ANDREW BOAK of PUNK IT UP / NO TAG: Never Give Up
An interview by Sarah Kidd.
If you have ever been to a Punk It Up then you will know Andrew Boak, he’s the dude with blue hair either running around at ninety miles an hour or playing his guitar like it’s his last ever show up on stage.
Raised on the North Shore of Auckland, Boak was a member of the infamous No Tag in the 80’s, an Auckland punk band that would later end up supporting Dead Kennedys at one of their Auckland shows, this experience would later translate into a few of the members singing backing vocals on the album Bedtime For Democracy. Not bad for a punk band from little old New Zealand.
Boak has seen and done it all. From touring as a guitar tech with The Chills and PJ Harvey, to working in radio and running house music label Imperial Dub Recordings in San Francisco where he has lived (and continues to do so) for a number of years.
But to many he is the man behind Punk It Up, the instigator of an annual event that marks its fourth year tonight and who for many is the only event worth marking in red on the yearly calendar.
I caught up with Andrew Boak to talk about his own personal roots with punk, community spirit and the secret to changing the world…
“Hello this is Andrew, I’m going to be misquoted. I hate it”
[laughs] So let’s talk about roots; how did you get into Punk? What was the pivotal moment in your life where you said, right, this is the music for me.
“Couple of things, one I had been learning piano from age five and when I got to my teen years I decided that piano wasn’t going to score the girls and guitar was, so I decided to start playing guitar and I started to get a few lessons and so on.
And then punk rock came along. When I was playing guitar, I wanted to make noise, I didn’t want to play pop songs or whatever. I was trying to be Jimmy Page and metal type stuff, but as a kid I was not exposed to anything major. I had some cousins who had lived in London with their Dad who was working for the government. When they came back after his five-year stint, their Dad came back with The Jam – In the City, The Damned – New Rose, and Sex Pistols – Holidays in the Sun seven inch right? And he put it on the stereo, and I heard the beginning of Holidays in the Sun and that chord [makes riff noises] and I was like ‘Fuck yeah that’s grunty! That’s what I wanna do!’
Plus, at the time Barry Jenkin was playing some of the punk stuff on Radio 1ZM, so I was hearing other punk music as well. But from that moment of hearing that power chord of Holidays in the Sun it was like that’s what I want to do. So, I went out and bought myself a distortion pedal and the loudest possible amp I could afford – which was about 12watts or something at the time and I just played really loud music.”
I think anyone who has ever seen you perform on stage knows that you love really loud music! The aesthetics of punk I assume would have also held a lot of appeal?
“There was the whole DIY thing as well. That was the thing, punk had all the parts, loud, noisy, energy guitar wise but also the do it yourself attitude. It didn’t fucking matter if you weren’t a classically trained bloody guitarist, just go and make some noise.
Luckily enough there were a couple of folks I knew. Steve Thorpe was a drummer in a band when I was like thirteen or fourteen; Steve knew Geoff [Hayden] who ended up as the bass player for Dabs and The Mockers and at the time as well there was like The Killjoys, the Screaming Meemees, The Flicks, and Rebel Truce. I ran into Steve when I was about seventeen and he said, ‘Let’s have a jam’ and that’s where The Regulators came from.
There was that whole North Shore group and we would play halls and stuff, so again there was that DIY but also family thing where you would know people and you would borrow someone else’s amp and this person that had the car would pick up this person on the way and it was all everybody helping everybody to create a gig.
It was like a natural development, and that was the cool thing. You’re not forcing anything, you’re letting it come out. I’m influenced by a sound but I’m gonna make my own sound. You gotta let it be natural because I think if you force stuff it just doesn’t ever work.
To me it’s like covers bands, they are all very well but they’re a covers band. But a band that does originals is to me better because it’s coming from their heart, it’s coming from their brain, from whatever instruments they’re manipulating.”
You live in San Francisco now, but how do you view the punk scene here in NZ?
“It’s very hard for me to make a good judgement call on it because I’m just not here. Thanks to Crackbook and things like that I do see what people are up to. I see the grindcore stuff that is going on and the noise guys and that’s great, they seem to have a good scene going. And there’s punk bands that get referred to me and I’ll give them a listen.
So, I don’t know if it’s healthy or not, if I could do anything to make it healthy I would. When I come over, I do try and encourage people to record something ‘For fucks sake go and record something, just rent a PA and do a gig!’
If you’re into it and you want to get off your ass and do something, then be the promoter. Or help a band load their gear etc.”
And that plays into that whole community / DIY thing…
“Exactly yeah. So, I don’t know if that exists or not. It’s hard for me to make a proper comment on that because my knowledge is just not good enough of the local scene. I can see that there are some strengths otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do the Punk It Ups, but a lot of the Punk It Ups is the older generation or my generation who I can bait to get off their couches and come to the show.
