Box and Cause Celebre: two clubs that changed Auckland nightlife

In the 1990s, a flight of stairs on Auckland's High Street led to two clubs: Box, which specialised in dance music, and Cause Celebre, home to a burgeoning electronic jazz scene.

Tony Stamp talked to some of the people who were there during the ten-year lifespan of these spaces; co-owner, DJs, musicians, bar staff, doormen, and attendees.

Simon Grigg founded punk band the Suburban Reptiles in the 1970s, and formed Propeller Records in 1980. But in the late 1980s, he was looking to reinvigorate Auckland's nightlife.

He and his business partner Tom Sampson had opened The Siren (which would re-open as Cause Celebre). When they discovered it was connected to a large room next door, that became Box.

Local musicians like Pauly Fuemana, Dei Hamo and Che Fu were regular attendees, and over the decade international names like Mick Jagger, Bono, and Janet Jackson paid a visit. 

But the clubs’ legacy was for pioneering new forms of music; hosting international DJs like Giles Peterson, Grooverider, and Andrew Weatherall, and championing local DJs and performers.

According to broadcaster and DJ Nick Dwyer, “it was the most authentic music venue in town for club culture”.

Manuel Bundy, who regularly played in both rooms, says “that was the heart of the whole scene”.

And Greg Churchill, who took up a residency at Box in 1996, reckons that at its peak it was “the best nightclub in New Zealand”.

Simon Grigg (Co-owner): There was a club in New York called Nell’s. One half had a room that played uncompromising dance music, and the other half was jazz bands. And we both came back and said ‘We went to this fantastic club called Nell’s, let's do a club like that’.

Box was the old RSA basement, which had moved to smaller premises down on Fort Street. So we tracked down who owned it. I said, ‘How does $50 a week sound?’, and he said ‘It sounds fine to me’. 

So we rented the Box for about four years for $50 a week.

Nathan Haines (Musician): Simon was the Dark Overlord, but Tom and Anne Sampson ran Cause Celebre, and were doing the hospo side. Kevin The Hat was the barman, he was a big part of it as well. The room was decorated with lots of Gavin Chilcott artwork, the place looked really cool. It had a very bohemian sort of feel.

Nick Dwyer (Broadcaster/ DJ): High Street was the culture, it was music, it was all of those things. If there's one song for me that represents all of that, it's Nathan Haines ‘Lady J’.

Nathan Haines: There was a club culture with dance music starting in the ‘80s. Then Simon set up the Box. Rob Salmon was an important DJ down there. 

Simon Grigg: These kids came down and said ‘We want to hire Box for a Sunday night to raise money to buy some turntables’. They packed the place. We were selling them Fanta and stuff like that. 

The DJ was a guy called Rob Salmon. He was 16. And we said to him, ‘You're amazing. Do you want a job?’.

Rob Salmon (DJ): I was the resident DJ at the Box from about 1990 to the end of 1995.

Early on I was a hip-hop and RnB DJ, I was into battle DJing and scratching and all this kind of stuff. They held a DJ competition at the Box, which I ended up winning. They offered me six months as the warm-up for the current resident DJ John Davis. He’d been one of the residents at The Siren, with Roger Perry.

Simon Grigg: Rob was also working with a young hip-hop band called Urban Disturbance, which featured Zane Lowe. Zane used to do our lights. We used to pay him $25 a night.

Rob Salmon: We would use the Box as a space to rehearse during the daytime. 

One of the main bands was Nathan Haines’ Freebass, and there were also a lot of MCs: Zane and Oli [Green] were always down there, and Dei Hamo from Pacifican Descendants. You had Manuel Bundy as one of the resident DJs playing between the bands.

Nick Dwyer: I've got these fond memories of seeing Manuel Bundy DJ. I'd be on the dance floor and catch his eye, and he'd see me vibing to the music he was playing and give the biggest smile. It was the most incredible feeling of validation.

Manuel Bundy (DJ): I played at the Box as a regular on Thursday for a little bit. I played the end set after Rob Salmon. Then I started at Cause Celebre late ‘93. One of the DJs,  Gerhard Pierard, was the resident DJ at that time, and he got me in to help him out because U2 were here on tour (I think it was Zoo TV). And they had their after-party at Cause Celebre. 

Nathan Haines: Early ‘90s, Manuel was the guy who was schooling a lot of us musicians, myself included. He was blowing our minds on a weekly basis, introducing us to all this new music, which fed back into us as musicians, and into making records. 

