Vacuum

Formed in Christchurch during the mid-1970s, Vacuum grew out of the city’s emerging underground scene, with Bill Direen at the centre alongside Stephen Cogle and Peter Stapleton. Peter Fryer was also involved, contributing keyboards and violin, while Alan Meek joined later. The group was sometimes known as Vacuum Blue Ladder and developed a raw sound shaped by 1960s garage rock, American psychedelia and The Velvet Underground, filtered through the atmosphere of the late-1970s New Zealand punk scene. Their early appearances included the anarchic Mollett Street space, where they shared bills with other Christchurch underground groups.

 
The group began recording in 1978 at Orly Productions in Christchurch, although those first tapes were later lost. A further session at Robbins Recording Studios produced several surviving tracks, including Direen songs such as “Love In The Retail Trade”, “Remember Breaking Up” and “Inquest”. Vacuum gradually became more active onstage during 1979, playing venues around Christchurch and Lyttelton including The British, Suburbs Hall, Dux de Lux and the Gladstone. The surviving recordings later provided an important document of Direen’s earliest work, despite not being issued at the time they were made.

 
There were two distinct songwriting strands within the group, with Direen developing his own material while Cogle and Stapleton worked together on songs such as “Better Off Dead”. The changing line-up eventually included Jon Markie, also known as Jon Segovia, on bass, and the group evolved into Kaza Portico around 1980. Direen subsequently developed The Builders, while Cogle and Stapleton carried their songwriting partnership into the Victor Dimisich Band and later projects. Vacuum recordings remained scattered for years before appearing on Bill Direen’s 'Split Seconds' collection and archival releases, including material issued by Siltbreeze in the 2010s.