Chez Paree was a boho cafe located in Embassy theatre building with an entrance off Majoribank Street. During the 1960-70’s it played host to folk musicians and an audience of Wellington’s theatre aficionados. In late 1978 Tony Lambert took over running Chez Paree and rebranded it Mind Shaft in an attempt to attract a newer audience from Wellington’s emerging punk scene. The venture featured Wellington’s first punk bands with The Amps and The Normals playing as resident bands for the months of November and December, 1978, with the small inner city venue serving as an incubator for the growing audience of people attracted to the new music and ideas of punk.
An interview with Brent Hayward (later of Shoes This High) captures the Mind Shaft vibe in 1978:
I was in this band called The Amps in 1978. I’d just been released from hospital for heroin addiction. I shot-up at the soundcheck jam where it had been decided a couple of nights previously a music experiment should happen. The club was called the Mind Shaft, it was Saturday afternoon. Queer Tony ran the joint selling Vodka under the counter to sailors, dealers, chemists, hustlers, junkies, and pimps who frequented here along with your regular part-time punks and those into music with an “eat shit” attitude. The Amps played every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night to packed Mind Shaft crowds in the Embassy Building.http://www.clubbizarre.co.nz/reinventingsheep
| Address | 2 Majoribank St. Mt Victoria |
| Location | 1st floor, Embassy Building |
| Type | cafe, music venue |
| Opened | Chez Paree, 1960’s ? |
| Renamed | as Mind Shaft, November 1978 |
| Closed | December 23, 1978 |
| Owner | Tony Lambert |
| Former Names | Chez Paree |
1978, November 8 – , The Normals
1978, December 13-16, 20-23
The Amps