I saw on many, many occasions, international DJs coming in, seeing Manuel in action, and having their minds blown. Because Manuel had this incredible technique.

Simon Grigg: We had three key doormen in the early days: Soane, Roseti, and Tim Sulusi. 

Tim Sulusi (Doorman/ DJ): Cause Celebre was when it changed, when they started bringing all the live bands down. That was amazing. 

We had all the latest music. Simon had a room underneath where all the DJs came in. It was basically like a record store. House, hip-hop, all the latest stuff. 

My mates Soane and Roseti, we were all living together. On our days off we’d go up to the office on High St, and sit with Simon. He’d say ‘Listen to this and tell us what you think of it’, and give us all these mixtapes with all different types of music.

Chelsea Elliott (DJ): Tim was such a big part of being at the Box. He was the big smiley face at the door when you went in.

Tim Sulusi: I met Chelsea when she just got off the plane in Auckland [from the UK]. She started DJing at my mate's house, just mucking around. I thought ‘oh shit. I’ve still got a lot to learn’. 

She was amazing. And I'd never seen a girl DJ before. Never. And then we became really good friends. 

Chelsea Elliott: I originally came over to New Zealand in '95. I was only planning to be here for about three months. 

I'd brought over some cassettes, which in those days were what DJs used to take around. And I took a cassette down to BPM Records, and gave one to Greg Stoffels and Rob [Salmon], and said ‘I'm in town if there's anything going’. 

I got a phone call from Simon Grigg, he had a DJ that was away. He said ‘I wondered if you'd like to fill in for this DJ, whilst he's away, in the Icebox’. That was a little room that held probably 20 people.

My first night down there was with Nathan Haines. I made a bit of an entrance: I walked in and fell over the drain in the middle of the floor. Records went everywhere, I'm laying on the floor, and Nathan came over and went ‘You must be Chelsea’.

Rob Salmon: Certainly house music had been played before. You know, Roger Perry had played it in the late '80s. Andy Vann was as well. 

But it wasn't really the kind of format you would have now. Around ‘89 into the '90s, it was a blend, you know. It'd be like hip-hop, maybe rare groove, soul, reggae, maybe some acid house or Chicago house. 

There was always that mentality about breaking new music, it was always cutting-edge and kind of forward-thinking. It really changed probably around ‘91, ‘92, because the tempo completely changed. DJs were still mixing hip-hop into their sets, and then it became only house and techno.

Manuel Bundy: Mid ‘80s to late ‘80s, into the early '90s, DJs played everything. We played soul, hip-hop, early forms of house, and then those genres started splitting apart.

There would be specifically a house DJ or hip-hop DJ. That's when the Box became pretty much just a house club.

Chelsea Elliott: It was almost like this house scene was just starting to be discovered in Auckland. I was starting to relive what I’d just been through. That was really exciting for me because it was such a moment in time being in the UK and having this whole house explosion, acid house movement and warehouse parties, so to come here and actually be a part of that starting was fantastic. 

Rob Salmon: They were amazing times, the energy was just something else. And particularly because the music was so new. It was at the time where producers could have a studio setup in their bedroom: in the '80s it was like $100,000 for a studio setup and then in the early '90s it dropped to like $10,000. 

You were having DJs creating these records. It just kind of exploded after that.

Simon Grigg: We put a killer sound system in. Best sound system in town.

Nick Dwyer: The sound system in the Box was that first experience of really feeling sound enveloping you, and having that ‘eureka’ moment with club music, like ‘Oh, so this is how this music is supposed to be heard’. 

You need a good sound system in order for club music to be understood properly and the Box was the first place that existed.

Greg Churchill (DJ): It’s hard to describe how good that sound system was. I'd played on average sound systems for the previous six or seven years in Christchurch, and to come to the Box, my mind just went overboard with what I wanted to hear and experience on it. 

Nick Dwyer: There were other clubs and venues in Auckland city at the time that were playing these new forms of music - house, techno, and jungle - but this was the most authentic version of that culture. It was so reverential, the feeling there.

Rob Salmon: At the height of the Box, about 1995, you could play two hours of instrumental music, these long, driving grooves. It was kind of unheard of really in Australasia, that happening to that capacity. 

Greg Churchill: When it was filled up, it was just absolute magic in there. At times you’d get lost, when the smoke machine would choke, and you wouldn't be able to see more than a few millimetres in front of you.

