"Chamber pop", "baroque pop", whatever the critics called them, the Able Tasmans were both part of the early Flying Nun community and stylistically distinct from it. They were never much interested in fame, but, through their unusual, captivating songs, left a legacy anyway.
Like most of their peers, they were moved to pick up instruments by punk rock; in this case, in 1979 in Whangarei, as a band called Sister Ray, playing new wave covers and their own songs. Things might have ended in 1981, when keyboard player Graeme Humphreys moved to Auckland to study.
Graeme Humphreys - keyboards, vocals, guitar
Dave Beniston - bass
Craig Baxter - drums
Peter Keen - vocals
Anthony Nevison - guitar, vocals
Leslie Jonkers - keyboards
Stuart Greenway - drums
Jane Leggott - flute
Dave Tennent - guitar
Jane Dodd - bass
Craig Mason - drums
Ron Young - synthesiser, vocals
Donald Nichols - clarinet
When he began broadcasting on 95bFM, Humphreys took on the name Graeme Hill, supposedly to avoid embarrassment when he had to play one of his own band's songs. As he continued a broadcasting career – as a co-presenter of the long-running Sports Cafe TV show, a host on Radio Sport and, since 2007, the host of Radio Live's weekend magazine show – he gradually became better known by his assumed name than his real one. He has also worked as a television scriptwriter for Eating Media Lunch and The Unauthorised History of New Zealand.
Early on, the Able Tasmans had an alter-ego, The Ogdens, who played straight-up covers of such 70s classics as Michael Nesmith's Joanne and Kenny Rogers & The First Edition's Ruby, Don't Take your Love To Town.
Humphreys worked with Children's Hour (and later Headless Chickens) drummer Bevan Sweeney on several projects, including music for the Māori dance troupe Te Kanikani o te Rangatahi, and the remarkable instrumental 'If God Had a Megaphone' for the multimedia event The Happy Accident. He even choreographed several works for the dance group.