthews to stop bitchin and be their drummer, as he lost a bet with alex over a canterbury vs otago rugby game and refused to pay up. so he did. The newly named Neavus started practising together in the music room at their High school but when simon found out that he was the son of David Hasselhoff he was forced to leave the band and discipline native indian basket weavers. Again they were looking for a drummer. After failed attempts of advertising Al rang up a guy called Jamie who was family friends with him, and next thing you know they are all in Tims garage playing. This all seems like a cosy scenario untill we all became a little slack and Jamie started to drift away and in the end we all decided that Jamie could fuck off and go to hell, and Tim could swap from guitar to drums beacuse he's so damn talented.
This is when things started to happen for Neavus.
With their first rockquest coming up Simon arrived back on the scene but this time he joined as their singer, as he soon realised that you cant play the drums while making beads. They competed at the Pepsismokefreecockquest '99 and performed their first real original song, 'In The End'. It wasn't to be for Neavus this year but they took what they could from this experience and kept their heads up high. Actually, we stormed away swearing, threw rocks and partook in general acts of loonaginism.
A year went past and again they were looking towards the rockquest when all of a sudden Simon was forced to leave the band again due to an unexpected pregnancy.
Many things were changing for Neavus with Simon gone and also having to shift their rehersal space to Alex's.
After some in-depth chats around the new band table at Alex's we all decided that Crawford should sing at the upcoming 2000 Pepsismokefreebongos,girls,andfruitsgetthroughautomaticallyquest '00, this year they played a song called "Dead to the world". Neavus really thought they had it this time but it wasn't to be. They had improved a lot since the previous year and felt hard done by the small minded judges who were biased against good ole fashioned boy rock.
When it came time again for rockquest the following year Neavus hit their all-time low. Because this was their last year at high school and they really wanted to get through to the regionals they did the unthinkable and completly sold themselves out. They knew the judges were against them as a three piece boy rock band so they decided on getting a female singer. The idea was a good one but they become desperate with the rockquest only weeks away and didn't spend enough time finding a suitable girl for the job. In this desperation they choose Lily. Lily was a fat, ugly, white trash Cashmere High whore who couldn't sing and smelt like feet. On the day Neavus played a new song that they all knew had potential but when they performed it at the Rockquest Lily sounded like she was mutilating a cat with a skill saw. They walked off the stage at the end of the song and told Lily to fuck off straight away. They knew their chances were gone and at the end of the day they were right.
The boys concentrated on other stuff right after the Rockquest with Alex in the CBHS 1st XV and Tim and Crawford in the Almighty 7th XV Social Team. Things stayed quiet with Neavus until an unfortunate accident at rugby practise left Alex with a broken ankle and his season over. This is when they decided to enter into The College Rockcharts.
They met a man by the name of Simon Fox who was running this new competition and he was very excited about having Neavus enter. The College Rockcharts involved the band recording one of their own songs and promoting it so people will vote for them on the internet and if they got enough votes they would have their song played on Channel Z.
They decided to record the song they played at the Rockquest but first it needed some fine tuning. They gave it a kick in the jacksie, some new lyrics and really beefed it up and suddenly "Next To Me' was born.
With Alex's leg still in plaster they recorded it at the now obsolete Sound Room in Christchurch and so began the most intense period of Neavus career.
Basically they had six weeks to take their unknown song and make it the most popular in the city. Neavus knew they had to win cause the exposure was to precious to give up and it could mean a big breakthrough for the band.
They advertised on car windows, put flyers up at schools and held signs up in the middle of peak hour traffic.
The Press took notice of all the hard advertising that Neavus was doing and wrote an article just about them in the paper.
In between all this advertising they were busy voting on the internet in every spare moment.
But all this hard work payed off for Neavus finally and in September 2001 "Next To Me" was played nationwide on Channel Z.
This year has seen a change in the Neavus line up with Simon returning again after his Tour of Duty in Vietnam. Also Crawford has decided to take a year off while he concentrates on his solo project in Europe. Taking over Crawfords spot on bass was a man by the name of Chris Humphreys. Chris had brought a fresh approach to the music which is giving the band more diversity when it comes to writing new material. He settled in perfectly with live performances (apart from a slight strap mishap at the Rapid Youth Fest) and he is looking forward to testing himself in the studio.
Chris left after a short stint in Neavus to concentrate on his other musical commitments. Kieran Brewster is now slapping bass for the group and has slipped in like a woody in a moist muff hole. At the moment Neavus are busy writing new material and are patienly waiting for a response from the record companies. They have got several gigs coming up in and around Christchurch so go check em' out when you can. Finally if you would like to pledge money to the Neavus Foundation for the Musically Ungifted which will go towards raising funds for Neavus debut album and lots of beer and smokes please feel free to email neavus_lx@yahoo.com with your credit card details and a recommendation of how much you are willing to spend. Don't bitch.
