years_active label article_title past_members background genre origin name
1984 & ndash ; 1996 flying nun able tasmans
 leslie dodd ronald young david beniston stuart greenway jonkers peter keen graeme humphreys craig mason jane group_or_band indie rock lo-fi new zealand able tasmans
able tasmans

the able tasmans were an indie band from auckland , new zealand .
at various times the band consisted of leslie jonkers , peter keen , graeme humphreys , craig mason , david beniston , jane dodd -lrb- previously of the verlaines -rrb- , and ronald young .
they formed in 1984 and named themselves after the dutch explorer abel tasman .
they released four albums and two eps on flying nun records .
the band split up in 1996 .
ten years later graeme humphreys and peter keen regrouped to record an album , `` the overflow '' , under the name of humphreys & keen .
the band 's style of music could be considered as similar to the prevalent dunedin sound favoured by flying nun during the 1980s and 1990s and most effective when keyboards -lrb- not normally prominent in the dunedin sound -rrb- were to the fore , as on their early student radio hit `` snow white chook . ''
graeme humphreys is now better known in new zealand for his role as a radio talkback host -lrb- under the name graeme hill -rrb- .
