Jack Mitchell-Anyon has run Space Monster in the old Chronicle building for about three years. Photo/Bevan Conley
Hidden in the Wanganui CBD is an alternative music venue possibly better known outside Wanganui than in it, reports Zaryd Wilson.
There's a small sign above the door of the 100-year-old former Chronicle building on the corner of Drews Ave and Rutland St that reads Space Monster.
Other than that, it's hard to tell that inside the walls of the ageing building is a venue drawing some of New Zealand's biggest alternative acts and overseas bands to Wanganui.
Bands that leave much bigger provincial towns and cities, and bigger venues, off their tour-list are coming to Wanganui to play Space Monster. Die! Die! Die!, So So Modern, Beastwars and The Nudge, and Japanese veterans Guitar Wolf, have all plugged in to Space Monster's PA.
It's been roughly three years since 28-year-old Jack Mitchell-Anyon started hosting bands at the venue. The building had been a music venue for well over a decade as the home of Dylan Herkes' label Stink Magnetic.
"I went to Stinkfest, which was like a three-day mini-festival the Stink Magnetic put on," Mitchell-Anyon said. It was that festival, among other things, that brought him back to Wanganui.
Soon after, Herkes left Wanganui to take Stink Magnetic to Wellington and offered Mitchell-Anyon the space for practice.
"I didn't intend on running a venue at all. I kind of just fell into it, actually, and had no prior experience."
But then country blues musician Delaney Davidson, whom Mitchell-Anyon had met through Herkes, asked if he could play at the venue.
"It was meant to be just a one-off thing. I dragged my old JVC home speakers, put them on a couple of chairs. I can't even remember what was running them but it was a f*****g shabby outfit. We blew all those speakers up that night.
"Lesson one, don't use home speakers."
From that night on, Space Monster, quickly and seemingly without explanation, became a venue bands wanted to play at. Three years on it has become legend, drawing bands from around the country and overseas.
"I've never asked a band to play, ever," Mitchell-Anyon said.
"People, they go crazy for it. I honestly don't know how it happens that there's a constant flow of bands. I don't put on [just] anything and I probably turn away more than 50 per cent of the bands that want to play."
Wanganui's Matt Edmonds, who plays in the band the Pussywhippers with Mitchell-Anyon, reckons it is a combination of the unique premises and Mitchell-Anyon's talent as a musician, sound technician and venue manager. "He carries a lot of kudos," he says.
Edmonds has been a keen supporter of Space Monster since the beginning and says it is renowned within certain New Zealand music circles. A Space Monster gig was a badge of honour, he said. "If you haven't played Space Monster, you're nothing.
"You go to Wellington on Cuba St and they'll tell you with weepy-eyed tears how good it is.
"For me, it's a must do if you're a Wanganui person and you like music."
Arriving at Space Monster can be a curious experience. A few people sit on the corner steps smoking and talking as music filters out of the third-floor windows.
The venue is up a set of dimly lit stairs, along a dark hall, and through a narrow doorway into what would have been a production room of the former newspaper office. Space Monster fits just over 100 people.
The rectangular space is made distinctive by the black and white checked floor, couches, colourful lights and poster-plastered walls. There is no stage and the crowd can get close enough to cop a stray drop of sweat or saliva from the bands.
"It's a menagerie of lights and crazy pictures on the wall. It's all done pretty much on a bottom-line budget. When things break, it's pretty stressful," Mitchell-Anyon says. Even the name lends itself to the concept. It come from the song Space Monster Party, which Mitchell-Anyon and Herkes used to play. "Some people can't take the name seriously. Well, don't take the name seriously. We're not trying to be too serious here. It's a space and it's kind of random. The decor's random. The bands are probably more random than most Wanganui people experience, so it's kind of monstrous."
It is this spirit which keeps the big-name acts coming. Later this month, Taite Music Prize winner Lawrence Arabia will drop in on his New Zealand tour.
Mitchell-Anyon admits he is selective with what he puts on. It is part of Space Monster's success.
"The only way you can really dictate what music you put on is personal taste. You've got to keep it of a certain standard," Mitchell-Anyon says.
"Because there's no financial gratification, the only thing that really keeps me doing it is having good bands and having people enjoy them. So yeah, I am a bit picky about what I take. I generally accept any genre but it has to be good, it has to be interesting."
And it's true, Mitchell-Anyon does it for free. Aside from petty cash for basic supplies, all the door money goes to the bands.
Space Monster is underrated and seems to sneak under the radar in Wanganui, says Ellen Waugh, aka Castlecliff Lights, another local who plays and watches music there.
"I think it should be valued more than it is, it does a lot for Wanganui. There's people in Auckland and Wellington who look at Wanganui quite differently than the general public because of Space Monster."
Waugh said she even knew of some musicians looking at moving here after having played at the venue.
No one really knows why it is not more frequented by locals. Some people know about it and are interested but have never been.
"I think some people are a bit intimidated when they come in, which does make people a bit nervous about coming." But there's no reason to be, she said.
Mitchell-Anyon describes 20-120 people who turn up on a given night as changeable.
"I think it's a fairly eclectic mix of people, to be honest. You get your young'uns who actually always behave really well, and you get your 20 somethings, and you get you 50, 60 somethings. You've got lawyers and accountants and cafe workers. There's no solid crew that always come."
"I've never had a single fisticuff," Mitchell-Anyon said.
"So in a way it's a lot more of a calm vibe to watch music in because you've just got people that are going to watch music. Overwhelmingly there's an attitude, when you walk in there, if you're trying to cause trouble, you're not going to last long."
For whatever reason, Space Monster works. It has got an incredibly supportive niche following in Wanganui and is talked about nationwide for all the right reasons. A small room in the middle of a provincial city, defying the cultural status quo.
"It's secretly satisfying when you look at a band's touring schedule and it's Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin, Wanganui," Mitchell-Anyon says.
Gallery
Image 1 of 11: Jack Mitchell-Anyon's own band The Pussywhippers are regulars at Wanganui's Space Monster
Winter weather can make keeping the kids entertained even harder than usual.