New Zealand rock'n'roll pioneer Johnny Devlin made his first-ever paid gig at the Swing'n'Sway rock'n'roll club in Napier, circa 1955. Photo / HB Knowledge Bank
Hawke's Bay expat muso Glen Moffatt has created a Napier Story Map on AudioCulture - The noisy library of New Zealand music - detailing the music performance history of his former home town.
A port city with a great climate – plus a diverse population both permanent and transient – Napier has nurtured many well-known New Zealand musicians, and attracted touring acts to its venues. Several of these venues have been famous nationwide – especially the Top Hat, the Cabana, and the Napier Soundshell – and institutions such as St Joseph's Māori Girls' College have shown the long term benefits of emphasising music.
Skate Domain
Unaware of each other's musical skills, the members of international post-rock headliners Jakob were schoolkids when they first crossed paths at the Skate Domain in Ahuriri in the early 1990s. Jeff Boyle and Maurice Beckett were at Napier Boys' High School while, a couple of years their junior, Jason Johnston was at Tamatea High School when they were regulars at the indoor skateboard park. It was a schoolmate of Johnston's who later brought them together to jam. The site where Skate Domain once stood is now a restaurant. The image is a screenshot from a video by Aron Pallesen, showing Beckett skateboarding at the Domain in early 1990s.
Church of the Southern Cross Recording Studio
Napier's first church – St Mary's Catholic Church – was built on Shakespeare Road in March 1859, dismantled in 1910 and reassembled at its current location in Ahuriri. After its closure in the late 1970s it was bought for the establishment of the Church of the Southern Cross Recording Studio. Online claims that Elton John and Sting laid down some tracks at the studio cannot be verified. There is a rumour that tape from the final recording session still sits spooled on the reel-to-reel machine at the premises. The former church and studio has lain dormant since the mid-1990s. With massive floor-to-ceiling pillars, the main area had a stage and PA installed with a studio in the rear. I recorded a DIY cassette in the studio with The Colonials in 1991 and there were underage gigs and adult theme nights there in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Photo taken by Christina McRae in 2020, long after the studio closed.
Iron Pot Cafe
Described as a Mecca for local musicians who would pop in after their inner-city gigs, the Iron Pot Cafe was in business from 1989 to 1994. Owned by music fan Charlie Rogers, one of the venue's attractions was the bartending flair his brother Beagle had learnt in the UK. The café was the base for Frets Music Club and became a tour stop for roots acts such as Darren Watson, Paul Ubana Jones and Al Hunter. It was also one of the few places you got to see Peter Thwaites and Jeff Rencontre's 10-piece supergroup The Animators. In this photo, resident performer Liam Farris is preparing for a lunchtime stint at the Iron Pot Café in early 1991. The poster notice board, which already contains out-of-town acts Luke Hurley, Phil Garland and Dave Murphy, would continue to grow over the years before its closure.
Port Ahuriri School
In December 1980, folk band Homegrown recorded about 20 songs live to two-track at Port Ahuriri School. All schoolteachers, the band had intended the cassette for friends and family, but new Hastings record label Cityfolk Record Co asked if they could use the recording as their first release. The best 12 songs were chosen and Homegrown was released in 1981. Homegrown's 1983 follow-up, The Dice, was recorded at the home studio of engineer John Holmes. Homegrown is pictured here preparing for the 1982 National Folk Festival of New Zealand: Tony Parker (left), Ian Turbitt, and Scotty Smith.
