Latest news with #ConnorHaley
Otago Daily Times
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Swapping bell-bottoms for live bands
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.
Otago Daily Times
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
For young DJ sets are just the bassline
To celebrate New Zealand Music Month, The Courier has caught up with some of South Canterbury's musical maestros to talk about their journeys and experiences with music. In this week's edition reporter Connor Haley talks with 22-year-old Timaru-born drum and bass DJ Quinn "Procy" Proctor. Where did your inspiration for getting into the drum and bass scene and DJing come from? It came mostly from going to parties. I'd always try and play my selection of music through the speaker and that turned into me wanting to make my own mixes. I downloaded an app on my phone and you could just upload two songs on it and it had all the controls that a DJ mixer would have. In September 2020 I asked my mum and dad if they could get me my own pair of decks for my birthday, which they did, and that's when I actually properly started mixing. I started doing mixes with my friends at parties and people started to take videos of it, so I started taking my own and thought 'why don't I post them on TikTok'. I never had any intention of doing anything seriously but then one blew up really big and got 1.5 million views. That sort of gave me the inspiration to just keep posting and from that I got my first booking in May 2021. How did you find going from recording yourself in your room to playing in front of live crowds? When I got booked for my first gig I made the jump from my $200 controllers straight to playing on thousands of dollars of equipment. I was thrown straight into the deep end. It was nerve-racking. I was so excited the weeks leading up to my first gig but when it came to the days before the nerves really kicked in. I couldn't work properly, I couldn't eat and I was just shaking. I remember thinking 'I do want to do this but I don't know if it's something I'll be able to do'. It's one of those things that has come with time, nowadays there's no worries at all, most of the time. What are some of the highlight gigs that stand out to you? Definitely all of the Castle St sets in Dunedin. There is a big university drum and bass culture there and I've been lucky enough to have been invited four or five times to play out to thousands of people there. They also stick out because whenever I'm there I'll just be walking around Dunedin and people will shout out 'Procy' and know who I am, it's crazy there. I've also played Urban Jungle twice now, which is a big festival in Christchurch and at this most recent New Year's I played at Rolling Meadows. They're also pinnacle moments. Do you think people have a bit of a misconception when it comes to the musicality that goes into drum and bass DJing? A lot of people think it is just pressing play, because I suppose a lot of normal DJing at events or things like that is just pressing play and transitioning cleanly between songs but drum and bass is a whole different ball game. It can get quite intense because you can be blending one, two, three or even four songs at a time. One of the main things you do is doubling songs, you have one song playing, press play on another song, cue it up in your headphones, and when that sounds right, bring it up, and then you'll have two songs playing. You muddle with the EQs [equalisers] so the the bass doesn't override each other and as those songs are playing, add a third song, or even a fourth. There can be a lot involved. How often are you performing? It varies, some months I'll have two, three gigs but then I could go two months without gig just due to the fact I live in Timaru. Promoters often have to think about travel. Timaru has never had a big scene but it was starting to grow, I had my first gig here and they were coming in quite consistently. I think a lot of people involved in the Timaru shows moved away and there hasn't been one here for a year. Christchurch is definitely the hot spot in New Zealand for it but I get asked to play in all sorts of different places now like Dunedin, Queenstown and Auckland. What is your ultimate goal when it comes to your career? I'd love to be able to start producing my own music, because that's not something I've actually got into yet. Music is a form of art and lives forever so having my own out there that I can use in sets or other DJ's use is one of my main goals. It would also unlock way more opportunities because producing artists are the ones that get booked overseas. I have a few United Kingdom connections so I'd love to get over there and play because that is the home of that style of music.
