New music venue to soon open

Thursday, 30 May 2024

Popular Wellington band Drax Project will open a new music venue that will fit 1000 people in August.

The pop R&B band will perform at the opening night of Meow Nui, situated in the site of the former Salvation Army Citadel on Vivian St.

Meow Nui is owned by Damian Jones and Rahine O’Rielly, who also own Meow on Edward St.

In a statement, Jones said he started working towards opening the new venue in 2019, to fill a demand for a “multi-purpose, medium-sized” space in Wellington.

in 2022, Salvation Army Territorial Secretary for Business Administration Lt. Colonel Allan Clark said the venue had been abandoned by the Salvation Army after it was discovered there were water issues affecting the ceiling.

Drax Project members Sam Thomson and Shaan Singh said they were excited to be the venue’s first gig.

“We think it's a really great thing for Wellington, and Wellington music to have another independent venue, especially one of that size,” Thomson said.

The band members said they had visited Meow Nui, currently under construction, to prepare for its opening in August.

Singh jokingly said he hoped the venue would be ready for their shows, as it needed a bit of work, but said he had the utmost faith in Jones and O’Rielly, who the band knew from performing at Meow.

The two shows they were planning to perform at Meow Nui seemed like they would have a cool vibe, he said. The venue was originally built for the Salvation Army’s brass band, so would have great acoustics when everything was finished.

The two musicians, who met in Wellington while studying at Victoria University and Massey University, were looking forward to returning to their home turf.

“It’s bit of a hometown show for Drax, and it's cool as well, because it's the last one of our upside tour for the album that we released last year,” Thomson said.

Back when they were first starting out, Thomson and Singh said they would perform in venues across Wellington like Mighty Mighty, Good Luck, Club 121, Bar Bodega – which have since closed – and Wellington establishments San Fran and Meow.

They would also busk, a far cry from where they were now, with the band about to perform for the induction of Dame Heniwehi Mohi into the Hall of Fame at the New Zealand Music Awards.

Drax Project are heading out on an international album tour,performing in Australia and London, in addition to a few shows in Europe before arriving back in Wellington for their August gig.

The last time they had played in the city was at Homegrown, Thomson said, and before that, the TSB Arena, where the energy was “totally unmatched.”