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Part 2: 1988 to 1990+Berlin (The basement in Wellesley Street near Queen St-now part of The Wintergarden 1988-9)After Peter and Mark left Le Bom (or, more truthfully, the greedy co-owners of Le Bom forced them out and stupidly killed the golden goose) they did a series of illegal warehouse parties...the sort where you find a warehouse, hire a few DJs and fill the place through word of mouth..... Until the cops turned up at one in Nelson Street and confiscated the booze, donating it to themselves and denying it had ever existed. So they were keen when Mario Dean offered them a door deal to host his club in Wellesley Street and they soon opened in the glitzy mirror and stainless steel mock luxury that had been countless clubs over the years. Once again the beautiful people tripped down the stairs, past Riseti (known to all as Rose), a doorman extraordinaire who soon set the standards that all Auckland doorman are still measured against. They'd hired Andy Vann as DJ (Mark did some as well but Peter was more host which had always been his role in their partnership), a young DJ who had cut his teeth playing commercial clubs in West Auckland and Queen Street. Andy didn't last long though, feeling frustrated at the limitations of the job and was replaced by Mike Haru, calling himself Mike Stowers at the time. They approached Roger and I to do Thursdays which weren't working and we opened as The Trip, playing acid, techno, house and hip-hop, and a whole bunch of great records that we found that the back of the DJ booth that they had been sent from NYC but wouldn't play 'cos they didn't play house...things like "Break For Love" by Raze. Thursday nights were huge and sold out pretty much every week Eventually the owners decided, yet again, that they did need any of us and tossed Mark and Peter out although Roger and I had by that time moved onto the Siren. In the early nineties the Pierard Brothers, Gerhardt & Karl, whose history included the legendary Buffalo Bar in Palmerston North (!) and Clares in Wellington, opened Bad News Barbie in the space for a while, but, as cool as it was it never really took off.
+The Trip trips:
+The Siren (The basement 35 High Street and later 33 High Street 1988-90)After The Playground Tom and I took about six months off. We both went to Europe and NYC and hung out with Harry Ratbag and went clubbing and all the other things you do in NYC & London on holiday. I released a couple of records and DJed a bit with Roger and at dance parties. By November the money was getting low and we were bored and looking for an opportunity. The stock market crash had left the old Club Mirage, formerly the home of the rich and famous looking a bit sad and empty so I rang Joe who owned it and asked if he was interested in selling it and he said no. A few weeks later I went down there-it was the ideal spot, and asked him face to face and he agreed. We bought it on the 5th of December 1988 and re-opened as The Siren on the 9th of December 1988. We kept on one barman, Al Murray, to tell us where things were, put in a big Vega Soundsystem, and we were open. The DJ line-up was myself, Roger Perry and a new guy who had arrived from London, Jon Davis, 1986 DMC runner-up. On our first couple of weekends we issued membership badges and turned away Club Mirage gold cards with glee. I refused to let Rachel Hunter in. The DJ booth was a funny little thing with tinted glass windows so we could get up to all sorts of things in there. It was packed and we'd pinched Rose for the door from the now dying Berlin. Shortly after we opened Tom, and myself found a door at the back of the coat check and went through to find a big empty room (with the remains of a dead cat on the floor). We tracked down the owners and asked if we could use use it. It was the basement of the long gone RSA and we were rented it at $50 per week. So we knocked a hole in the wall and in June 1989 hired another DJ (Sam Hill) and tripled the size of the club. The new room was to be our House room and the other side for funk and soul. It was the first time a club in Auckland offered two DJ setups in different rooms. By the end of 1989 Peter and Mark had opened Roma and the Mirage fit out was looking a bit tired so we decided to re-invent and re-vitalise.......to take back the initiative. Jon Davis suggested the name Box (it was never THE Box) for the big room and we just needed a name for the Mirage Room.....
+The Siren Trax:
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