Rose Bayonet

ROSE BAYONET : Stefan Lavington - Guitar Jerry Pearse-Smith - Drums Geoff Dunn - Vocals Matthew Hudson - Bass Previous members: Jeff Borra - Vocals Peter Appleboom - Bass The New Zealand hard rock / heavy metal band, ROSE BAYONET, was very popular in N.Z. throughout the early ‘80s. The Wellington-based quartet would often perform to capacity crowds at venues such as Quinn’s Post in Upper Hutt, The Cabana in Napier, Mainstreet, The Gluepot and Manukau Arms in Auckland. The group proved to be a powerful support act for Cold Chisel in 1982, at Wellington Town Hall. The biggest concert that ROSE BAYONET played was on the main stage at Sweetwaters Festival on January 28th, 1983 -- which was also one of their last gigs. There were reportedly over 35,000 attendees at the Festival. The group’s energetic live sets were comprised of mostly original material, with suitably heavy titles such as “Demon Rider”, “Let It Die”, “Headbanger”, “Tough Road”, “Six Feet Under”, “Hell on Earth”, “Predator” and several more. ROSE BAYONET performances were unforgettable and notoriously loud (the band took their own huge p.a. system on the road) with flash pot explosions, a great light show, obligatory dry ice and special effects, all added for good measure. ROSE BAYONET recorded an exciting selection of self-penned songs at EMI Studios in Wellington in 1982 (the group had no bass player at that point, so Stefan Lavington played all guitar and bass on the studio recordings). Their shot at the international heavy metal market didn’t eventuate though, as EMI NZ chose not to sign the band, despite their live performances being all the rage. After ROSE BAYONET split up, a couple of young RB fans (Shane Joyce & Stephen Britland) managed to get hold of the studio demo master tapes. Shane & Stephen used their own money to fund the release of the ROSE BAYONET LP, entitled ‘Leather and Chains’. (Four additional live tracks were added to the five studio cuts). It was issued onto the NZ market via Jayrem Records, with a sole pressing of only 500 copies. The very basic cover artwork, text errors and songwriting credit guess work left a lot to be desired, but at last ROSE BAYONET were finally documented on vinyl. The record is now highly collectable and sought after by avid metal fans worldwide, wanting to hear what Kiwi heavy rock was all about. A couple of other live ROSE BAYONET tracks also appeared on the similarly rare N.Z. compilation ‘Godzone Metal’ LP in 1983.