EMI Dumped The Last Vinyl Pressing Plant In NZ?

EMI Dumped The Last Vinyl Pressing Plant In Wellington Harbour.

Really?

The last vinyl pressing plant in New Zealand closed down in 1987, and, so the story goes, the plant's owners EMI dumped it in Wellington Harbour.

I've heard this story dozens of times from musicians and music fans in recent years, and no one knows the origin of this tale. It's one of those romantic notions that sound like you want it to be true - especially if you're a vinyl fanatic: "Evil corporation destroys local vinyl outlet". But is there any truth in it?

There are several variations on this story - one is that the pressing plant was dumped in Wellington Harbour by a radio station as part of some competition. Another is that EMI dumped it in the harbour to drive up CD sales. Why would a business dump perfectly good equipment in the sea when it was still working and saleable? What really happened?

Frank Douglas worked at EMI for 34 years running their recording studios. He told me that EMI NZ had twelve vinyl presses back in 1987. When the plant closed, the eight newer ones were packed into containers and shipped back to Australia - he saw them being packed - and the older four were stripped for parts. What was left was sold for scrap or auctioned off. EMI Australia wanted a new cassette duplicating setup, and EMI NZ had the best in the world at that time, so that was also shipped to Australia.

Music historian Andrew Miller suggests the most likely reason for the legend: "The Pye pressing plant equipment was dumped in the Manukau Harbour in the mid-'70s after Pye ceased record operations. A former employee who helped with the operation told me this."

Written by Peter McLennan

Read more about this story here, with a massive thanks to Audioculture.
Also check Peter's outstanding blog, DubDotDash.
And listen to him on your radio with 'Ring The Alarm', Saturdays 10am, Base 107.3FM

* this excerpt taken from Issue #4 os the Soultearoa Shakedown fanzine. Check the whole thing out here.

Jubt On: Digging In NZ

An excerpt from issue #2 of the Soultearoa Shakedown:

JUBT ON: DIGGING IN NZ

As every NZ record digger knows, finding funky record pre-internet in the land of the wrong white crowd was 97% perspiration, 1% inspiration, 2% unaccounted for.

I don't know how our uncles, grandparents and mates partied, but as the collections in junk stores, op shops, and the few remaining regional and suburban record nooks attest, for every one James Brown, Pleasure, or Gwen McCrae record, there are hundreds of South Pacific and Pal Joey soundtracks, Mrs Mills, Foster And Allen et al.

I liked to think I had put in work digging out nuggets in suburban oases such as Jim's Record Spot in Panmure, Revenge Records in Hunters Corner, and many fly-by-nighters over Auckland and beyond. My best ever funky haul was from the pre-TradeMe-era's essential, the Trade And Exchange.

An elderly English gent answered the phone and explained he was divesting himself of his collection, due to its size. After an excited drive to darkest suburban Henderson, I was lead into a small room with every surface covered in the records collected in thirty years of collecting soul and jazz LPs. The gent's name as been lost in the alcohol addled recesses of my memory, but he was clearing the decks of everything "for her", and I walked out that day with an armful of prime sixties and seventies soul, including my first taste of Young Holt Trio, some heavyweight jazz LPs - and pocketed change from thirty dollars.

This would have been 1995 or so, and the old fella had recorded his favourites onto tape. His loss was my gain, and the funky nuggets are still in circulation Thursday nights from 8-10pm on Base FM's 'The Boil Up'.

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A small selection of notable NZ digging spots that we frequented circa the mid-'90s:

~ Jim's Record Spot, Panmure (they used to have one in henderson too, apparently)
~ Revival Records, Victoria Street, then up to K' Rd
~ Record Exchange, St. Kevin's Arcade and K' Rd
~ Revenge Records, Hunters Corner
~ Truetone Records (seven stores Auckland-wide - Remuera Rd recalled most fondly)
~ Marbecks and Real Groovy Records (of course)
~ Slowboat Records, Wellington
~ Galaxy Records, Christchurch; Echo Christchurch and Dunedin
~ Ima Hitt and Missing Link, New Plymouth
~ Corner Records (Queen St. and Lorne Sts), Auckland

That's just the record stores. Many small towns could be depended upon to have generous record bins, such as the plentiful Wellsford Second Hand Traders, and second hand book shops in Whangamata and Thames.

We'd love to hear some of your memories of crate digging and record buying in NZ, particularly from the '70s or earlier! Please get in touch: nzsoulalldayer@gmail.com

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Recommended reading: www.audioculture.co.nz and www.opdiner.com 

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Issue #2 of the Soultearoa Shakedown was published the coincide with the NZ Soul All Dayer held at the Britomart Country Club on Saturday 17 August 2013.