We Chatted to Someone Who Meticulously Documented The Hamilton Music Scene for a Decade

Check photos of baby-faced bands that went on to do big things internationally to acts that broke up after two months because their keyboardists started Internet flame wars against each other.

August 13, 2015, 1:27am

So So Modern

Located two hours south of Auckland, Hamilton is a farming town that pretends to be a functional city. It’s downtown lies empty thanks to a mall with a JB HI-FI and Cotton On built on the outskirts of the city. But in the 2000’s Hamilton was home to a raucous independent music scene.

Petra Jane was there to document pretty much every gig during this time and walked away with a great photographic folio that included baby-faced bands that went on to do big things internationally to acts that broke up after two months because their keyboardists started an Internet flame war against each other.

Noisey: How did you start out?
Petra Jane: It was pretty organic, I was already going to gigs, started taking photos and then bands wanted to see them. Then I got a digital camera and realised I could put them online for people. I had to take 20 floppy disks to each show. Digital made it a lot easier for me to try and capture that instantaneous moment at gigs.

What time was this?
I started in 2003 and lived in Hamilton till 2009, so most of the 2000s. It was pretty much every weekend, sometimes two or three shows a night. It was part of the excitement of being young and being in a city with so many amazing bands.

By day, I was a mild mannered librarian. So I had a certain impulses to record and preserve things for posterity. Live music is completely unpredictable and about being there in the moment, which is great, but it’s also very ephemeral and can be hard to remember all of those things when you want to look back on them. So in a way I was kind of trying to create a shared memory of this wonderful scene I was part of. And being a not very good musician, it felt like this was the best way to do it.

I think it’s interesting looking back at how line-ups and venues changed, plus just having a promotional material for the bands to use if they needed them.

What made Hamilton unique?
Hamilton looked out for Hamilton. Nobody else did. It’s the butt of jokes and was the place that no one wanted to go to if they could help it.

Batstorm

Ryan

When I studied there and a good out of town band played it felt like someone locally had gone to a lot of trouble to set that up, rather than the band thinking it was a great idea to stop by.
I did that myself on many occasions and found myself apologising for either the bad turnout or the venue falling through on the P.A at the last minute.

There’s a sense that we had to look out for each other and make our own fun. It was something I missed about Wellington when I moved down there. I couldn’t just form a bad band there for something to do, because it’s a proper city where people go out to watch bands and there are many venues with competent bands that play regularly. There isn’t the need to form a band with your flat mates and friends so you had something to do on a Friday night.

Hamilton music was completely outside commercial music and anything that could be considered professionalism. It was just something that was fun. People were there purely because they wanted to be, as there wasn’t even the slightest chance of becoming successful, rich or famous.

Die! Die! Die!

Nova Echo

What were you favourite bands and or venues to shoot?
My favourite band to shoot, ever, will always be Die! Die! Die! They were an Auckland band that came down and played in Hamilton regularly and always played amazing shows. They were both visually exciting from a photography perspective and also sounded amazing.

I remember This Nite Creeps putting on some fairly raucous shows with a lot of nudity as well.
We were all friends and it was a safe place.

Except the toilets at the Yellow Submarine.
Yeah that wasn’t the safest place.

Electric Shakedown

This Night Creeps

What were some of your favourite shows and highlights?
I guess I mostly remember snippets. Like a venue owner having to chase The Mint Chicks with a broom as they hung from the rafters and scuttled around like an unwanted squirrel infestation.

Mint Chicks

Amy Racecar

Was there anything in particular that you thought kept Hamilton music going despite the lack of support from venues?
Definitely Blink. The A Low Hum tours always stopped in Hamilton and they didn’t have to. It cost a lot to play there and it’s tough to break even. Every venue in Hamilton charged a hire fee and made you bring your own PA. Even if you’re just breaking up the drive from Wellington to Auckland, there were probably better options. I really respect him for doing that, there were plenty of other midsized cities that didn’t have terrible reputations, but he kept coming back.