Claire's UnNatural Twin
Palmerston North, New Zealand's dark, post-industrial noise duo Claire’s UnNatural Twin were a barely disguised acronym for the collaboration between Claire Pannell on drums, percussion and vocals, and Dave White (Lung, The Clear) on largely improvised noise guitar. Pannell and White had previously performed together in the K-Tel Dancers (1990-92) and Tractor (1993). Claire, originally from Perth, Western Australia, moved to New Zealand in the 1980s. She was best known at the time for fronting industrial metal trio Froithead (1992-95), and avant-punk band Katerpillar Tractor Concept (1987-89). Making their live debut as C.U.N.T. at Massey University’s Women’s Music Festival in September 1994, a review in Rip It Up said "a two-piece featuring the undoubted talents of Palmerston North musician Claire Pannell on drums and vocals...The two worked well together to provide a harsh, if not unforgiving, landscape for Claire’s poetry. The early part of their set evoked quite a reaction...as Claire’s poems focussed on her personal experiences of physical abuse and murder.”
The debut self-titled five-song 7” acetate EP was recorded at The Stomach (a community rehearsal space and recording studio that Dave White founded and Pannell worked at, that still exists today) in late 1994, and released on Yellow Bike Records (the record label Pannell and White ran together) in April 1995. Reviewed the following month, John Russell for Rip It Up wrote: “Their debut single is one of the murkiest, shittiest, most unintelligible, nonsensical, distorted collection of bangs and clatters I’ve heard for years, and is highly recommended.”
Claire’s UnNatural Twin would go on to release several singles, EPs, split-releases, compilation tracks, and two albums: a self-titled vinyl LP (1995) and CD Crackpot (1996), both on Yellow Bike. Amid regular excursions to Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin, notable shows included opening for San Francisco queercore outfit Pansy Division, touring New Zealand supporting New York noise-rock trio Unsane, and a gig with infamous Auckland rock’n’roll degenerates King Loser.
Raw and confronting, during their short time together, Claire's UnNatural Twin made a striking and indelible impact on the dark underbelly of New Zealand music. Both Dave White and Claire Pannell announced their resignations from The Stomach in August of 1996, and departed Palmerston North by the end of the year: Pannell for New York City, where she became the drummer for Air Traffic Controllers, an improv-noise project founded by Matador Records co-owner Gerard Cosloy. By the early 2000s she was back in Perth, and has since become a much-admired experimental artist, releasing many albums as Furchick on her own Dog Park Records, exhibiting collage-based artwork and these days running art workshops for kids.
White relocated to Nelson, New Zealand, where he played in Pussyhound and became the manager of another local Council-funded creative space (similar to the Stomach), namely the Artery. Now based in Wellington, his band Lung reformed in 2019 and have since made three albums on Yellow Bike Records.
