Ritchie Venus
aka Ritchie Venus and The Blue Beetles, The Volkswagons
As Ritchie Venus, Christchurch eccentric Michael Braithwaite was a movie-making rock traditionalist who, having worked his way through a string of under-exposed Garden City groups in the 1960s and 1970s was “discovered” in the early 1980s by movers from Christchurch’s rich post-punk scene.
The Ballad of Ritchie Venus (1999), Nathan Pohio’s biographical film, one of the few made on individual non-mainstream New Zealand musicians reveals Venus’s abundance of self-made film and an extensive recorded catalogue, much of it unreleased, alongside an appreciation of his unique place in Christchurch popular music from those who knew him, when he appeared on Flying Nun Records and Onset Offset Records in the 1980s.
Ritchie at Stinkfest 13, Christchurch December 2011
Photo credit:
Photo by Chris Andrews
Ritchie Venus & The Blue Beetles - You Don't Own Me
1983
Photo credit:
Christchurch City Library Collection
Rocking to the Grave
Bleeding Heart
1981
Photo credit:
Christchurch City Library Collection
Ritchie Venus at the Christchurch 80s Reunion Dux de Lux Live 2 April, 2012
Photo credit:
Photo by Stuart Page
Ritchie Venus and The Blue Beetles self-named EP for Flying Nun, 1981
1981
Photo credit:
Christchurch City Library Collection
My Precious Things EP, with Steve McCabe, 2013. Limited to 150 copies
Ritchie Venus at Stinkfest 13, 2011
Photo credit:
Photo by Chris Andrews
Rebel Blood
Ritchie Venus at the Christchurch 80s Reunion Dux de Lux Live 2 April, 2012
Photo credit:
Photo by Stuart Page
Screened poster by Stevie McCabe for a US tour in the '90s
Photo credit:
Design Stevie McCabe, Stuart Page Collection
Androidss, Newtones, Playthings, Ritchie Venus @ The Gladstone
Photo credit:
Design by Robin Neate - Christchurch City Libraries Collection
Ritchie Venus at the Christchurch 80s Reunion Dux de Lux Live 2 April, 2012
Photo credit:
Photo by Stuart Page
Trivia:
Lianne Dalziel, the Mayor of Christchurch, sang with The Blue Beetles in the 1980s
Members:
Ritchie Venus
M S Agro - bass
Norman Duffy - drums
Michael Vaile - drums
John Segovia - guitar