The Axemen is a New Zealand indie rock band formed in 1983. They played at the protests for homosexual law reform in 1983, where member Little Stevie McCabe was severely beaten up in the Christchurch Cathedral Square toilets. The Axemen's founding members, Bob Brannigan, Little Stevie McCabe, and Stu Kawowski, had been members of various bands in the South Island cities of Christchurch and Dunedin. Brannigan and McCabe played together in Christchurch under many names including The Whining Plums, Hey, We're Wolves and The Twins in the early 1980s. Kawowski played in a two-piece band at Cashmere High School called The Gorillas with Peter Rees, a classical guitarist. Kawowski joined the band The Twins at the Empire Tavern in Dunedin in 1983, when he jumped on stage to play the drums. In February 2009, US record label Siltbreeze re-released the Axemen's 1984 protest album Big Cheap Motel on 12-inch vinyl. Originally the album was released as a cassette packaged in a small bubble sleeve with a straw, mimicking the milk drink Big M. Big Cheap Motel included a recording of a live performance at the Summer Times festival in January 1984, a public music stage set up in Hagley Park, Christchurch. The band observed sexism in the Big M advertising surrounding the main stage, and subsequently wrote protest songs targetting the Christchurch City Council. The Axemen toured the United States for five weeks in October and November 2009, opening for Times New Viking playing 26 shows including Sacramento (October 27), New York and Chicago (November 28). The Axemen's debut double LP Three Virgins :: Three Versions:: Three Visions was re-issued and released on June 7, 2011 by Siltbreeze. This album was originally released on New Zealand label Flying Nun Records in 1985. A mint copy of the 1985 vinyl was transferred to digital files at Shadoks Music Studio, Amrum, Germany. The Axemen featuring McCabe, Kawowski, Stojanovic and newcomer William Daymond toured Australia in December 2011. William Daymond played bass guitar, allowing Dragan Stojanovic to play lead guitar. The Axemen played 10 shows starting in Brisbane and ending in Adelaide on December 23. The Axemen recorded a new vinyl album Sac Tap Nut Jam in Wellington in 2013, which was released through Spacecase Records, California. 2014 saw the re-release of 1989's Derry Legend on vinyl by Luxury Products USA.

Members

Brannigan currently plays in Shaft, the band he formed with Kawowski, Johnny Segovia and Danny Mañeto in Auckland 1992. (Kawowski, Segovia and Mañeto are no longer in the lineup, which is ever-changing but is currently made up of members of The Situations).