People danced a lot differently then as well. There wasn't the sort of focus towards the DJ with the Messiah Complex that we’re accustomed to now. People tended to dance in groups, often with their backs to the DJ. There was a lot more of an interaction and a greater social aspect with the way people danced. 

It had a DJ booth in the far corner, minimal lighting, no air conditioning, a bar in the corner and some booth seating down the front, which I remember falling asleep in a few times.

Simon Grigg: It was the vision we had for all of our clubs, which was: play the music we wanted to hear, be the sort of place that I would like to go to if I wanted to hang out.

Amy Bassett (Broadcaster/ DJ): It was all new to me: the accoutrements, the sound system, it was a total initiation into house music. 

Greg Churchill had this thing about him. He was playing in a way that no one else really was. Not long after that, he was voted by Remix Magazine as New Zealand's best DJ. So he was getting into that phase where he was really self-assured.

Greg Churchill: Prior to 1996, when I moved to Auckland, I was a frequent visitor to High Street to see what was happening. Simon invited me to take the residency at the Box, and I was there for about four and a half years, till 2000.

I was actually quite stunned and shocked to find out that Simon had been telling people what they should or shouldn't play.

Nick Dwyer: Notoriously he hand-picked his residents and fired anyone that would play the wrong records. I think Sam Hill got fired because he played Snap! or something. Simon was just ruthless like that.

Simon Grigg: In the 1980s, we were very lucky to have the second generation of Polynesians who had come to New Zealand. A lot of them came from South Auckland and West Auckland, and they grew up and they came to town. And they changed everything. And all of a sudden, we were living in Pacifica.

Nick Dwyer: The thing that I loved the most about going into High Street at the time, it was the Polynesian culture. The best dancers at the Box and Cause Celebre were always Polynesians, the coolest dressers were always Polynesians.

I think club culture back then was a lot more diverse than it is now. It was very diverse, very multicultural.

Nathan Haines: The Box was a very inclusive community where it didn't matter what colour you were or your sexual orientation or what your background was. There was this wonderful melting pot where we were all able to tell our story.

Phillipa McIntyre (DJ): There was a really significant Polynesian part of the culture.

The first time I ever went to the Box and Cause Celebre, I just remember thinking it was incredibly colourful and really exciting. I remember being struck by seeing drag queens walking around, and just a more expressive exuberance.

Nathan Haines: Whether you're talking hip-hop or dance music, that's music for the people. It's for displaced communities. We have an underground music movement which is incredibly inclusive.

Chelsea Elliott: One of the things that definitely sticks for me about being in Auckland was the diversity of the crowd. The drag queens always stuck so memorably, because that was a time when everyone went out and danced together. 

I don't think you see that so much anymore. I used to love being in the ladies' toilets and all the drag queens would be in there getting fluffed up, and that was a highlight of the night, you'd be sitting in there going ‘how long does it take you to get ready?’

Tim Sulusi: Simon and Tom said ‘look, we don't care what people look like’. 

These punk rock guys would turn up with these mohican rockabilly haircuts, with holes in their jeans and no shoes, and I’d be like, ‘Hey man, sweet!’.

Simon Grigg: Tom Sampson oversaw the door. And we said to the doormen ‘It's all about the attitude, you know, it doesn't matter what they're wearing. If they're not going to cause trouble, they're welcome’. 

The only thing we had for a while was a sign on the door saying ‘No moustaches’.

We had a strict policy of no groups of guys. Friday nights, you got groups of office guys going out, getting really drunk. It was so important to us that women felt safe in our clubs. We had an absolute zero-tolerance policy, if somebody harassed somebody they're gone, and they're banned for life.

Philippa McIntyre: Soane was one of the doormen. They were all obsessed with music. And then Soane became one of the most beloved DJs of the whole scene.

Amy Bassett: At that point in time for me there was Soane, Che Fu, and Greg Churchill. Those were the DJs that you went to see play.

Nick Dwyer: In particular Soane (rest in peace), in particular Manuel [Bundy], those guys definitely shaped the future to come.

Soane Filitonga had an acclaimed career DJing, as well as producing remixes, and original tracks. He died in 2014.

Simon Grigg: Nowadays anyone can get any record that's made anywhere in the world. Back then we had a friend in Manchester, I was buying off him, and there were a couple of vinyl record shops in Auckland, selling dance records. Through them, I would order the underground stuff I knew was coming out.

And I also had a really good contact, a friend of mine called Harry Russell, who was in New York. He worked for Rough Trade Records in the UK, handling a lot of their dance stuff. And then in ‘88 he went to New York, worked for Rough Trade then and then started working for a big dance distributor. 

