Meltdown Records

28/05/2023

For those who couldn't make the Meltdown Reunion gig or those who did but just want another souvenir there are a limited number of Meltdown Reunion Gig t-shirts still available Good quality cotton Gildan t and most sizes still available. $40 each including p&p in NZ. DM us and we can sort out details with you.

22/05/2023

Now this is what a review of the Meltdown reunion should look like !! Well done to all the bands.

21/05/2023

10 bands in one night and all played out of their skins. We must do it again some time. But what would a Meltdown fiesta be without Harry Death and their iconic Space Shuttle. First time recorded live on an iPhone. Enjoy all 1 minute 6 seconds of it.

20/05/2023

Great night at the Masonic Hotel

20/05/2023

Nearly ready

19/05/2023

The Bats were the stars of the show at Rheineck rock fest and they are also amazing people. This countries finest. We need to clone them to make the world a better place.

18/05/2023

Good news, the T-shirts turned up just in time. We will have a few spare for sale. Looking forward to Saturday.

04/05/2023

As further preparation for 20 May gig here is one of the reviews of the Meltdown Town Compilation. Thanks John Saunders for keeping it so long, I guess the nice words about Swiss Kids helped eh.

04/05/2023

Hey people, Lung is the only band playing at the reunion who are on Spotify so join us in supporting them as well as getting your self primed for the event. I always thought of them as the Palmy version of the Birthday Party, making Dave White the Palmerston Nth version of Nick Cave I guess ? Decide for yourselves.

28/04/2023

Resharing again in case you missed first time

Since we can't have a reunion this year how about a rummage through old photos related to those days in Palmy. I'll post one a day until I run out. Here is Iceland Bars in full voice.

24/04/2023

Thanks Audio Culture.

Meltdown Records was one of the great regional indies labels of the 1980s. Based in Palmerston North, the ambitious record company released a string of distinctive records by Palmerston North and Auckland-based groups between 1985 and 1989.

For those who bought and loved the music on the label, or just the thriving scene it represented and captured, Meltdown is having a reunion party. A one off at Palmy's Masonic Hotel on May 20. Entry is by koha, but please give generously as these things are not cheap to put on.

For details (and some great photos, posters and memories): https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100032105660679

And for the label history: https://www.audioculture.co.nz/labels/meltdown-records

24/04/2023

In case anyone is confused, this is a completely different kiwi music company also called Meltdown Records who are also having a birthday celebration within a couple of weeks of ours, luckily not in Palmy . But what’s the odds !

MELTDOWN | 15th Birthday | INTERSTELLAR Album Release Party, Come join us in celebrating 15 years ..., Parāoa Brewing Co., Auckland, Auckland, 3 June 2023

22/04/2023

Looks like there is a bit of competition for best music event in Palmerston Nth in autumn 2023 !

21/04/2023

Poster 10 - Another classic by Chris Knox for a new event I invented in 1989 called WinterFest. Look closely and I think it reveals Chris's attitude towards banks. It even featured a dawn fireworks display followed by a snowman making contest using snow shipped in from Ruapehu . The fireworks didn't go down well with good people of Palmy and DoC had concerns about theft of snow so I think this only happened once.

19/04/2023

2 new additions to the merch catalogue

18/04/2023

We are planning to do merchandise for the reunion but want to get an idea of how many to print so have decided to take pre-order up to next Thursday (27th April). The catalogue with instructions is attached. Please send to band members who may not follow this page. We could probably do orders from those of you who can't make it as well I guess if there was interest.

18/04/2023

Something to get everyone in the mood for the big trip to Palmy soon. Here’s a great song about Palmy from Robert Scott , ( the DJ from 2XS and the Breeze not the Polar Explorer). It’s had 9 views so far which shows how prejudiced the world is against our beautiful city. If we try really hard I’m sure we can double the number of views and get Roberts song on the map but really he should have approached Meltdown rather than trying solo.

18/04/2023

Day 8 Poster 8 Here is another one Cement Garden. I have seen it in online vinyl sales stores in the soft rock section. They really weren't but check for your self on the 20th.

17/04/2023

For those of you who missed it the first time. Let’s compare hairlines on the 20th May. It’s a video by the way, well worth a play. 🤣🤣🤣

16/04/2023

Day 7 Poster 7 Staying on the subject of Fane Flaws, Fane also did this iconic poster for Massey Orientation 88. Sad FANE Flaws isn't with us any longer to see this post. He was a huge contributor to Aotearoa music scene in so many ways.

15/04/2023

Further to our post about album covers yesterday, even more interesting can be the back cover of the album, especially for compilation albums where you can see what bands actually contributed songs. Look forward to seeing some of these bands live again on 20 May.

15/04/2023

Day 6 Poster 6 Three Leaning Men - There were actually 5 of them and none leaned very much. Alan went on to greater things with the Mutton Birds and we all saw Nigel in those pioneering NZ TV Conedy shows. Art work for this was by a giant of NZ music and art, the one and only Fane Flaws in his distinctive style.

15/04/2023

Good to see Jeremy managed to slip in one Meltdown band by mentioning Pterodactyl’s. Looking forward to his performance on 20th

15/04/2023

Heres the cover art for all the records Meltdown ever released. It clearly improved from the AA inspired art of Melt 001 by Doasage B through to Melter Skelter , our last record, with that haunting art work by Robert Thurtle's mum.

14/04/2023

Day 5 - Poster 5 Bit of a scary image to wake up to this morning but what would Meltdown have been without Cement Garden. For a start Johnnie Collins did all the artwork for us ! Love their signature Letraset font - I think it was called Challenge Extra Bold

13/04/2023

Day 4 - Poster 4 Not a specific Meltdown one but instead one from Orientation at Massey, an event dear to the hearts of music lovers in Palmy due to the bands that would tour through and also the opportunity for local Palmy bands to play in front of big crowds with big rigs. This poster was designed by the one and only Chris Knox so is a taonga it is own right.

12/04/2023

Day 3 - poster 3 (Newspaper ad poster actually) Poster that I kept to remind me how Meltdown got its name - The day we had the meeting at 348 Featherston St of all the bands to come up with a name for the label there just happened to be an incident occurring in the USSR at a place called Chernobyl that was the hot news item. Many , many possible names were discussed over many bottles of beer but someone (I think George Nepia in my memories) came up with Meltdown and everyone said thats great and all went home happy.Day

12/04/2023

Just reposting this as original post was 23 Dec so it may have gotten lost. The event is a perfectly spaced opportunity for a get away between ANZAC and Kings Birthday (long live the Queen). Hope to see you all there. Accommodation is getting tight in Palmy (almost certainly maybe because of this event) so book soon (or plan to stay at the bar all night)

12/04/2023

Day 2 Poster 2 I still love the graphic on this poster

11/04/2023

And would you believe it - tickets are still available ! But you may be surprised to know that we didn't sell 11911 tickets.

11/04/2023

I've been scanning some old posters in prep for the big event. I'll post one per day. Heres the first.

23/12/2022

20th May: save the date!

08/02/2022

Hey Folks, I guess it will come as no great surprise that we've, once again, decided to postpone the Meltdown get-together, 2022. We're very sorry to have to do this, but there's just too much uncertainty around the covid situation - especially given we would have had nine bands descending on PN from different parts of the country. However, we're very hopeful for May 2023 - watch this space. Take care.