The Wellington punk scene in 1987 was a raw, high-energy explosion of DIY activity centred on the capital and its Hutt Valley satellite suburbs, with bands forming, releasing records, and touring at a breakneck pace that reflected both youthful defiance and the era’s turbulent national mood.
Early in the year Flesh D-Vice and Sticky Filth hit the road on the Short Stop & Rapid Fire tour, while Compos Mentis played a farewell house party in Rongotai before some of its members regrouped as Nazgul, rehearsing in a Stokes Valley school hall and debuting in March. Hutt Valley’s Microwave Babies began packing all-ages hall shows, and a cluster of other acts – Manson Family, Acid Reign, One Less Customer, Number Nine and Skank Attack – kept the gigs rolling. April saw Nazgul’s Out of Order Records drop the “New Zealand” 7” compilation featuring national acts alongside local favourites, while Skank Attack released their debut EP and then curated the 12” “When The Wind Blows” compilation with a double-header at the Cricketers. Wazzo Ghoti issued a live tape, and the work-for-dole scheme even spawned The Sub-Dominants, who played their first show to a hall full of school kids.
August was especially fertile: Number Nine, Nazgul and a posthumous Compos Mentis release all landed on vinyl, Gerald Dwyer of Flesh D-Vice compiled “The Harder The Edge…The Rocka The Roll”, and The Sub-Dominants appeared on the “Madness To Mana” comp. Number Nine then threw the “Breakout” gig at the Railway Hall, packing in Crawbilly Creeps, Wazzo Ghoti, Nazgul and Casualty. September brought a joint North Island tour for Number Nine and Nazgul, while Rock Theatre on Vivian Street reopened for shows.
October’s “Hellfire and Damnation” tour – Flesh D-Vice with The Sub-Dominants in tow – earned its apocalyptic name when the global stock-market crash hit New Zealand on 20 October, amplifying the sense of economic free-fall already felt under the government’s radical reforms.
The scene’s timing was no coincidence. In June 1987 New Zealand formally declared itself a nuclear-free zone through the Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act – a landmark win for the anti-nuclear movement that had galvanised the country since the 1985 bombing of the Rainbow Warrior.
By New Year’s the energy spilled south: ex-Acid Reign members resurfaced in Avil Retards, playing a Barrytown Hall Rage with Dunedin’s Mindfuckers and other South Island punks. The Wellington scene had spent 1987 turning school halls, pub backrooms and house parties into outlets for a generation that felt both liberated by the nuclear-free declaration and battered by economic upheaval.
January
- Jan: Submission #2
- Jan 7-8, Cricketers Arms, Short Stop & Rapid Fire Tour: Flesh D-Vice, Sticky Filth
- Jan 14-15, Gluepot: Short Stop & Rapid Fire Tour: Flesh D-Vice, Sticky Filth
- Jan 21-22, Cricketers Arms: Number Nine, Straitjacket Macks and Sleeves
- Jan 24, Rongotai (Simon Cottle’s 21st): Compos Mentis, Acid Reign
February
- Feb/ March: Divided We Fall #3
- Feb 6, Stokes Valley: Microwave Babies, Acid Reign
- Feb 12, location: Skank Attack, Dave Morris
- Feb 25-26, The Cricketers Arms: One Less Customer, Oneweta, Harry Death
March
- Wellington High School: The Sub-Dominants
- March 13, Fred’s Cafe: Skank Attack
- March 20, Clyde Quay Tavern: Flesh D-Vice
- March 20, Lady of The Rosary: Nazgul, Acid Reign, Microwave Babies
- March 20-21, Clyde Quay Tavern: Manson Family, Wazzo Ghoti, The Sub-Dominants
- March 21, location: Flesh D-Vice, Microwave Babies, Oneweta
- March 21, location: Manson Family, Acid Reign
- March 23, Clyde Quay Tavern: Wazzo Ghoti (live rec. Stuff What We Did)
- March 29, Lower Hutt gardens: Nazgul
April
- April/ May: Divided We Fall #4
- April, New Zealand, various artists
- April, Skank Attack: Skank Attack EP
- April, Wazzo Ghoti: Stuff What We Did, You’re A Beautiful Audience
- April 1-2, The Cricketers Arms: Number Nine
- April 6, The Cricketers Arms: Casualty, Nazgul
- April 22, The Gluepot: Skank Attack
- April 23, Hamilton University: Skank Attack
- April 24-25, White Hart: Skank Attack
- April 29, When The Wind Blows compilation
- April 29, The Cricketers Arms: Skank Attack
- April 30, The Cricketers Arms: Skank Attack, Number Nine
May
- May 7, Clyde Quay Tavern: Bygone Era, The Warners
June
- June/ July: Divided We Fall #5
- June 19, Superliquorman (NP): Skank Attack, The Primates
July
- July: Submission #4
- July 13, Frontier Studio: Nazgul record Good Demons
- July 13, The Evening Post: Microwave Babies interview
- July 18, Masterton Race Track: Nazgul, Microwave Babies, Acid Reign, Holiday On Death Row
August
- Madness To Mana
- Number Nine: Nowhere Fast
- Nazgul: Good Demons
- Compos Mentis: Backlash!
