Chris Knox/Tall Dwarfs

Chris Knox is the central figure in New Zealand rock'n'roll, the man from whom almost everything since 1977 flows from.

He began, like Nick Cave in Australia, as a local version (not copy) of Iggy Pop, notorious for the occasional self-mutilation on stage. Chris Knox ended up a confronting lo fi singer songwriter, in between forming the new wave pop Toy Love, and doubled as one half of Tall Dwarfs, a psychedelic version of the solo Chris Knox. As well as making music Chris turns his mind to the roles of film critic on national television in New Zealand, drawer of cartoons and writer of articles for leading magazines, and he makes animated video clips.

Knox was raised by adoptive parents in Invercargill, the southernmost city in New Zealand, and significantly, around the same time, discovered the family piano and his Super-9 camera. The first discovery he fuelled with the influence of the Beatles, the Kinks and The Incredible String Band; the other with a love for monster movies. Stuck in Invercargill those interests were more virtual than real. He read about these things more than actually hearing them or seeing them at first hand.

As soon as the chance came, Chris Knox moved 100 miles north on to university town Dunedin, where the chance came to encounter kindred spirits. Some of these he assembled as The Enemy, New Zealand's most legendary and influential punk band, Chris playing the part of the misfit lead singer. Within a year, without making a record, but leaving an everlasting impression of everyone who ever saw them, The Enemy moved to Auckland and mutated into Toy Love. They kept some of the Enemy's songs for their stage repertoire, but the drive behind Toy Love was to concentrate on Chris' songwriting partnership with guitarist Alec Bathgate. Toy Love became one of New Zealand's favourite bands of 1980, with hit records to their credit. In Australia they were released on Deluxe, the same label which first signed INXS. But Australia just couldn't come to grips with Toy Love and its colourful singer. Within eighteen months of forming the band broke up, and Chris Knox, disgusted by the Australian experience, returned to New Zealand.

He bought himself a four-track tape machine and with roommate Doug Hood proceeded to record young Dunedin bands for a fledgling record label. Knox and his four-track helped Flying Nun record bands the Clean, the Verlaines and the Chills. He also re-established his songwriting partnership with Alec Bathgate as Tall Dwarfs. Chris and Alec took turns creating all the visual aspects of Tall Dwarfs' releases, resulting in unique packaging concepts, stickers, postcards, and day-glo covers. With his partner Barbara Ward, Chris has also made all the videoclips to accompany Tall Dwarfs' records, as well as clips for his solo songs and for other bands - including a video for the Flying Nun label's first single, 'Tally Ho' by The Clean.

Tall Dwarfs records and Chris' solo efforts are created in the front room of a rambling villa where Chris lives with Barbara and their children John and Leisha. Knox's first solo album, 'The Chris Knox Self Ego Gratification Album: Songs For The Guppys' in 1982, was an unsteady release. On his own Chris didn't hit his stride until the next solo album, 'Seizure', seven years later. His own records and Tall Dwarfs' are different, but interchangeable, the solo stuff more personal and as if it was possible, even more lo fi.

Chris Knox has never lost any of the edge and love of noise which made the Enemy so influential. His music is never easy listening, but juxtapositioned with the noise is always a melody you can actually whistle, and words that say something.

The New York Village Voice once wrote that "Paul, George and Ringo would be hard-pressed to find a better John stand-in than Chris Knox". The rest of the group would have to move. Despite several tours in the United States and Europe and international releases Chris Knox is happily based in New Zealand where he continues to make music and earn a living as a newspaper columnist and film reviewer (Real Groove). His cartoon strip goes under the name Max Media. He is also an occasional television film reviewer,.

2006 saw Chris embark on a new recording project with some new friends. For the first time since Toy Love 25 years ago, Chris Knox was recording with a band - withStephan Neville (aka Pumice) on drums and Jol Mulholland (Gasoline Cowboys) on bass. Released on his own indie label, the album Chris Knox and the Nothings was recorded in a studio. For the first time in a quarter century a Chris Knox album was NOT wholly created by Knox in a small room. The difference was discernable. The follow-up 'A Warm Gun' was released simply as an album by The Nothing.