Dean Cameron saw New York hardcore outfit Sick of It All play Squid in Auckland on Thursday 20 April 1995.
I wasn't playing music at that stage. I was close to a band called Balance, which I later joined - there was a group of friends who hung out, and we were very into the New York hardcore scene. We'd buy seven-inches and so on by mail-order, and have them sent to us from various small record stores in America.
Sick of It All were one of my favourites, and for them to come to New Zealand was a big deal. You'd get the California punk bands coming through town, but New York hardcore was a different sort of sound - a bit more heavy and abrasive.
It was a small scene back then in New Zealand, but in that circle people were really excited because we were starved of that kind of sound, and Sick of It All really kicked it off for that genre of music. They played five dates - they started in Auckland with the Squid show, then they went to Wellington, New Plymouth, Hamilton, and finished the tour with another Auckland show. I went to both Auckland shows and the Hamilton show.
Squid was upstairs in O'Connell St - it was Mikey Havoc's bar at the time. It probably held 150 people, 200 tops, so it was an intimate show. The first night of Sick Of It All's tour was definitely the inspiration for a lot of people to join bands or make music and tour, and maybe even get overseas - it gave you an understanding that you could do it as well.
