Live By The Board, Die By The Board

Numbskull were a ferocious grind and skate-thrash band that crashed onto the Wellington punk and metal scene in 2010, emerging from the legendary Lorne Street HMPCO flat. The original lineup featured John Dimery on vocals, Adam Kinsman on bass, Chris Retro on guitar, and Nick Oakes on drums. Oakes was already a veteran of the local punk circuit, having played in bands like If I Had A Gun, Hung Jury and Coexister.

Their sound, described by Dimery as “like a rabid crack fiend slipping in and out of consciousness while trying to escape from police custody,” fused breakneck thrash with raw grind energy. Numbskull quickly carved out a place for themselves in the underground, playing metal and punk festivals such as Skumfest, Stonerfest and Punkfest, and touring alongside thrash heavyweights Razorwyre.

The band recorded their first demo tape at Lorne Street in 2010 and released it at Punkfest on October 23 of that year. A week later they tore up the Burgundy Room Halloween party with Cry Wolf, Crimes and The Guilt Society – at that point still performing as a three-piece before Kinsman joined on bass. Their second tape, the “1086 Demo”, dropped on November 14, 2010, followed shortly by Kinsman’s debut gig with the band.

Numbskull was tightly linked with other key bands of the era. Members Dimery and Oakes were also part of metalcore outfit Entrails, and they developed a long-running connection with sludge legends Meth Drinker, frequently sharing bills between 2010 and 2013. Dimery also ran the DIY label Zero Style, which released several Numbskull recordings.

In October 2011, Numbskull teamed up with Hamilton’s Electric Mayhem for a split 12”, launched at Punkfest. The following year they played the first Take Shelter show at the Strathmore WWII bunkers, alongside Meth Drinker and Johnny and The Felchers, Dimery’s then-new band, where he took up drumming.

October 2012 saw the release of their blistering “Powderslave” EP, 13 tracks of pure grind-thrash aggression. Nine of these were reissued as the “Powderslave” 7” in April 2013. Numbskull’s final show came in March 2014 at Such As Life in Goongerah, Australia, alongside fellow Wellington D-beat punks Rogernomix.

After Numbskull’s end, the members remained active in the underground. Nick Oakes joined metal band Stalker; John Dimery continued playing with Johnny and The Felchers until 2015 and went on to join acts like Poverty & Spit, Raw Panic, Mutation and Fog; while Chris Retro joined D-beat group Bonecruncher.

Origin	Lorne St HMPCO
Genre	thrash, grind
Years Active	2011 – 2014
Labels	Zero Style
Associated Acts	Meth Drinker
Past Members	John Dimery (vocals) Adam Kinsman (bass) Chris Retro (gutar) Nick Oakes (drums) Kalem O’Brien (bass 2)

<a href="https://zero-style.bandcamp.com/album/powderslave">Powderslave by Numbskull</a>

Releases

Title	Date	Label	Type	Format
Demo Tape	2010, Oct 23		demo	tape/ DL
1086	2010, Nov 14		demo	tape/ DL
Electric Mayhem/ Numbskull	2011, Oct 22	Always Never Fun	split	12″
Powderslave	2012, Oct 19	Zero Style	album	tape
Powderslave	2013, April 5	Always Never Fun, Zero Style	album	7″/ DL