Knox’s tape collection to be preserved by library

The tape archive of former Dunedin musician Chris Knox, which captures years of New Zealand musical history, is to be preserved by the Alexander Turnbull Library.

Flying Nun Foundation board member Barbara Ward said the collection of 254 tapes covered Knox’s musical career, from the Enemy through Toy Love, Tall Dwarfs and his solo catalogue, and included many unreleased recordings.

Once digitised, some of the recordings may be released.

The collection also included other projects in which Knox, had a hand, as an artist, producer or adviser, Ward said.

"Chris is pleased that his tapes are going to be looked after and their content digitised.

"We are lucky that Chris kept the majority of his recorded output at his home where much of it was recorded and that this collection will be kept together and accessible."

Foundation chairwoman Caroline Stone said the project was possible because Knox kept so much.

"The past year's work has been about going through all the material, cataloguing it and checking its condition."

The donation was significant and would help preserve the heritage of Flying Nun Records.

"This isn't always an easy job — tapes were often re-used and a box with one label might contain something quite different. So, we were very lucky to have Foundation member Ian Dalziel there to do that crucial initial work. Ian is not only meticulous, he was alongside Chris for many of those years — not least as a roadie for Toy Love — so he was able to pick up and understand things others might
not."

She said the Chris Knox project was important not only because it preserved the body of work for the ages, but as a significant step towards one of the Foundation's key goals: to establish relationships and practices with major archival institutions so that other holders of Flying Nun heritage material would find it easier to donate their own collections if they chose.

"Not everyone will choose to donate, so we're also here to provide advice on storage and preservation of this kind of material in the community."

At the Alexander Turnbull Library the tapes will be preserved over the next three years and, where necessary, restored.

The recordings on them will be digitised, and part of the agreement with Knox and his family is that the high-quality digital versions will be available for future releases.

People will be able to listen to and research the recordings at the library.

In 2018, Flying Nun Records donated hundreds of master tapes from recordings made between 1981 to the mid-2000s to the Turnbull Library’s Archive of New Zealand Music.

The Archive of New Zealand Music at the Alexander Turnbull Library was established in 1974 by composer Douglas Lilburn, and contains the largest collection of archival material relating to New Zealand music and musicians.

It sits alongside the largest public collection of published New Zealand and Pacific recordings, also in the library’s collections.