The Cabana
The Empire Hotel was renamed the Cabana Hotel in 1956 in honour of the new owners' racehorse Lady Cabana. The Ernie Rouse Trad Band and The Shadracks were early attractions but it wasn't until publican Dick Kellett's arrival in 1972 that the Cabana became one of New Zealand's top rock venues with the likes of 5th Movement, Freeway and Ragnarok packing the punters in all week. Publicans and countless bands – including Mi-Sex, Hello Sailor, Th' Dudes, Hammond Gamble, the Dance Exponents, the Chills – came and went until the bar was closed in 1997. In 2008 it was reopened by a passionate syndicate that included Ian Morris and Lee Pritchard, and gigs followed by Little Bushman, The Datsuns, The Phoenix Foundation, The Checks, The Black Seeds. Besides writing AudioCulture's two articles on the Cabana, Pritchard wrote a history of the venue, Hotel Cabana: Thru the Decades. Published in 2007, it is still in print.
Harston's Music Shop
From 1930 until his death in 1985, musician Neville Harston ran a music shop from one half of the Harston's Building in Hastings Street. Established in 1904, Messrs Harstons Ltd was the agent for leading piano makers. Alterations in the Spanish Mission-style were made to the building after the Hawke's Bay earthquake of 1931. There was a brief foray into selling radios but the store specialised in imported sheet music in the 1950s. After almost a decade of neglect, the location was reopened as music venue O'Flaherty's but returned to instrument retail when Music Machine moved in. The photograph of founder Neville Harston was taken by Christopher Matthews in 1983. Harston's is the building behind the lamppost with three arched windows; the colourised photograph was taken when Hastings St was being rebuilt after the 1931 earthquake.
The Soundshell
Everybody from The Chicks and Ray Columbus to Prince Tui Teka, Ragnarok and Herbs, to local talent quests and bands The Infamous James Gang and Naked Gun trod the boards of the Soundshell on Napier's Marine Parade. But in 1971, the Napier Soundshell was in danger of being demolished when the Napier City Council planned to build a new aquarium on the site. Sanity prevailed, the aquarium was established further down the Parade and the Soundshell was upgraded. Built in 1935, it was the first soundshell in New Zealand. Pictured here are The Chicks onstage at Napier Soundshell, summer 1967-68, during one of several non-official tours that cashed in on the success of the C'mon TV show.
Napier Municipal Theatre
Dinah Lee headlined this big show at the Municipal Theatre on October 29, 1964. The event was produced by the Top Hat venue, so also featured plenty of local talent. Johnny and The Contacts played two slots, opening both halves and accompanying all the solo artists including Lee. In between were a couple of brackets by Hawke's Bay king of trad jazz, Ernie Rouse, a contest sponsored by local pop station 2ZC and turns from Ribs Parkinson (also the MC), Buddy Collins, Louise Logan, and Linda Gardiner and Gary Martin. Ubiquitous magician Jon Zealando also performed; after Dinah Lee, the show closed with 'God Save the Queen'. Almost 20 years later, in 2006, the Municipal hosted a nostalgia show featuring Johnny Devlin, Ray Columbus, Shane, Larry Morris, and others. The original Municipal, designed in the Italian Renaissance style, opened at the 119 Tennyson Street location in 1912. Destroyed in the 1931 earthquake, it was replaced by a 1154-seat Art Deco theatre in 1938, and was restored in the late 1990s.
Swing 'n' Sway Club
The Swing 'n' Sway rock'n'roll club in Napier probably began life in an old hall somewhere near where McDonald's now is. But by all accounts it had moved to the Red Cross Hall by the time New Zealand rock'n'roll pioneer Johnny Devlin made his first-ever paid gig there, circa 1955. Devlin had already played in Hawke's Bay in the mid-1950s – including once at the Clive Hall when he had to be picked up from Whanganui because he had no money to get there himself – but the 10 shillings he made at the Swing 'n' Sway was the first time he was paid to play anywhere. He rode there from Whanganui on his motorcycle, a guitar strapped across his back. "It was a bit difficult with the guitar on the back," he recalled to Chris Bourke in 2006, "particularly if you get a wind gust and the button falls out of the guitar, and the guitar goes one way and the bike goes the other. Ha ha, yeah. And I've gone over a few times on the motorbike, I went over a few times on gravel, always a killer."
