{"id":3192,"date":"2025-12-17T19:17:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T06:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/?p=3192"},"modified":"2026-04-28T16:38:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T04:38:51","slug":"protons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/bands\/2025\/12\/protons","title":{"rendered":"Protons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:17px\">The Protons were a short-lived but sharply defined presence in Wellington\u2019s early-1980s post-punk underground. Formed in June 1980, the band began as a high-energy three-piece featuring Tony Richards (guitar, vocals), Phil Bowering (bass, vocals) and Lawrence Sampson (drums), before expanding later that year with the addition of lead vocalist May Lloyd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-context=\"{ &quot;autoclose&quot;: false, &quot;accordionItems&quot;: [] }\" data-wp-interactive=\"core\/accordion\" role=\"group\" class=\"wp-block-accordion is-layout-flow wp-block-accordion-is-layout-flow\">\n<div data-wp-class--is-open=\"state.isOpen\" data-wp-context=\"{ &quot;id&quot;: &quot;accordion-item-1&quot;, &quot;openByDefault&quot;: false }\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.initAccordionItems\" data-wp-on-window--hashchange=\"callbacks.hashChange\" class=\"wp-block-accordion-item is-layout-flow wp-block-accordion-item-is-layout-flow\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-accordion-heading\"><button aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"accordion-item-1-panel\" data-wp-bind--aria-expanded=\"state.isOpen\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.toggle\" id=\"accordion-item-1\" type=\"button\" class=\"wp-block-accordion-heading__toggle\"><span class=\"wp-block-accordion-heading__toggle-title\">Read more<\/span><span class=\"wp-block-accordion-heading__toggle-icon\" aria-hidden=\"true\">+<\/span><\/button><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div aria-labelledby=\"accordion-item-1\" data-wp-bind--hidden=\"state.isHidden\" data-wp-on--beforematch=\"actions.handleBeforeMatch\" id=\"accordion-item-1-panel\" role=\"region\" class=\"wp-block-accordion-panel is-layout-flow wp-block-accordion-panel-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:17px\">Writing all their own material, Richards and Bowering steered the band through a spiky, saw-edged sound rooted in punk and new wave but already pushing beyond strict genre lines. Despite a sometimes hostile reception from local punks and their outsider status within Wellington\u2019s Terrace Scene, the Protons were active giggers, supporting <strong>Toy Love<\/strong> in August 1980 and sharing bills with <strong>The Mockers, Coup d\u2019\u00c9tat <\/strong>and the <strong>Valentinos<\/strong> at the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/2022\/06\/last-resort\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"1049\">Last Resort<\/a><\/strong> on Courtenay Place .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:17px\">In October 1980 the band appeared at the controversial <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/1980\/10\/1980-october-25-26-battle-of-the-sounds\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"12269\">Battle of the Sounds<\/a><\/strong> contest, and in early 1981 landed a last-minute main-stage slot at the <strong>Nambassa Festival<\/strong>. Their abrasive, angular sound proved a surprise hit with an audience more accustomed to jazz, blues and folk. Although the festival collapsed financially, leaving the band unpaid, the Protons travelled on to Auckland, played at Mainstreet, and recorded at Harlequin Studios before returning to Wellington .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:17px\">By March 1981, recordings at <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/2024\/04\/sausage-studios\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"12529\">Sausage Studios<\/a><\/strong> in Thorndon captured the Protons as a tight four-piece with an increasingly diverse repertoire. Their songs blended punk urgency with elements of funk, reggae and jazz, paired with lyrics that ranged from satire to outright irreverence. The single \u201c<strong>Lights On \/ Modern Homes<\/strong>\u201d was released on <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/2024\/04\/bunk-records\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"12537\">Bunk Records<\/a><\/strong> in early 1981, accompanied by a video shot at TVNZ\u2019s Avalon Studios. Shortly afterwards, The Protons disbanded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:17px\">After the Protons, Phil Bowering repurposed the track \u201c<strong>Wolves of Power<\/strong>\u201d for a 1982 solo single, released to coincide with the second visit of the USS Truxtun to Wellington. Tony Richards went on to form <strong>Carnival Din<\/strong>, continuing his involvement in Wellington\u2019s alternative music scene.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table is-style-stripes\" style=\"font-size:16px\"><table><tbody><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><strong>Origin<\/strong><\/td><td>Wellington<\/td><\/tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><strong>Genre<\/strong><\/td><td>post-punk, new wave<\/td><\/tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><strong>Years Active<\/strong><\/td><td>1980<\/td><\/tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><strong>Associated Acts<\/strong><\/td><td>Condemned Sector<\/td><\/tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><strong>Past Members<\/strong><\/td><td>Phil Bowering (bass, vocals)<br>May Lloyd (vocals)<br>Tony Richards (guitar, vocals)<br>Lawrence Sampson (drums)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading has-x-large-font-size\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Releases<\/span><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table is-style-stripes\" style=\"font-size:15px\"><table><thead><tr><th class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Title<\/th><th class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Date<\/th><th class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Label<\/th><th class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Type<\/th><th class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Format<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\"><strong>Lights On\/ Modern Homes<\/strong><\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">1981, Jan 31<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Bunk Records<br>BUNK 003<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">single<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">7&#8243;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Wolves Of Power<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\"><\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\"><\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\"><\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\"><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading has-x-large-font-size\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Timeline<\/span><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1980, August, venue?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:15px\">Toy Love, Protons<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1980, September 21, Last Resort<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"635\" height=\"900\" src=\"http:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/1980_09_21_lastresort.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3190\" style=\"object-fit:cover\" srcset=\"https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/1980_09_21_lastresort.jpg 635w, https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/1980_09_21_lastresort-212x300.jpg 212w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 635px) 100vw, 635px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1980, October 24-25, <a href=\"https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/1980\/10\/1980-october-25-26-battle-of-the-sounds\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"12269\">Battle Of The Sounds<\/a><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">1981<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1981, January 22-26, Nambassa Festival<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading has-luminous-vivid-amber-background-color has-background\">1981, January 31: <em>Lights On\/ Modern Homes<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:15px\">released later in year?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XRpdqR2E_II?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JqfP5Jre8p8?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1981, February, Mainstreet AKL<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1981, March?, Sausage Studio<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1981, March, Victoria University<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:15px\">Pop Mechanix, Protons<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Protons were a short-lived but sharply defined presence in Wellington\u2019s early-1980s post-punk underground. Formed in June 1980, the band began as a high-energy three-piece<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3193,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bands","two-columns"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/se2JUk-protons","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/protons_01.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/bands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/bands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/bands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/bands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/bands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3192"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/bands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23959,"href":"https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/bands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3192\/revisions\/23959"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/bands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/bands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/bands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upthepunks.co.nz\/bands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}