Suburban Reptiles


The Suburban Reptiles and The Scavengers, both from Auckland, were the first 1970s styled punk bands in New Zealand.

Punk came to New Zealand rather hesitantly. The global explosion which began in the US in the early to mid-1970s and then spread to the UK was completely ignored by the media and record companies in New Zealand; the likes of the Ramones and the nascent scene that surrounded them rated nary a mention in Hot Licks, New Zealand’s pop magazine of the era. When English punk arrived in late 1976 we had no real rock and roll press, as Hot Licks had shut up shop in the middle of the year.

Flyer for a December 1977 Classic Cinema party. The Suburban Reptiles did a series of these gigs.
Photo credit: Simon Grigg collection
Zero at The State Dance, February 18, 1978.
Photo credit: Photo by Jeremy Templer
State Dance, October 1978. The Suburban Reptiles were advertised but split shortly before this and were a no-show
Photo credit: Design: Philip Peacocke. Simon Grigg collection.
Suburban Reptiles in Grafton, Auckland, April 1978. Top to bottom: Tony Baldock, Buster Stiggs, Billy Planet, Jimmy Joy and Zero.
Photo credit: Photo by Jeremy Templer. Simon Grigg collection.
The Suburban Reptiles, Queen Street, Auckland, 21 October 1977
Photo credit: Simon Grigg collection
Zero
Photo credit: Photo by Murray Cammick
Suburban Reptiles in the Neil Roberts-directed Eyewitness - punk television special (1978)
Albert Park, February 1978
Photo credit: Photo by Murray Cammick
The Dominion street poster the morning after Buster Stiggs had thrown a drumstick into the audience at Victoria University in August, 1977. A girl was accidently hit and the papers blew up the story, causing vigilante type operations against both The Suburban Reptiles and The Scavengers, with Johnny Volume being beaten a couple of nights later in the university toilets.
Megaton
Before a gig at a private party in Massey, West Auckland, Zero checks her makeup in Jimmy's shades, early June 1977
Photo credit: Photo by Simon Grigg
The Suburban Reptiles above the Classic Cinema, Queen Street, January 1978. The BBC interview with the Sex Pistols had been turned down by TVNZ.
Buster Stiggs, pop star Richard Wilde, Zero, Jimmy Joy, Colin Lum from Phonogram at the Megaton single release party at The Poenamo Hotel, Takapuna, 2 February 1978.
Photo credit: Photo by Murray Cammick
Zero and Jimmy Joy in an invitation to a private party above Auckland's Classic Cinema, November 1977
The Suburban Reptiles play Albet Park, Auckland, 1978
Photo credit: Photo by Murray Cammick
The Suburban Reptiles at 52 Cuba Street, Wellington, May 9, 1978.
Photo credit: Simon Grigg collection
The Buster Stiggs designed poster for Saturday Night Stay At Home, using an image from the 1950s. The poster was recreated in the 2014 7-inch reissue of the single.
Bones Hillman and Jimmy Joy, Suburban Reptiles at Riverhead, 12 February 1978.
Photo credit: Photo by Stephen Penny
Buster Stiggs' handwritten original lyrics to 'Saturday Night Stay At Home'.
Photo credit: Simon Grigg collection
Bones Hillman and Jimmy Joy, Classic Cinema, Queen Street, Auckland, December 3rd, 1977
Photo credit: Photo by Murray Cammick
Saturday Night Stay At Home
Zero all dressed up for The Rocky Horror Show, September 1978
Suburban Reptiles with stand-in guitarist Johnny Volume at the August 1977 Students' Arts Festival at Victoria University. The band are setting up and The Scavengers' Des Truction is also seen. From left: Des Truction, Buster Stiggs, Johnny Volume and Jimmy Joy.
Photo credit: Photo by Wayne Hunter
Saturday Night Stay At Home video with Phil Judd
Photo credit: Photo by Paul Hartigan
Suburban Reptiles in Auckland's Jean Batten Place, October 1977. L to r: Jimmy Joy, Bones Hillman, Buster Stiggs, Zero, Billy Planet.
The Suburban Reptiles in Onehunga, June 1977: Shaun Anfrayd, Jimmy Joy, Billy Planet, Sissy Spunk, Buster Stiggs, Zero. Taken before the Marcellin College which saw them featured on every weekend paper's front page that week.
Photo credit: Photo by Simon Grigg
Jimmy Joy and Zero - Classic Cinema, December 3rd, 1977
Photo credit: Photo by Jonathan Tidball
Suburban Reptiles, mid-1978: Billy Planet, Jimmy Joy, Zero, Buster Stiggs and Tony Baldock
Photo credit: Simon Grigg collection. Photo by Paul Hartigan
The crowd at The Suburban Reptiles Radio Hauraki concert in February, 1978
Photo credit: Photo by Murray Cammick