Radio 2ZC
Napier's 2ZC was a petri-dish of radio pop in the early 60s, with innovative programming, patter, and technical creativity; some say a modified transmitter attracted a nationwide audience to its broadcasts. The NZBS station launched on October 1, 1957, and from 1960 compiled one of the country's most important regional radio charts. Hosted by Neville Chamberlain and then Keith Richardson, the chart was collated based on airplay, hype and local sales. At 2ZC, wrote radio historian Peter Downes, "Established rules were cast aside and 'personality projection' took over. Rapid-fire Austral-American accents frenziedly scattered the latest 'hip talk' jargon in between and over the top of the supercharged but infectious beat of the records." Engineer/producer David Lindsay recorded several Hawke's Bay pop groups in the 2ZC studio and two live recordings of Johnny and The Contacts at the nearby Top Hat.
Top Hat
Throughout the 1960s, the Top Hat was Napier's premier live music venue, situated on Dickens Street where it was originally the Gaiety Theatre. As the Top Hat it opened in October 1961 with a bulging house of 800 enjoying The Ernie Rouse Trad Band. For the next five years the band alternated as resident group with Johnny and the Contacts. Later resident bands were The Len Whittle Combo, and The Matloes. Acts to appear at the Top Hat included Ray Columbus and The Invaders, Sandy Edmonds, The Chicks, Allison Durbin, Ray Woolf, Larry Morris, Tommy Adderley, and Shane. The club closed at the end of the decade and the space was later reopened as the Silver Spade, Bananas and Peanuts. It now houses a model railway display.
The State of It
After the State Theatre cinema closed its doors in the 1990s, Napier musician David Hannay set it up as youth venue The State of It. The former Hanging Tree frontman/songwriter installed a PA and lights and encouraged young bands to get up and play, and teenagers to attend underage gigs. Many musicians of the ensuing years cut their teeth at The State of It. When the lease ran out, Hannay repeated the formula at the former Odeon Theatre in Tennyson St, rechristening it Odin's Inn. The photo shows a "Save the State of It" protest from the mid-90s; David Hannay is on the right with the red loudhailer.
Lions Hall
The Napier City Country Music Club was flourishing in 1981 when I started attending the weekly club nights at the Lions Hall as a 10-year-old. Founder Jim Toner brought together some of the teenaged talent in a band called Ramrod that was narrowly pipped by Aucklander Michael Roycroft in the 1983 NZCMA Entertainer of the Year. That same year, 'Crying In The Rain' – a single by Jim's daughters Lynne and Celine Toner – was released on CBS. The club moved out of the Lions Hall around the same time and the hall was eventually demolished for a new road.
Nelson Park
Napier sports ground Nelson Park was the site of Hawke's Bay's first outdoor rock festival in 1970 headlined by Shane, The Chicks and Dizzy Limits. The event attracted a crowd of 2000 and was the brainchild of Hastings drummer-turned-promoter Mike Corless's Top Line Entertainments. Born and raised in Dannevirke, Corless was spurred on by the success and moved to Auckland, first establishing Davco Promotions before developing a national pub-rock circuit with New Music Management. Nelson Park is situated between two arterial routes, Kennedy Road and Latham Street; after the 1931 earthquake, 500 tents were erected on the park to provide emergency accommodation for displaced residents.
Onekawa Hotel
Following a late 1980s revamp, the Onekawa Hotel looked to shake its MOR reputation and attract a younger audience by establishing itself as a venue for touring bands. Acts to appear there in the 1990s included Willie Hona, The Exponents supported by These Wilding Ways and Dave Dobbyn supported by Bic Runga. And who could forget Rowly Burns' pyrotechnics as he strode across the bar top fronting Wellington's Billy the Kid?
