Monstrous Media!

Ohakune is a strange town. Situated at the foot of Mt. Ruapaheu, this sleepy ski town has no business trowing MySpace and MTV sponsored secret shows. This became apparent this last saturday night when four kick ass bands from Aukland drove five hours out of their way to play at a crappy restaurant-by-day bar-by-night venue called the Projection Room. The show was under promoted and under hyped, I know it was secret show but come on. I’d be surprised if there was anyone in the room that actually came to see the bands that night. Most were just rowdy ski bros who’d been shreddin’ all day and decided to get sloshed at their favorite testosterone bar. This did not provided for an oportune atomosphere for these well-respected, unpaid bands to feel appreciated.

Since that wasn’t enough to squish the night, the lovely manegment at the Projection Room took it upon themselves to aggressively ruin everyone’s night. Right before the Ruby Suns set, the last set of the night, the asshole owner, standing at an impressive 5′ 2″ told The Ruby Suns that they couldn’t play. The HEADLINERS. It was ludicrous. He was pissing off his clientele, his sponsors, MySpace and MTV, and the bands. I was livid. I had hitched 5 hours up from Wellington to see them that night and I would have his short little head if I wasn’t gonne see the Ruby Suns. Fortunatley, they decided to set up anyway. They played about a song and a half before the lights came on and they were asked to stop. In an act of pure frustration, the band forced the lights back off and continued to play. Things were starting to get heated. The bouncers got involved and turned the lights back on. Then things got physical. Someone grabbed someone and next thing I knew the whole bar was in a headlock. The band was fighting the bouncers, friends were trying to help, the sound guy was getting his life threatend and the short asshole manager was nowhere to be found.

After a few small scuffles and the band hurridly trying to get their gear packed up things began to calm down. Nothing was ever explained. Why did the drunk asshole manager want to shut them down so bad? What the fuck? Bummer Projection Room, bummer Ohakune.

The above picture is a kick ass garage-surf band from Aukland called Street Chant.

NO.