Arts communities rally for comrade
Hamilton’s music and arts communities are combining their forces in a bid to boost the fortunes of one of their own.
Dr Dean Ballinger – aka Dirk Thrust – is a drummer, keyboardist, vocalist, comic artist, painter, radio DJ, writer, poet and educator who has recently been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease.
Ballinger is also, with filmmaker and artist Greg Page, the co-creator of Hamilton’s unofficial nickname, ‘‘Hamiltron: City of the Future’’ (or simply ‘‘The Tron’’), and has for decades been one of the city’s staunchest stalwarts of the non-mainstream arts sector.
Now that sector is returning the favour in the form of a compilation album of rare, mostly Hamilton music and a series of concerts and exhibitions.
The latest of these events is happening at the Mesoverse performance and exhibition space at Victoria on the River tonight.
Search and Distro is described as a zine, comic and gig poster exhibition and gathering, at which many of Ballinger’s own works can be seen.
His at-times surreal works have a frequent recurring theme or trope of mythologising Hamilton – a necessary task.
‘‘There’s other places that are interesting because people have made art out of them,’’ he declared in a 2017 interview.
‘‘No one does it in Hamilton much, and then everyone just moans about how stink it is. You’ve got to do the work to make it interesting and making creative stuff that reflects where you live is part of that process.’’
Some tales, for example, feature the anthropomorphic Tuna and Taniwha – two characters who work for the Hamilton City Council and spend their time in various escapades.
Then there is his publication Shelf Life, based on encounters with eccentric customers while working at Browsers bookstore in Victoria St.
The one-night-only event starts at 7pm and will include performances from Dee Jay Handbrake, Moppy and Drop Zone. There will also a stand at which local artist’s works and clothing can be purchased called the Bodega Art Pop Up Shop. Entry will be by koha.
Other Hamiltron artists and creative folk taking part include Indira Neville, Stefan Neville, Callum McDougal, Oliver Stewart, Guy Moskon, Cam Wilkinson, Nina Charlton, Cilla Kinnaird, Alex Kinnaird, Kirsty Horrell, Thom Burton and Tyla Armstrong.
Meanwhile, In Thrust We Trust isa digital-only fundraiser album featuring 48 tracks, 42 of which are previously unreleased. Most will remain forever exclusive to the album and all revenue raised will go directly to Ballinger, who is married with two sons still living at home.
The contributing artists include Soccer practise, Memory Foam, Karl Steven, Pumice, The Biscuits, Krause, Contenders, The Futurians, Greg Malcolm and Stefan Neville, and Guardian Singles. Matthew Bannister of Flying Nun legends Sneaky Feelings also appears under his solo moniker One Man Bannister.
Ballinger hails from Te Awamutu and attended Waikato University, where he soon became part of the city’s fertile community of talented artistic weirdos. It’s because of that connection that the album is, in part, an anthology of Hamilton original music over the last 30 years.
The earliest recording is Frybrain’s Flight from 1990, and there are also unheard ’90s recordings from Scooter, Hand of Glory, Spatula Death, Southern Tribe (in a new remix for this album) and Lucky Stars.
Ballinger’s own music is represented by The Hollow Grinders, Aotearoa’s longestrunning surf band; notorious ‘‘oi’’ band Mobile Stud Unit; the krautrock ensemble Disco Volante; and his solo ‘‘electrogarage’’ act Lumie´ re.
The album is available at dirkthrust.bandcamp.com.
‘‘No one does it in Hamilton much, and then everyone just moans about how stink it is. You’ve got to do the work to make it interesting and making creative stuff that reflects where you live is part of that process.’’ Dean Ballinger