Swapping bell-bottoms for live bands

Otago Daily Times

10-07-2025

The Boys, the Old Mill, The Kor-Tels, Union Blues Soul Band and The Falcons are just some of the many names synonymous with the Timaru music scene. In this series, reporter Connor Haley talks to Timaru music historian Lyall Smillie and others about the people and places that made up the golden age of Timaru live music. This week's edition focuses on the golden years of the Old Mill Nite Club.
As the disco days boogied on by and 11pm public hotel closing times put a strain on Timaru musos the Old Mill Discotheque would ditch its bell-bottoms to become the Old Mill Niteclub.
In possession of a liquor licence, the venue could transcend the 11pm closing time, leading to live bands with top-of-the-line sound systems taking the Old Mill stage by storm.
Regarded by many Timaruvians as the premiere night spot between the early 1980s to early 1990s, countless local and touring bands strived to play there.
Jason Westaway, founder of the The Old Mill Nite Club, Timaru Facebook page said the venue was a local icon.
"I joked with a couple of friends about starting a Facebook page to keep the icon alive, there are so many of us that will always say 'remember the days at the Old Mill'.
"[It was] open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights till 3am, then we were all off to Maori Hill or The Captains for a burger or fish and chips.
"I can remember so many great Timaru bands playing there; Thieves Like Us, She Cried, Jed Zephyr and of course Outlaw Streak and then touring bands like The Exponents, Midge Marsden, Ted Clarke Blues Band, Push Push, Graham Brazier and even Supergroove. The list could go on."
The Facebook page was created in 2009 and quickly garnered attention leading to two reunion parties during Easter weekend in 2010 and 2011.
The page now boasts almost 1700 members with many still sharing their memories of the venue. Timaru sound engineer Richard "Stix" Howey said he had a huge history with the venue.
"My very first memory of the mill was actually a school disco.
"I have very little in the way of imagery from back then but I happened to be going through some old negatives the other day and found some 35mm film negatives of that disco.
"In my early 20s I took off to Australia and did an audio engineering course but prior to that I actually did sound for a lot of the bands in there because I had a bit of PA gear.
"A lot of touring bands came through back then, it was just an amazing time. I remember bands like The Legionnaires, DD Smash, there were so many.
He said the Old Mill was the venue he learned his trade.
"I actually did a residency for one band there for quite a few weeks, doing sound for them. It was either a band called The Blades or some members of The Blades, I can't remember exactly.
"There was a guy there, Pete Cahill, who was [Sail and Anchor publican] Barney Cahill's brother. He was a sound engineer, and I remember being quite young, going in there and just being fascinated by the whole sound side of things because I had a little sound system myself that I bought for our own band.
"He taught me things about how sound compressors worked and things like that. It got me hooked and from that I decided to go to Australia to do the course.
"When I came back to Timaru after about four years, I brought a whole lot of PA gear back with me and set up my business. Which was hiring out sound systems and stuff, so the Mill was also a major part of my whole business building up.
"I spent so much time in that venue.
"I was also in a few bands myself that played there and then for productions when the Drama League took it over. It had been my workplace for many, many, years really. It was a real shame to see it when it closed."
In 1993 the South Canterbury Drama League took over lease of the building, rebranding it as the Mill Theatre.
Board member Alice Sollis fondly remembered the league's use of the venue.
"The building was home to the Mill Theatre for about 20 years. That story is a credit to the vision of the Drama League members who embarked upon the Mill Theatre venture.
"Many of the Mill Theatre performers, crew and audience had previously spent many hours in the building when it was a nightclub. The Mill proved ideal for shows unsuited to the Drama League's small Playhouse venue, and the large-and-expensive Theatre Royal.
"As the Mill Theatre, it retained its tasteful red-and-brown colour scheme, and the smell of years of alcohol, and cigarette smoke — resistant to all cleaning."
After ceasing to hold productions there in the early 2010s, the league continued to use the Mill Building for storage up until a sulphuric acid fire broke out in the adjoining Chrome Platers in 2015. In 2017 more than 130,000 litres of hazardous chemicals were removed from building, which is now regarded as one one of the most contaminated sites in the country.
The building still remains on North St, fenced off from the public with discussions about its future still ongoing. Despite the looming prospect of demolition, the Old Mill will always hold a place in the memory of many as a true Timaru music icon.
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