Perreaux Sound
Started by electronics buff Peter Perreaux in 1974, Perreaux Sound created New Zealand's first locally made concert PA in 1976. Prog rock band Ragnarok purchased one of the huge systems and transported it around the country on a national tour of theatres in support of their second album Nooks. The band even appeared in print advertising for Perreaux. By 1987, Perreaux was exporting to 17 countries worldwide. The company moved operations to Auckland in 1991.
Moteo Jazz Band
One of New Zealand's earliest jazz bands, the Moteo Jazz Band emerged from Moteo, a rural locale west of Napier, basically a crossroads and a marae. It was known as the Moteo String Orchestra throughout World War I, already popular in Hawke's Bay by September 1918, and played before the Prince of Wales in 1920 and the Duke and Duchess of York in 1927. The Moteo Jazz Band is known to have played in Auckland, the Waikato and Rotorua. In the 1930s the band developed into Hawke's Bay's popular Harry Brown Dance Band. The Moteo Jazz Band is pictured here c. 1930. Back row (L-R): Dave Karauria, Dusky (Whiuwhiu) Pineaha, Harry Brown, Peter Rawiri, Johnson Grey. Front row: Adam Kawhe, Tom Rawiri, Martin Taihaere-Wepa, Polly Nepe, Jerry Wepa.
Mission Estate Concerts
In 1993 the Mission Estate winery began hosting large-scale concerts at its Greenmeadows vineyard on Church Road. Under the silhouette of the imposing Mount St Mary seminary, thousands have enjoyed concerts by international acts such as Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (Ngāti Maniapoto), Ray Charles, Dionne Warwick, the Beach Boys, Cliff Richard, Carole King, Rod Stewart, and many others. Among the New Zealand acts who have supported the visiting headliners are When the Cat's Away, Hogsnort Rupert, Kaylee Bell, Avalanche City, the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra, and my niece Danica Bryant.
St Joseph's Maori Girls' College
Singing talent has emerged from the St Joseph's Māori Girls' College Choir for decades; among its alumnae are Hinewehi Mohi, Moana Maniapoto, Whirimako Black, and Maisey Rika. The choir has released dozens of albums on the Viking, Kiwi and South Pacific labels. Their first recordings in 1960 were made in an assembly hall at the school; some of the pupils not even realising they were being recorded. In 1976, Viking Records presented the choir with two gold discs for sales of 'Pokarekare Ana'. The original site of the school was on Bluff Hill; after the 1931 earthquake it was rebuilt in Greenmeadows, where it opened in 1935. The choir's singing is also referenced in that country song 'Somewhere in New Zealand Tonight'. This photo from the Daily Telegraph shows the St Joseph's Māori Girls' College Choir welcoming the Vienna Boys' Choir to their school on July 3, 1967.
Otatara Pa
There was a brief time when Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh was a bonafide member of Pacific reggae founders Herbs. It was while on tour with them Walsh had an epiphany at Otatara Pā that he says saved him from drug addiction. He told a gathering at the Pā in 2004 that it was while standing atop the hill known as Hikurangi in 1989 and looking over the expanse of Napier and beyond that he "had a moment of clarity." The realisation encouraged him to seek help back home in the United States. His recovery was a contributing factor to the Eagles reconvening in 1994. Walsh's life-changing visit to Otatara Pā is recounted in an AudioCulture "Rock & Roll Rendezvous" column.
Meeanee Hotel
Future recording star Jodi Vaughan had been in New Zealand only a matter of hours on Labour Weekend 1975 when she was coaxed into singing a number with The Doug Ryder Convention at their Meeanee Hotel residency. Just a year or so later, she had teamed up with Brendan Dugan and Gray Bartlett and was on her way to becoming a national institution. Singer Doug Ryder was a Hawke's Bay institution, replacing Rex Franklin in the Ruahine Ramblers in the late 1950s before fronting his own bands up and down the east coast of the North Island in the following decades.
• Information supplied courtesy of AudioCulture / Iwi Waiata
Two people serious injured in Auckland motorway crash, one seriously.