VOID is the perfect venue

In the heart of Hamilton city, at 651 Victoria St, is VOID, a drug and alcohol-free venue for youth.

It's a hotspot which provides opportunities for musos and a hangout for youth.

"VOID's main focus is providing a drug and alcohol-free creative space which the youth of Hamilton can use to put on their own events such as gigs, art exhibitions and events of all kinds", explains Ben Pedley of the VOID team.

VOID holds an all ages event at least once a week, generally costing about $10 to attend. These include many different genres of music, both local and international.

Ben says VOID has been playing host to an expanding array of international acts. "They have absolutely loved the place and what it stands for."

Gigs featuring young local talent include Happy Daze - 'The Good Fun' winners of smokefreerockquest 2010 headlined - and Kickback, recently showcasing a range of different high school bands.

Weekend Wars band member Tom Smith reckons, 'VOID has almost become a thing of folklore for Hamilton high schoolers and musicians.'

Drummer in both Pygmalion and The Beautiful Shambles, Ezra Donnelly is stoked saying the venue is 'pretty much the only place in Hamilton that we can go to listen to great local music without our parents'.

Ben is proud of the many great aspects to the venue.

He says these range from the atmosphere of young people having a great time without the influence of drugs and alcohol to the awesome talent.

"At VOID we get to see all these awesome bands that we would have otherwise never have heard of," Ben says.

"At the recent kickback gig, the atmosphere was chill because everyone was in the 15 to 18 age bracket and a lot of them were our mates," says Pygmalion band member Tom Dench.

Local band 'Seas of Conflict' has been a unit about a year now and has been privileged enough to play about nine or 10 gigs at VOID.

Seas of Conflict are wrapt with the fact VOID has helped them out a lot by getting their name around.

The band found VOID through friends and have met lots of new people there. This helped the band a lot as, once created they, 'were able to talk to the right people to be able to get on gigs to support other bands'.

Check VOID's website (www.void.org.nz) or Facebook page to find out more.