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One of New Zealand's favourite bands of the 70s is reforming - and they're playing the same venue that got them in trouble nearly 30 years ago. Citizen Band will reunite for one night to raise money for Play it Strange, at the Auckland Town Hall on May
2. The charitable trust runs programmes throughout New Zealand for budding songwriters.
"People have bugged me enough to do it so we thought we'd do it for a laugh," says the band's founding member and Play it Strange CEO Mike Chunn, who admits the four original members are now "completely unrecognisable".
That's probably just as well, given the ruckus they caused when they last played the Town Hall in 1979. More than 1000 excited teens squeezed into the venue and shook the building so strongly the stage crew had to tie down the swaying speakers. The next day, Auckland Mayor Sir Dove-Meyer Robinson banned rock concerts.
Chunn has fond memories of the performance. "We were very, very excited because I don't think any of that bunch of bands had tried the Town Hall, and I have to say we were pretty nervous about it because it was sold out. But we had a ball, we loved it. It went by in a flash ... This time we want to blow out the back wall."
With Th' Dudes and Street Talk, Citizen Band were one of the country's most popular acts, combining pub rock appeal with new wave pop influences. Bass player Mike Chunn and brother and singer Geoff formed the band after Split Enz broke up, recruiting Vox Pop's Brent Eccles on drums and Greg Clark on guitar.
Geoff wrote most of their material, including The Ladder Song, My Pohutukawa, The Office Comes Alive, Holy Fulele and Dig that Tex. Their cover of Larry Rebel's I Feel Good became a radio hit in 1978. Later that year they released an album, and followed it up the next year with Just Drove Through Town. The band called it quits in 1981.
The May 2 concert will feature the winner of the Play it Strange songwriting competition, Don McGlashan and his son, Jordan Luck, and the Rockquest runners-up Sons of Solomon, Eddie Rayner, and more.
Tickets cost $250, and include dinner, drinks and a fundraising auction. Email rsvp@empirepr.co.nz or ph (09) 378 9030.