Pin Group

Christchurch noise pop trio the Pin Group marked the inaugural signing to New Zealand’s storied Flying Nun imprint, uniting vocalist and guitarist Roy Montgomery with bassist Ross Humphrey and drummer Peter Stapleton. The band’s 1981 debut single “Ambivalence,” carrying clear echoes of Joy Division, became Flying Nun’s maiden release when pressed in a run of 300 copies, while its successor “Coat” surfaced before year’s end. Following the 1982 EP The Pin Group Go to Town, the group disbanded after Montgomery departed for a year of study in London; years afterward, he and Stapleton resumed working together inside the drone outfit Dadamah, and the original three members reconvened in 1992 for the standalone single “Eleven Years After.”