bandstanding: music in the west with susannah bridges
It is about having fun, enjoying what you do
It was a Fleetwood Mac performance at Western that year so the owner of the bar in his Springs on a bright sunny afternoon in 1977 that wisdom asked me to cancel all my upcoming changed Andrew Maitai’s life. “I was 15 years old and shows. I had spent countless hours booking I went with my dad. It was the Rumours Tour. At the and promoting these shows, so I decided to set time, they were my favourite band. I felt like all my up my own live venue, UFO, in the Powertool hair was standing up on end and part of my being space and literally moved all my shows there. was vibrating and tingling with excitement. I’ve been UFO has been operating ever since. hooked on live music ever since.” “UFO has been a great place for the Andrew is the founder of New Lynn-based recording community. It is one of the few all-ages venues label Powertool Records, record store Alien and live that caters to young and up and coming bands. venue UFO. The label has grown from its early days It provides a springboard for young bands. It representing Auckland bands to releasing artists from also provides a safe space for young people many diverse genres from all over the world. to see their peers perform. It is a community Andrew professes an affinity with Dunedin. “There that offers a lot for our young people and I are quite a number of Dunedin-based artists that have hope it is, and will continue to be, enjoyed and released music on Powertool. However, there have been embraced.” a bunch of overseas artists as well. Some of the places When asked who would he say are his that are home to Powertool artists include Los Angeles, Before starting his record label, most successful acts Andrew says “That’s a New York, Vancouver, London, Melbourne, Dresden Andrew owned a power tool shop. really hard question to answer. How do you and Warsaw, as well as, here in New Zealand, Auckland, Wellington, measure success? Do you mean commercial success or do you mean Hamilton, Christchurch, New Plymouth and Masterton.” artistic? The most commercially successful releases I have done are Always a music fan, Andrew was one of those nerdy guys that the first Bulletholes compilation album, One Man Bannister’s Evolver collected lots of records and CDs and attended tons of gigs. “My first album and the King Missile EP that I released back in 2016. Artistically, band was Joed Out, formed in 2000. Other bands I’ve played in are everything on Powertool are successes to me. I’m extremely proud of the Dead Souls, Poison Arrow, The Bilders, Otis Mace, Malcontent, The the Powertool catalogue.” Fuzzies and Art Wank. Playing live is always a buzz, it’s just great to be Andrew is currently in the throes of moving premises. “The owner creative. I have a punk rock attitude of just getting up and doing it. I of our current building is selling all his property to developers so I was love it!” Art Wank, one of Andrew’s current band’s (he’s the drummer) forced to move. Moving is a mammoth task. So far we have been going is set to release a new recording soon. every day for the past few weeks and I envisage that we won’t finish “I initially started Powertool Records as a vehicle to market Joed for another few weeks. The good thing about it is that we are returning Out, so they were the earliest Powertool releases. In 2003 I released to our old premises at 2/9 Veronica St. I have a ton of great memories a compilation featuring all my favourite local bands called Here Come there and I’m excited that we are returning.” The Bulletholes. The success of that album inspired me to release music However there is a catch – the UFO live shows may not be able to from other acts. Needless to say Joed Out has long since ceased and continue at Veronica St. “If this can’t be resolved, I may be forced to Powertool Records is nearing its 200th release.” (heaven forbid) move again. If anyone reading this has a suitable space Record shop Alien followed in 2009. “At the time it was because that I can operate UFO gigs from, then please, please get in touch!” I wanted somewhere that all my catalogue was available. I was Apart from all the hard work, Andrew says the rock’n’roll lifestyle is a frustrated that I could not get all my catalogue into shops, so this was ton of fun. “However, it is also a commitment and there are only a tiny a way to have everything on display in one place. In the beginning the percentage of people that can make a living from it. To be successful shop was very sparse as it just had my catalogue. Now we have added there are a lot more ingredients than just being a good musician. In second-hand records to the mix to expand the shop further. I like to my opinion the best reason to do it is for yourself. It’s not just about specialise in both alternative and New Zealand music. However we do commercial success. It is about having fun, enjoying what you do, have a huge range of all genres and now stock both second-hand and creating something unique and sharing that with the world”. new releases. For more info about Powertool and to contact Andrew go to www. “UFO started in 2011. I used to run lots of shows in town and I did powertoolrecords.net or give him a call on 0274492587. Check out a regular weekly event called the Indie Club. I was doing these at the Facebook for Powertool, Alien, and UFO pages. Dogs Bollix two or three times a week. The Rugby World Cup happened
Available now at Te Uru Gallery, Titirangi
Linda Cooper Linda Cooper
Councillor for Waitākere Councillor for Waitākere Please feel free to
Please feel free to contact me with contact me with issuesissues or ideas or ideas
021 629 533
021 629 533 linda.cooper@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz linda.cooper@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz Embossed Lights
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The Fringe AUGUST 2021
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