Trippin out: 90s legends ‘Push Push’ back for dates next year

In mid-1991, a song written by a big-haired Auckland band not long out of high school was everywhere. Now it’s coming back.

‘Trippin’’ by Push Push hit the top of the charts in April 1991, and stayed there for six weeks.

“We wrote it in band practice the week after we’d seen the Ramones play at the Power Station,” lead singer Mikey Havoc told RNZ’s Afternoons.

Push Push is reuniting to celebrate 35 years of that debut hit single and the “hurly-burly, crazy ride” it launched, Havoc says.

The song was a “refreshing blast of wild adolescent energy, in the same way The Who’s ‘My Generation’ or the Ramones’ ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ had been,” wrote Gavin Bertram in Audioculture.

Not only is the band celebrating 35 years since ‘Trippin’’ hit number 1, but new songs are in the pipeline, Havoc says.

Since Push Push disbanded, Havoc has pursued a successful career as a media presenter, musician and DJ.

Why now for a reunion? The time is right to cheer the nation, he says.

“People are miserable all the time, throw yourself back to that day, it wasn’t like that back in those days, was it? No, it was a good time!”

Push Push will play shows in Hamilton, Auckland, Whangaparaoa and Mount Maunganui next year.