Apr 1999- Alex's House (Neavus Debut)
May 1999- Pepsismokefreerockquest '99
Sep 1999- Tim's House- Netball World Cup Final
May 2000- Pepsismokefreerockquest '00
Jul 2000- Christchurch Girls High
Aug 2000- Christchurch Boys High
Sep 2000- Rangi Ruru Girls School
May 2001- Cokesmokefreerockquest '01
Aug 2001- Boys High 'Rock The Establisment'
Sep 21 2001- College Rock Charts Awards Show
Sep 22 2001- College Rock Charts Awards Show
Dec 15 2001- Chch South Youth Fest @ Pioneer Stadium
Feb 22 2002- The Cauldron
Apr 5 2002- Channel Z Loud Lunch @Crosbie Park
Apr 8 2002- Channel Z Loud Lunch @Pioneer Stadium
Apr 12 2002- Channel Z Loud Lunch @ Cathedral Square
Apr 13 2002- Rapid Youth Festival @ Caledonian Hall
Jun 2002- Solstice Skate n' Swim @ New Brighton
Jul 25 2002- Battle of the Bands (heats)- Southern Blues Bar
Aug 22 2002- Battle of the Bands (semis)- Southern Blues Bar
Sep 19 2002- Lincoln High School
Oct 21 2002- Papanui High School
Nov 8 2002- Lincoln High School
Dec 21 2002- The Jet Set Lounge
Feb 14 2003- The Jet Set Lounge
Feb 15 2003- Loaded Hog, Timaru w/ Mother Guru
Mar 14 2003- The Jet Set Lounge
Apr 3 2003- Dux De Lux w/ Three Shades of Equal
May 8 2003- Dux De Lux w/ Grief
Jun 21 2003- Dux De Lux w/ Cripple Mr Onion
Jun 27 2003- Dux De Lux w/ Slow Train
Jul 17 2003- Battle of the Bands (heats)- Southern Blues Bar
Aug 9 2003- Hotel Motueka w/ Mother Guru
Aug 30 2003- Jadam Jam, Dirty Harry's New Brighton
Sep 4 2003- Battle of the Bands (semis)- Southern Blues Bar
Sep 5 2003- Loaded Hog, Timaru w/ Mother Guru
Sep 11 2003- Battle of The Bands (finals)- Southern Blues Bar
Oct 2 2003- Dux De lux w/ Melee & Wicked Daze
Oct 10 2003- Phat Club, Nelson w/ Mother Guru
Oct 11 2003- Corner Pocket
Oct 24 2003- Paddy's Bar, Wanaka w/ Mother Guru
Oct 31 2003- Media Club w/ Melee, Nexus & Undamime
Dec 20 2003- Creation, Teenage Rampage
Jan 31 2004- River Inn, Takaka w/ Mother Guru
Feb 6 2004- Paddy's Bar, Wanaka w/ Mother Guru
Feb 13 2004- Loaded Hog, Timaru w/ Mother Guru
Feb 14 2004- Rockycola Cafe w/ Mother Guru & Pike
Feb 28 2004- Wunderbar, Lyttleton w/ Mother Guru, Pike & Orkid
Mar 6 2004- Rockycola Cafe w/ Nexus
Apr 2 2004- Dux De Lux w/ Pike & Nexus
Apr 7 2004- Refuel, Dunedin w/ El Schlong
Apr 8 2004- Phat Club, Nelson w/ Mother Guru
Apr 10 2004- Paddys Bar, Wanaka w/ El Schlong
Aug 12 2004- Battle of the Bands (heats)- Southern Blues Bar
Aug 21 2004- Rapid Storm Final- Zeebedees
Aug 26 2004- Battle of the Bands (semis)- Southern Blues Bar
Sep 5 2004- Roundup (heats) - Dux De Lux
Sep 9 2004- Battle of the Bands (regionals)- Southern Blues Bar
Sep 17 2004- Arc Cafe, Dunedin w/ Blistering Tounges & Stardrunk
Sep 18 2004- The Globe, Invercargill w/ Stardrunk
Sep 24 2004- Roundup (semis) - Dux De Lux
Sep 30 2004- Dux De Lux w/ Melee
Oct 22 2004- JetSet Lounge w/ Ample Cleavage, Disarm & Aviator
Dec 3 2004- Dux De Lux w/ Melee (br)
Dec 11 2004- The Phat Club, Nelson w/ Melee
Dec 18 2004- Crawford's 21st, Riccarton Lodge
Test Matches- (out of 66)
Alex Newfield- 66 appearances
Tim Ruth- 66 appearances
Crawford Robb- 56 appearances
Simon Matthews- 45 appearances
Kieran Brewster- 9 appearances
Chris Humphreys- 7 appearances
Tama Guru- 1 appearance
1999- 3
2000- 4
2001- 5
2002- 12
2003- 19
- Crawford lost his virginity (in Alex's bed) the same night as the very first Neavus show.
- Alex and Crawford were both in the band before either of them owned an instrument. Simon became the drummer before he had ever even played on drum kit.
- Simon is the only member of Neavus to have lived in another city of New Zealand. Crawford is the only member of Neavus who has ever lived in another country.
- Tim is the only member of Neavus to have ever been in another band. Pulberizer and Poison Nightmare.
- Simon's parents have no idea that he is in a band.
- Crawford has represented Canterbury and the South Island in Athletics. Alex has represented Canterbury in Rugby. Simon has represented New Zealand in Snowboarding. Tim got drunk once and threw up in Mr and Mrs Baileys wardrobe.
- Neavus have had three locations in their 5 year history. 111 Conway Street, Thorrington Road and Lismore Street.
- Tim broke Alex's finger during a game of touch.
- Patrick Moran was the original singer of Neavus. He is now Fresh Choice's Employee of the Month.
- Alex, Tim, Crawford and Simon were all in the same Peer Support group on their very first day at Chch Boys' High. First immpressions do last.