- The Harder The Edge… The Rocka The Roll
- Aug 5-28, North Island Skank Attack tour
- Aug 7, Edinburgh Hotel (Melb): No Idea, S.T.P
- Aug 8, Railway Hall, Breakout: Casualty, Number Nine, Nazgul, Wazzo Ghoti, Crawbilly Creeps
September
- Sept 4, Rock Theatre: The Sub-Dominants, Goats In Russian, Wazzo Ghoti, Brothers Gorgonzola
- Sept 4-5, The Whitehart Tavern: Number Nine, Nazgul
- Sept 11, Super Liquor Man: Number Nine, Nazgul
- Sept 12, The Cabana: Number Nine, Nazgul
- Sept 18, Rock Theatre: Sticky Filth, Number Nine, Death Watch
- Sept 19, Rock Theatre: Casualty, Microwave Babies, Negus Deluge
- Sept 19, BNU Clubrooms: Flesh D-Vice, Wazzo Ghoti, The Sub-Dominants
- Sept 24, Hillcrest Tavern, (HAM): Number Nine, Nazgul
- Sept 25-26, City Hotel (AK): Number Nine, Nazgul, Bygone Era
October
- Oct: Submission #5
- Oct 24, Duke of Edinburgh (Melb): Bastard Squad, No Idea, Chaotic Firing Squad, Death Sentence
- Oct 28, Albert Motor Lodge (PNorth): Flesh D-Vice, The Sub-Dominants
- Oct 29, White Heart (NP): Flesh D-Vice, The Sub-Dominants
- Oct 30-31, The Gluepot: Flesh D-Vice, The Sub-Dominants
November
- Nov 8, Railway Hall: Flesh D-Vice, The Sub-Dominants
- Nov 8, The Cricketers Arms: Flesh D-Vice, The Sub-Dominants (filmed)
- Nov 13, Railway Hall: Flesh D-Vice, The Sub-Dominants (AA)
- Nov 20-21, The Gluepot: The Warners, Manson Family, Bygone Era, Casualty
- Nov 22, The Cricketers Arms: Number Nine, Chromosome IX, One Less Customer, Nazgul
December
- Dec 4, Westown Hall (NP): Sticky Filth, Casualty, Number Nine, Nazgul
- Dec 6, Railway Hall: Flesh D-Vice, The Sub-Dominants, Manson Family, One Less Customer
- Dec 18, Railway Hall: Number Nine, Wazzo Ghoti, Nazgul One Less Customer
- Dec 20 (or Feb 20, 1988), Railway Hall: Microwave Babies, The Sub-Dominants, One Less Customer, TAB
- Dec 31, Barrytown Hall: Mindfuckers, Avil Retards, Vermin, Brain Damage, Genocide Factor, Love, Horror Web, The Strange Loves
- Dec 31, Ellerslie Primary School Hall: Anigma, Bygone Era, Last Orders, Acid Reign, Our Kind
