Webshite Column '99

Craccum was like a mutant hybrid of The Onion, Adbusters and a serious student news publication. There were too many times when I’d be halfway through an article and stop and think, “wait, is this a parody?” Sometimes it was, sometimes it wasn’t. I always imagined that there were a bunch of stoned people somewhere laughing their arses off, being like, “oh my God! That is sooo funny! You’ve got to put that in next issue!”

Indeed.

Craccum Magazine

1999 was an interesting time to be writing as the online space was finally hitting the mainstream locally and the scene overseas was ridiculously (full of) hot (air). I wrote one column on how to “acquire music” online a few months before Napster launched and changed the music world forever. Then, after a break in 2000 while I lived in Wellington, came back to write the column in 2001 after the bubble had burst and re-wrote the column for a post-Napster world.

In 2002 I wrote some Craccum columns on politics and the odd feature or four on other topics. I might dredge the content of those up for another story…

Communications Breakdown

In 1993 I came across a magazine on the stands called, “Amiga Down Under”. A new local title, it was all about my favourite piece of hardware, the Commodore Amiga computer. I was 16 at the time, and in a flush of youthful bravado sent them a letter (yes, no email…) asking if I could write for them.

Surprisingly, the editor actually called me back a few weeks later and asked what I’d like to write about. I stammered out something about BBSes or Shareware. He was conducive to both ideas and despite my ending the conversation with a, mortifyingly embarrassing, “it’s okay that I’m 16 right?” I got the job.

Amiga Down Under & Others

I don’t recall if I started writing both columns at once but a couple of months in I was writing, “Communications Breakdown” and “King of the Public Domain”. Yes, even then the puns grated but what can you do? The former was around telecommunications, primarily BBSes. The latter was about shareware, mostly reviews but also commentary and advice for developers.

Looking back at the column I wrote on how to distribute and market Shareware I’m not sure if my advice on marketing is any better 16 years later… The pay wasn’t much but it softened my phone bills – which were a little on the high side for an, otherwise unemployed, teenager who had to make toll calls to access BBSs.

King of the Public Domain

My last article for the Comms column, which wasn’t published (the demise of Commodore, Inc. put the magazine out of business), was an interview with Iconz, Auckland’s first public Internet provider. A few years later I’d be writing a lot more about this whole interweb thing, but that’s another story.

The store had a basic email terminal for customers to use but I dragged an old Windows 3.11 machine in there and sat it on the first “all you can eat” dial-up Internet account available locally (thanks Ihug!). We didn’t do much advertising, the store had plenty of foot traffic, but it was mostly tourists who wanted to email home that rocked up to use it – locals weren’t yet clamouring for the internets.

Heath started Cyberculture Records, in 1993, providing a focal point for dance/alternative culture not only through its music, clothing, video rentals, art work, etc, but by also being the first retail/environment store offering Internet access and recording facilities. Cyberculture & SoulSonic invariably act as resource centres of sorts for info about upcoming parties – theirs is a near definitive flyer collection week to week.

Plenty of fun was had – but despite the Internet being relatively cheap – the 4c/minute business line calling charges (no thanks Telecom) made it fairly unprofitable. I think I made it up in free CDs and party tickets though. And I met a bunch of great contacts as we bonded over music and what this Internet thing might mean… including some folk I’d go on to build websites for. But that’s another story.

Cyberculture was hereabouts

First Bass flyer

In 1996, not content spending my days online and my nights on dancefloors we decided to merge the two by transmitting a danceparty online. Using 50 metres of phone cable, dial-up modem, budget PC, basic webcam and CU-SeeMe software we broadcast Spring Heel Jack to the world.

We had a site off of atmos.co.nz with still photos for those without the bandwidth CU-SeeMe video needed, one of the few things I wish I had archived from the ’90s. Actually with a 33.6k modem over a 50 metre phone cable, wrapping past interference generating speaker stacks we didn’t really have the bandwidth either – but it worked, well enough.

It was great sharing the experience live with friends from overseas that I only knew from IRC channels like #rave (undernet ftw!) but with whom we’d spent long hours bonding over dance/music/life. One of those defining moments/nights.

The party itself… was relatively awesome, 1996 was the peak of Jungle/DnB for me. Though 2009 isn’t serving too badly in that respect either.

First Bass is hailed as New Zealand’s first Jungle Party. Held at the Powerstation Saturday June 29, the cast included live players Lava Lava (Mike Neilsen and Benny Staples), DJ’s Riddle, 48 Sonic, Aaron, and the first ever Auckland performance of Unitone Hi-Fi, and headliner Spring Heel Jack direct from the U.K. Chelsea, Rude girl, and T.I.M were on board in the Rumpus room.

Emigre magazine #29

atmos.co.nz

When I was 18, a disturbingly long time ago on reflection, I launched a little website about electronic music and local events. It being 1995, and my being in New Zealand, meant that there was precious little out there like it. So for a while it was a useful site for Auckland’s fledgling electronica “scene”.

My flatmate at the time, Matt Mariu, had a habit of referring to great gigs as having lots of “atmos” – hence the name. The hideous image to the left is the first flyer I made for the site. Blame it on the rave…

I’m thankful that archive.org didn’t index the site, as the design was beyond hideous. I’d blame the web safe colour palette but there is really no excuse. Gideon Keith from seven did us a nice logo (which he’d probably rather I didn’t credit him for) which you can see below.

He also gives a description below of why/where atmos went – along with its subsequent incarnations as various mailing lists.

“your all newbies… even Olivia… the forefather of the list phenomenom… though not a list in the strict sense… was @mos… created by the unseen hand of re:act and wreckage… a Mr Thomas Scovell… with help from matt m… unfortunately atmos died from extreme bloodloss… a nasty gash in its wallet… and then came psurkit… which, like wreckage, imploded under the weight of bitching and back biting… and now we have re:act… enjoy it while its here!… it won’t last forever…”

The original url was bitz.co.nz/ATMOS – a local hosting outfit. But I managed to shell out enough for a domain after a few months and it lived at atmos.co.nz for a time. Back then I was paying for both disk space and data transferred by the meg at extortionate rates (NZ’s link to the world was a tin can and string at the time) – which added up, especially for a broke student, so it really was “bloodloss” and a little cynicism that killed it.

I actually let the domain lapse eventually – but just noticed recently it was available again so I grabbed it.

See the thing is… in a small way, atmos is back.