I would like to hope that kids are putting on gigs out in halls in West Auckland and people come along. I see people talking about it which is good, better than people not talking about it.”
Something you once said to me which I thought was quite a valuable piece of insight, is that it is not about putting on a gig, it’s about putting on an event. For example, Punk It Up III not only featured a killer line-up of bands, but market stalls, historical photos projected behind the DJ and even representatives from the humane society!
Obviously, all these things take time and money to organise, but the payoff of being able to provide punters with such an immersive experience must be something that you can take great pride in?
“For me, one of the hardest decisions I have is my price point. I want to keep the price low so that it is not overly expensive for the basic general member of the public who likes punk rock but at the same time I have to make enough money to cover my costs. Trying to find that price point is quite hard sometimes and I have to do some serious spreadsheets and budgets and all that kind of thing. But once I find that price point, my break even is making it full. So, I have to do something to make it full. I also believe that if I am going to be taking money from someone for a product, I have to give them a decent product and I like to give bang for your buck.
It’s very easy to get a whole bunch of bands together and charge a price at the door, that’s a gig, right? But if you go that extra mile and make it like an experience, well then, the bands are even more. You’ve got all this stuff that stimulates the senses and then you’ve got the bands. Wow!
You’re always going to be up against other gigs, so if you can make your gig slightly better than others then the people are going to come to you. To me it’s just a want to have something different, the whole idea of just throwing bands on the stage is all well and good and yes, please do that! The one cool thing about punk is great loud music to throw yourself around and have a couple of brews too, but also, it’s supposed to stimulate your thinking about society and how it goes and what you can do for it. It’s there to motivate you.”
Well you certainly motivated a lot of people into wanting to attend again. Less than twenty-four hours after Punk It Up III and you were already getting asked when the next one would be!
“I’ve kinda created a monster I think.”
[laughs] It’s a beautiful monster!
“Right. And when things are happening you run with it, that’s how you have fun in life. It’s not me who creates this, it’s the group of us that throw ideas of each other and that’s how it forms. It’s like a Punk It Up board meeting, but really it’s emails on a thread and it just develops that way.”
I think community plays a big part in keeping punk music alive; having bands play at street parties and markets. Inviting them along to Record Store Days. Exposing people who may not naturally gravitate towards punk music to the overall scene in general and what it encompasses.
“I totally agree, and that’s where you have to take every opportunity available to you. And you’re only going to be able to take every opportunity if you’re out there looking for every fucking opportunity. I would love to be a really rich rock star but I’m not going to get there if I just sit on my ass thinking I’m so fucking good that people are going to come to me. I’m not. I have to get out there and sell my shit.
A lot of people will then say ‘Buuuut I don’t want to be commercial!’ You’re not being commercial, what you’re doing is creating art and you’re getting a stipend back for your art just like every other artist in the world who wants to be an artist. Now most of us have to have day jobs because we have rent to pay and food to put on the table, but Rancid, Green Day etc. they are all millionaires now and they all started out playing punk rock. They kept playing it and they kept playing it until they had a poppy song and then bang! Bob’s your uncle. So, there’s a lot to be said about perseverance. Creating art is cool. Punk it Up is creating art.”
Creating art is cool. And having people supporting that creativity is even cooler. In other words – to anyone out there reading this – support your local scene. Buy that ticket, grab a t-shirt or CD…
“If you can afford a ticket don’t ask to be put on the guest list. And there’s the other side of the community / family. Punk it Up is only a success because people got off their asses, bought a ticket and came along. We can do everything, we can have the most amazing line-up and out of this world extras, but it doesn’t matter if people don’t buy a ticket. It is all very circular. I have to give something good to the punters, so they get value for money, but they have to pay first to get what they’re going to get.
Either get off your asses if you’re creative and make some fucking music or get off your asses and support the scene because it will die otherwise. If the scene is vibrant then you’ve got more people doing shit and the more people you’ve got doing shit the more chance you’ve got of something great coming out of it. The more shit you throw at the wall the more some of it is going to stick.”
Do you believe that the community spirit is stronger here in New Zealand? Because we are quite far removed from everybody else we have a natural affinity to being DIY?
“Yes, there is that. It’s a good point, but I don’t live here enough to say yes or no to that. But I know the San Francisco scene and that scene is that kinda DIY. We find a venue, we call up our mates and create a bill and then we go out and try and promote the crap out of it. And hopefully two or three people turn up.”
What about fame and the so-called fortunes that come with it?
“The whole dream that you’re going to become famous really fast is just such a piece of fucking bullshit!”
Do you think it’s harder these days with so many different platforms? Getting your head above the noise?