He was the guy that supplied the top DJs in New York with their records, so we had this amazing connection. Harry would send me records that no one else had.

Rob Salmon: In the '90s it was difficult to get songs, you would have to hunt high and low. Auckland was great for importing records, but there would always be a bit of a delay. You know, you'd always be a few months behind.

Then, later on, you had BPM Records [a store on High Street].

Nick Dwyer: It was pre-chat rooms, it was pre-forums. [BPM] was the cultural hub. DJs would come down, everyone wanted the new records, there were never enough copies of the latest record. 

It was a social environment, people would hang out down there. And if you wanted that music, the only way you could get it was to get it on these 12 inches or mix CDs.

Chelsea Elliott: In those days, you spent days walking around record stops getting in contact with producers and other DJs and musicians in other parts of the world. 

When I was in London, I'd go out and I'd go to a club, then go to my tiny little record shop and sing: ‘It goes a bit like this. And then it's got this in it’. You know, there might be one person in there that would go ‘Oh, yeah’. 

And then I'd have to wait four or five weeks for it to come from the States.

Amy Bassett: You’d go to hear your favourite DJ play because you knew that they got the fresh vinyl first. You could hustle down to BPM. If they got ten copies of a piece of vinyl, the first five would have already gone. Sometimes I'd spend 200 bucks and get ten tracks that I could play.

Nick Dwyer: You knew that these boxes of records were coming in twice a week from New York and London with the freshest sounds on the planet. In terms of wanting to hear new music that was your only outlet.

Philippa McIntyre: My first time playing at the Box, Greg Churchill was standing behind me, which was terrifying, but I needed his mentorship. So it was also helpful, and I remember him saying encouraging words to me. 

That early scene in New Zealand, we had this really intensely earnest scene. There was real mentorship and real leadership. Roger Perry really provided so much guidance for me. I was still very much a baby DJ, and Roger would talk to me all the time about DJing and about the culture, what it is we were doing and why and who for.

It was a special time. There weren't many DJs in New Zealand at that time, and therefore the community was quite tight.

Simon Grigg: Roger was the person that taught Aucklanders how to DJ. Roger was incredibly important to the rise of club music in Auckland.

Rob Salmon: Zane Lowe and I were big fans of Roger Perry, we would sit around and examine his mixes, in awe of his DJ skills.

Roger Perry had been DJing house music since the '80s. He went on to manage Calibre on K Road and work with Kog Transmissions, and Reliable Recordings.

Greg Churchill: By the time Simon had sold the Box, around 1999/2000, K Road was starting to become the place to go. The character changed, the dynamic changed, the crowd changed. 

We still had great nights. But there was definitely a real shift happening. 

It took me a while to come to terms with the fact that what I'd had for four or so years wasn't going to be that again. I could almost tell that High Street’s time was up.

Manuel Bundy: The clubs that Simon created were very important to the underground music scene. You couldn't hear that music anywhere else.

Philippa McIntyre: It needs to be acknowledged that the ringleader of this whole scene in those early days was Simon Grigg. Just endlessly enthusiastic, and his enthusiasm is what grew all these things.

Nick Dwyer: My first night at the Box kickstarted an almost 20-year love affair with wanting to discover new music. I think that Auckland City was a much greater cultural hub because of the decisions that Simon made, and his contributions to the music industry.

[This transcript has been edited for space and clarity]

Songs played in this feature:

Rhythmatic - Take Me Back
Maurice - This is Acid
Nathan Haines - Lady J
Royal House - Can You Party
The Fog - Been a Long Time
Urban Disturbance - …and Into the Hands of Chaos
Freebass - I’ll Scratch
Buckshot Le Fonque - Breakfast at Denny’s (Uptown version)
DJ Krush - Kemuri
51 Days - Paper Moon
Aubrey - Marathon
Peace Division - In Piecez
Laurent Garnier - Crispy Bacon
Mr G - Lights (G’s Out Dub)
Che Fu - Without a Doubt (Chong Nee remix)
RPM - Food of My de Rhythm V2
Ultra Nate - How Long (Fire Island Remix)
Soane - Song for Sesilia
X-Press 2 - Musik X-Press
Dave Clark - Wisdom to the Wise
Philippa - There’s a Ghost in my Synthesiser
Reactormusic - Rainy Day
Me'shell Ndegeocello - Nocturnal Sunshine
Nathan Haines - O Misterio
Fuemana - Dangerous Love