typewriter that made it quite hard to decipher so i'm retyping it all, and its a fucken mission cos i can't type for shit.
The format is all fucked up cos of the way i typed it but i will try and eventually get it sorted.
WE DON"T CARE WHAT YOU SAY:FUCK YOU
A bit of a ramble and a rave about Ripcorp and the Nerve Centre.
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In the interests of covering my butt, i should point out that opinions and recollections contained in this article are mine. In an organisation
such as Ripcorp there will be as many different interpretations on any given subject as there are people involved.
We are a bunch of generally anti-social low-lifes trying to make an approximation of the noises that excited and interested us. We practiced
in various places round Dunedin starting with a room in the Octagon, sharing with some people that are now particularly famous in NZ pop
music. They used to moan too much about us borrowing their poxy amps to play at parties, so after a couple of windows were broken it was
time to move on. There is a video in existence of Survivors Of The Plague and the Mindfuckers playing to a few mates in this room. We used
Margie's basement for a while. This was really helpful at the time cos the Mindfuckers were about to do some recording, but in the long run
totally impractical. Carl and Mike joined up with the Survivors about this time and they had a room in an industrial estate so we went over
there for a while. As usual other bands didn't like the fact that we played at full volume all the time so we had to move on.
The next space was the one that gave us the most insight into what would eventually become the Nerve Centre. This was a basement under
EOE's practice room. They were to their credit pretty good about the noise and so forth. Because there were no venues in town that would
allow us the freedom to play as we saw fit we only ever played parties. This basement space was too good to waste so we decided to have
a party there. We passed the word around and went for it. In attendance were Mindfuckers, Survivors Of The Plague and Political Destruction.
It was brilliant. All these excessively drunk and drugged people crashing into walls, pillars and each other. Malc at one stage leapt from the
stage (all one foot of it) and smacked over some nameless person whacking their girlfriend. The whole fucken thing was chaotic and brilliant.
The fine fellows of EOE didn't quite know what to make of it all. They seemed to support the idea in principle (as they showed by playing in
their later bands at the Nerve Centre) but i think on their own territory it was all a bit much. Time to move on again.
It was time to get somewhere that was all our own. To get around the responsibility of someone having to put their name on some dumbass
lease we decided to form an Incorporated Society. The Dunedin Community Law Centre gave us a constitution that we rewrote into language
that we could understand, we paid our $25 justice dept fee and Ripcorp existed. This meant that one person could not be held liable for debts
incurred by Ripcorp. The bailiffs could only ever take Ripcorp's possessions and of course Ripcorp never has and never will own anything.
A few of us had at various times fallen over in a place known as The Pitz. This was a hole in the ground with a building on top. There were
3 toilets, 2 major rooms, a kitchen, a smaller room and a jail cell for Paddy to feel at home in. We scored the lease on all of it except the
kitchen. At the time there were some christian tongan weightlifters in the kitchen but after Satans Vomit spread a few of their signs around
the muscle boys slung their weights over their shoulders and off they went. We had gained a kitchen that proved to be one of our major assets.
It is a noticeable fact that people behave differently when they are on the piss and there is food around. With the kitchen we were able to
provide excellent and cheap food that was always of a high standard although it is sad to note that except for a couple of occasions it was left
to the wimmin to deal with this side of things, some of life's training is obviously a bit hard to break. There were those patrons that would come
down late at night, pay their entry fee, have a beer and a feed then bugger off again. They knew that the best vege meal was available at the
Nerve Centre late at night.
We ran an illegal bar from the cell, selling cans of beer and now and then the more idealogically sound homebrew. The bands that played most
often were the bands that practiced there and they were happy enough to play for beer. The bar was invented to subsidize this. It soon ended
up subsidizing the rent and out of town bands as well. Other local bands were just as happy playing for beer as well. They knew the NC was
never gonna be economically viable and lived very much a hand to mouth existence. Tony from local country heroes Big Eds Used Farms when
i told him we'd pay them instead of giving them beer said "don't be stupid, why change things now?"
As well as beer and food revenue the backbone of NC revenue was people that put $5 a week from their benefits into the account. This was
compulsory for band members but as well there were contributions from people who wanted to see an alternative venue open.
We took advantage of long weekends by holding 3 day gigs. The first of these was an easter where good friday coincided with april fools day.
It was just to have been a one dayer but accidentally turned into more. With radio advertising and extensive postering we to our surprise
managed to cover costs and pay the 2 out of town bands their travelling costs. Unfortunately we spent all the profits on free beer in a fit of
generosity and so we had to do it again the next day. The weekend saw us rejoicing to the sounds of Moral Fibre from Invercargill, Genocide
Factory from Greymouth, and local bands Gorse, Necrophiliacs, Satans Vomit, Meglomaniacs and Survivors Of The Plague. Presumably Moral
Fibre managed to hang onto their money this second time because they went home but the generous genociders failed miserably and bought
more kegs yah yah. They had to play the next dole day again this time managing to hold onto their money and we finally got rid of the buggers.
That thursday gig put us onto our most successful regular venture the dole-day rage. We averaged about 2 of these a month.
