Split Enz tease new album ahead of first tour in 17 years: We'd make a really good record now'

"Many things can kill you in the music business. For Split Enz, New Zealand's first internationally successful rock group, the most lethal poison was hairspray or it should have been. How did I not die? marvels bandleader Tim Finn, whose head at its vertiginous peak resembled an upturned paintbrush. Sitting next to him, percussionist Noel Crombie grins as Finn continues the story. Noel would lacquer merciless amounts of this toxic spray the makeup would start to run but the hair would just somehow sit there."

"Finn is now the proud owner of one of the best heads of hair a nearing 74-year-old pop music veteran could wish for. Their hair may be grey but their outfits are still colourful. Split Enz, live on stage in Hamilton, New Zealand, earlier this month. Photograph: Tom Grut (Frog Productions)/PR IMAGE Younger brother Neil later of Crowded House sailed through his Split Enz years with a neat Dennis the Menace-style bowl cut. He's now making up for lost time with so much product you can see his mop from the moon."

"Tim Finn and Crombie are resting at their hotel in Wellington, the day after the third show of their Forever Enz tour the band's first since 2009. On Saturday, they'll play their home town of Auckland (which welcomed the beginning of the Enz in 1972) before kicking off a run of Australian concerts next week. So, is this really the end of the Enz? Nobody's announced that it's the last time, says Finn which suggests that, if there's to be a next time, they'd best not leave it another 17 years. Never say never, nods Crombie, who has just turned 73."

Hairspray is described as a lethal hazard in the music business, yet Split Enz members avoided disaster during intense onstage styling. Tim Finn’s hair is portrayed as unusually resilient despite copious lacquer, while Noel Crombie’s stage look is described as dramatic and exaggerated. Neil Finn is noted for a neat earlier hairstyle and later for using so much product that his hair appears extremely large. The band is on the Forever Enz tour, their first since 2009, with shows in New Zealand and upcoming concerts in Australia. The future of Split Enz is left open, with no finality announced and an implied desire to avoid long gaps between tours.

Read at www.theguardian.com