The Galaxie Nightclub was a famous 1960s live music venue that was part of the Stebbing story of New Zealand’s music history. Robyn Welsh wrote about the Galaxie in the book ‘Wired for Sound” that tells the much wider story of this chapter of our national cultural history. Here she shares insights into the vibe of the day.
‘Girls you don’t need any money to come to the Galaxie on a Monday or Tuesday night!’
So said the banner headline in the 1960s Galaxie newsletter, that kept music fans up with the news and gossip swirling around their favourite Galaxie bands.
That was how social media was done in the mid-1960s when the Galaxie nightclub in downtown Auckland took shape as the Stebbing’s famous live music venue, launching artists out of its Saratoga Ave studios.
That vibrant 1965-67 Galaxie era and the wider history out of that famous basement recording studio are just two of the chapters in the 345-page, 400-plus images book “Wired for Sound – the Stebbing History of New Zealand Music” out now.
The PleaZers, the La De Das, the Underdogs, the Action were some among the big names on the Galaxie stages back then. Eldred Stebbing famously enlisted the PleaZers, his latest signing from Australia, to help demolish the old Shiralee nightclub and whip it into his vision that he called the Galaxie.
They let him know loudly that that wasn’t what they wanted to be doing but, well, that was the teamwork required to breathe life into that dream. And the PleaZers soon learned that Eldred could push back just as hard when they upped their antics, as you’ll read in this book.
Most famous for its bands and its back-to-back stages, the Galaxie was so much more. The Go-Go dancing girls, the visiting sailors, the loyal teenage fans including two who met there and married were part of its colour. The police were regulars too.
Cona coffee and ham toasted sandwiches were on the menu. Booze was a no-no but that didn’t stop the smugglers. Cigarettes were the social prop of the day and when they wobbled off their ashtrays, it was Margaret Stebbing who patched her freshly laundered red gingham Galaxie table cloths.
It’s all there in stories and photographs in “Wired for Sound” published by Bateman Books. Available at booksellers, online or at Stebbings in Jervois Road.