Other 3 dayers were the Anarchy not Monarchy queens birthday gig, the Greatest Band In The World competitions and the labour weekend band
battle. The evening of the aprils fool gig saw the only appearance of the filth at the NC. They later sent a summons to a few people (oddly enough
all band members) but after discussions with them they decided to leave us alone and "if ever there was a riot don't bother calling them", sure
as if they wouldn't be the ones causing the riot.
invisible, but essential. The major quality that she bought to the job was if someone was organising a gig or something
Kerry would pass on a blank cheque and the bankcard and trust you to deal with them in a responsible manner. It was
not part of her job to question what someone was doing rather to act as guardian of the loot. As long as costs were replaced
and hopefully a bit of profit it was no skin off her nose. This made organising something (a traumatic experience at the best
of times) much easier and more pleasurable than it was later to become. Oh dear.
The comic shop and Alan bought an off-set printing press and after a bit of fine-tuning and casting off of surplus bits by Bobcat
they have been printing posters, tape covers and the local comic Larrikan. /////commercial break.....for all your printing requirements
contact Malc at p.o.box 6127, North Dunedin....noone undercuts Riprint.....end of commercial////// When the comic shop was in
business they imported amerikan comics ranging from the brilliant to the very mediocore. If yanks could do it why not us? Among
the people there are plenty with under-used artistic talents and they were roped in to write and draw comics. The results are a great
source of pride to those concerned and a tribute to Trees, Malc and Matthews powers of persuasion and perseverance. Two volumes
are now available with another in the planning stages.
When the only record pressing plant in NZ was vandalised by EMbloodyI it was quite a blow to people such as us who have few financial
resources. One of the few rewards of playing in bands is being able to hold in your hands a record with your music on it. Other than the
Mindfuckers who were fortunate enough to appear on 2 NZ comps none of the other Ripcorp bands have appeared on vinyl. Wrong place
wrong time. Unfortunately if you play music that the QE11 Arts Council feel is uncommercial then you have no chance of gaining a recording
and record pressing grant. They only take into account areas and methods of retailing and publicity that they understand. They don't consider
the selling of records through the proven medium of worldwide punk fanzines relevant. It is my belief that through this system we would sell
as many records as we could make.
21 of the 25 bands invented at the NC played predominantly original material. This doesn't include such as Moral Fibre and Genocide Factory
(who were way ahead of any other band in this country at playing thrash). You can't tell me that none of these bands aren't worthy of vinyl
release. It is a sad fact that personal prejudices and preferences play such a large part in arts council members decisions.
To counteract this we have been fortunate enough to have our own music included on tape comps from Gonk's Sonic Lobotomy tape label.
These include south island comps, NZ comps and NZ/Aust comps. Of course being firm believers in the DIY ethic we have our own tape label.
Known as Riptape it has about 27 different tapes available. You might even find a catalogue elsewhere in this mag.
Ripcorp and NC have both been pretty much run on anarchist lines, if you wanted to do something you had the freedom to do it and if you
were just as happy allowing others to do the thinking, organising and planning then that is just as fine. Gigs being the mainstay of the NC were
usually run by one or two people for a period of time till they would burn out and someone else would take over. John V, PMT John (remember
PMT, well number 4's on its way?) Don Gone and myself were the major players in this area, always with Malc's invaluable assistance.
Eventually though it all becomes a bit much. One of the major reasons for temporarily closing NC doors is that noone seems prepared to take
over the organising of gigs and without regular gigs it seems rather pointless.
It has been suggested that i put in a word about people being prejudiced against going to the NC because they were afraid of getting beaten
up. Well i have two words to say about these people, Get Fucked. We didn't need you anyway. I can't remember anyone being beaten up there.
The odd punch but that happens at any gig that has alcohol and drugs involved. And anyway we had our own policing system in the form of
Judge Hillary. Anyone fool enough to cause problems was usually ridiculed. Remember Margie talking Shaun into taking his pants down to show
how tough he was and what a big cock he had?
The NC has been a success because people who would otherwise never have developed their musical talents have had the opportunity to do so
and have learnt how to work within a community. If you have a talent then you have to use it yourself cause noone else can use it for you. To
this end to encourage the further development of talents we are going to spend early 1991 regrouping and reassessing priorities then furthering
these options. While music will always play an important part in our lives it will no longer be the only thing under the NC roof. If you have no
money then optimism and your mates will get you through.
An example of an offshoot of the Ripcorp idea is Treecorp. With small and regular contributions by a large number of people Treecorp has
managed to contribute towards buying a section of land and turned it into garden. So there you have it, food and music,the staples of life. I guess
all we need now is a massive dope plot and a huge poppy garden hehehehehe
Anyway thats about it for Ripcorp until 1991. I purposely haven't mentioned such things as our community service programme with the probation
department that allows us to do community service at the NC instead of paying fines cause its none of your business. Many zines and mags have
asked us to write an article about what we are doing with Ripcorp but we have until now resisted not from any disrespect to these publications
but because it was too difficult to be subjective or to have an overview while it was in progress. Now with this stage of our development at an end
it seems much easier.
Thanks to all those that helped us in any way, we much appreciate it and hopefully you gained from the experience as well, and to those that
bad-mouthed us or stood in our way thanks as well cause you only made us more determined to be successful and prove that you're fuckwits.
/////////////////////////////////////////End of Ripcorp phase one//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
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