The building once described as Wellington’s ‘fondest inconvenient convenience in the land’ by one commentator, The Welsh Dragon Bar (and Scorpio’s Restaurant) has been known as a few different things throughout it’s nearly 100-year history.

From the original public convenience for Wellingtonians and its tramways employees and passengers when it was first built in 1928, to a theatre prop space, tea house and café, and for many years now, a unique but tiny Taj Mahal looking music venue, in the middle of the road on Cambridge Terrace.

You really can’t miss it.

It also made the perfect spot on Saturday night for some unfiltered, no apologies rock, punk and blues, and the beginning of a comeback for one band.

Let’s get into it.

Stretch to Mould, The B.U.Ms (AKA The Bravo Uniform Mikes) and Tritone (pictured above) were perfectly paired for Saturday night, each bringing no shortage of high energy, swag and drawing a small but highly enthusiastic crowd, despite The Welsh Dragon’s lounge party aesthetic stage. The space’s sky light room had all the touches of teenage nostalgia, hanging out at a mate’s house, but with your own rock band for the night, as one does.

The downside to having a small room for a stage however is the lack of some really good acoustics, which is kind of hard to achieve, but also adds its own kind of punk rock charm.

Stretch To Mould is a band that really needs no introduction. They’ve been on the Wellington scene for more than 10 years, born for the stage with high energy rock, insatiable riffs and all-round solid musicianship. Despite a prior hiatus and change of lineup, Stretch to Mould proved that all they need is a stage to do what they do best, having only ‘got the band back together’ in the last three months.

Fronted by the affable Darrell Vickers, they fired out a solid set of 12 songs that ranged from sneak peak new songs (and potential singles) to a bit of everything spanning their first album, EP’s and multiple singles (2012’s Shadows album and 2014’s Painting Faces EP respectively)

That small but enthusiastic crowd were the definition of dance like no one is looking, and while sometimes it equated to ironically, not actually looking where they were dancing that may have resulted in some accidental bumping, it just added to the ambience and what playing small and unusually shaped venues can be like. Unpredictable.

With a quick turnaround, The B.U.Ms were up next. Another Wellington band, but a two piece of what you see is what you get punk, blues, in your face. I’m pretty sure “These go to 11” were made for their set, because one louder definitely applied here. The energy was akin to exactly what the whole night was about, a damn good jam session with mates, but make it interactive. Vocalist and guitarist, Nick Potts was all about the noise, and as willing spectators, we too played out part.

Who best to follow and close out the night then, than Tritone, the 3-piece who bring in equal measure the energy, the riffs and some catchy songs. They’ve only been around since the end of 2019, so plenty of potential to unleash, and while The Welsh Dragon wasn’t quite the right space equipped to handle their kinds of acoustics needed, it didn’t dimmish the heart they bring in giving the crowd a good time. I can’t wait to see their progression, and upcoming releases.

Photo Credit: Taylor Vincent / Taylorvphotos
Tritone Gallery
Stretch to Mould Gallery
The Bravo Uniform Mikes Gallery

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