Punkfest 1997

1997 was to become a watershed year for Screaming Asylum Productions. The scene was heating up around the country, and bands were calling us up asking us to put on shows for them in Wellington. New bands were forming in Wellington, and we had put on several successful tours for overseas bands – Spitboy (from USA) and Citizen Fish (from the UK) as well as a tour for SMUT, who had brought H-Block 101 with them from Sydney. All up, SAP put on about 25 gigs throughout the year.

I loaned the money to Kalya and SAP to buy an 8-channel PA and new speakers. With the money saved by not having to hire a PA, we quickly paid off the PA gear and were now free of that financial hurdle.

We were ready for Punkfest 1997. We booked Thistle Hall for Friday night, Saturday afternoon and Saturday night. We then got a call saying that the hall had been double-booked for the Saturday night and we had to drop our booking for someone’s 21st birthday party. We managed to get Aro Hall at short notice.

The Friday night went off, but not without a technical hitch. We had bought a foldback speaker for the PA to make it easier for bands to hear the vocals onstage. We had been warned by Spencer not to overload the PA amplifier with too many speakers, and part-way into Subreption‘s set the amp got fried. Lesson learned. We improvised with another amp for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday arvo was our first matinee gig. Good turnout, but we had to hastily pack up and vacate the hall as soon as the last band played as the 21st crew were anxiously waiting to set up for their event. Straight up to Aro Hall, we set up, opened the doors and were somewhat overwhelmed by a flood of people queued up to get in.

Ross Gardener