“Well no, not really. I think it’s the same, there might be more people doing it because it’s so much easier to do but the percentage of shit is still exactly the same. It would be my guess that every punk scene in every city has that DIY thing and it wouldn’t exist if it didn’t. The DIY part of it, playing at school halls etc helps the whole thing survive and that allows bands to be able to do the occasional pub show and maybe make some money and then they can spend that on recording etc.
I spend a decent amount of my income on my rehearsal rooms, but I don’t mind doing that because I get my drug. My drug being guitars and amps.”
It’s you. It’s your life.
“Yeah, and it’s fun. And again, the whole Punk It Up thing – it’s great organising it, but it’s also tough, I’m busy, I’m running around like an idiot. I’m spending six months planning a thing that then goes off in less than twelve hours. But I get to play. And if you look closely at any photos of me, you’ll hopefully see that I am just so fucking in there and having a good time.
There could be a nuclear bomb go off, as long as I’ve got my guitar going, I’m happy. And then at the end of the set I would be ‘Oh shit a nuclear bomb has gone off, we better do something!”
[Laughs]
“And that’s the DIY thing. So yeah there is that whole group, community thing, but there is also an individual thing. You have to get off your ass and do stuff.
Punk It Up does not happen without a fucktonne – and that’s an actual, official unit of measure – of organising and I don’t do it all myself. I’ve got a load of really good people that work with me to make it happen. And everyone has their specialty and that’s how you create a really great team.”
But it’s a testament to you as a person as well that you have these people that want to work with you.
What do you think the Auckland scene can do to keep the scene alive? We have this history, but how do we use that history to inspire the generations following behind?
“The people who are creating music in their garage, the people that are doing it who can hardly afford to pay their rent, who are playing with a shitty old guitar and a shitty old amp have just got to keep doing it.
If everybody got off their ass and did just a fucking smidgen of stuff it happens. I like the idea that people are passionate on Facebook about politics and things like that, however you’re not going to save the world by signing a fucking petition on Facebook. You’re going to save the world by going out and voting, you’re going to save the world by protest marches, by volunteering to things, by volunteering to the humane society etc.
Think about how many hours you have spent bored shitless at a pub or playing video games or surfing Facebook up the wazoo or sitting on the couch with a laptop. Take even ten percent of those hours and do something. Even if it’s volunteering for something, in some way that’s good for society, that’s how we make the fucking world better.
Now, take that attitude about making the world better and put it in the scene and take that ten percent and go help a band. Or buy a guitar, or a drumkit and teach yourself to play, you can only ever improve. None of us know what’s going to happen in the future, but if you can help mould it in some way by getting off your fuckin ass, then that’s what it’s all about!”
What about the gentrification of areas? And the effect that it has on live music venues, more particularly the loss of them.
“You’re always going to get that, because we live in a supply and demand economy, that’s the nature of modern economics. However, and I have mentioned this to the Minister of Housing, there needs to be some sort of control.
It’s hard, because you’ve got to find the fine line between the government letting people do what they want to do but also making a few rules so it’s not a fucking massive free for all. And gentrification comes from supply and demand. The rich people have the money and they will pay the cost for that flat. But they will only pay the cost for that flat if it’s in a cool area, a groovy area, and it’s got new carpet and a slap of paint.
So, to me the way that you …not stop gentrification but allow it to happen not so drastically, you keep it so that people can’t put rent prices up or even house prices up much more over the rate of inflation. Because otherwise one half is profiting and fuck everyone else.
The almighty dollar is a scary thing, but you also have to realise that we are a society that is based around the almighty dollar. So, what you have got to do is not necessarily see gentrification as a bad thing, even though it kinda is because of how it happens. It should be allowed to happen but not so that it fucks everyone up.
If there was something [venue] there before housing was built, that something should be allowed to operate the same way it was operating, and it should be buyer beware. And if you see something getting fucked over than write to your elected official. This is the thing; people sit around and say ‘Fuck the Government’ but it doesn’t matter. They’re there and they’re there to work for you. You pay taxes you have the right to vote. You have the right to vote on how those taxes are used. You also have the right to write to these elected officials, even if you didn’t vote them in, even if you hate them. Doesn’t matter, once they are in they are working for you
You aren’t going to change anything overnight with an email, but the fucking email is going to do a lot more than voting on a Facebook petition.
You’ve got to be positive even when the shit is really fucking shitty. And you can’t give up!”
Punk It Up IV is on tonight (Saturday 25th May 2019) at Zwines (aka The Bluestone Room) and features The Terrorways, Proud Scum, The Newmatics, Spelling Mistakes plus many more acts and DJ’s. It is completely sold out, but keep your eyes and ears peeled for further announcements for future Punk It Up events.
This content is a part of our NZ Music Month coverage, celebrating old, new and upcoming Kiwi artists. For more information on NZ Music Month you can visit their website.
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