High Times in NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand / Aotearoa, the Land of the Long White Cloud lays claim to a coastline more extensive than that of the U.S of A. It is host to warm summers & mild winters, cooler in the south warmer in the north . It has a population of 4 million and a landmass larger than that of the U.K but smaller than that of Japan. With it's own special flora and fauna, numerous mountain peaks, river valleys and golden beaches the place is like no other. Smoking herb is illegal likewise anything along those lines. Class A’s will also give you an extnede stay-keep them at home. NZ customs officers are known for being the best in the world!! However finding something to smoke is hardly a chore!

The New Zealand Psy-trance although not huge by any standard it has matured a lot of late in the past year. New Zealand is ready for the next step in the Psy Trance evolution, regular events, with Live acts. 2005 is rumoured to see internationals like Infected Mushroom coming down under, firing trance into the mainstream and exposing it to a wider audience. Live acts in New Zealand will make a huge difference putting us onto the global circuit and giving Kiwis a chance to hear psy trance in a pure, raw form.

Auckland area

In the last two years the Auckland psy trance scene has undergone a significant change. Full on Psychedelic trance has come back to the fore with the number of parties as well as groups of organisers increasing significantly. Parties are still generally on the small scale but this is complimented by outdoor parties in fantastic venues like caves in the side of cliffs next to wild terrain that looks like it is straight from Jurassic park!

Sadly Cyberculture disappered of the map this year-their much loved shop and website closed down but a few of the original crew still remain. Josh with a few of the Cybie regular are still doing parties with Underground New Zealand. More of a progressive slant they are throwing occasional indoor and outdoor parties.

On the more Full-On front Shambala have been throwing nice indoor and outdoor parties bring some life back into the scene. Dave (Paradine) has also an excellent NZ psytrance website reference-www.psydj.com. The Website lists all upcoming parties happening in NZ and international, an excellent forum where the lateset information can be found and also cds for sale!

Inner eye also did 1 party in Auckland this year with Nexus crawler from Australia.

Hamilton-Lee from the UK has started Otherworld parties in Hamilton and for the city of the future the locals seem to love it. They seem to be a regular party and there looks like more in the future. Keep an eye out!

Wellington

The Full-Om crew are still running amok in Wellington and are still doing the business with their parties-Excellent deco, they are coming up for their third birthday in February 2005 and more than 21 parties under their belt! With a recently aquired PA they are now doing outdoor parties here there and everywhere! Jules the Irish lass has started doing small parties with the psybersonix crew. Wellington is also home to the Inner eye crew (Couch a South African) who has been bringing over some Aussie talent-Ozzy and Mr Peculiar to name a few. Aviel the American who runs the Cosmic conspiracy label which has just had an excellent first release-look for more parties from these guys!

Golden Bay

The Visonz crew had a few problems securing a site for their annual new years party but we hope to see them back in action next year. They are still throwing the occasional fundraiser party though! DJ Dawnbeaver is the person to talk to down that part of the world and be contacted from the email list for all happenings in that area.

Other Parts of New Zealand

There really isn’t a lot happening on a regular basis in other parts of the country except for those mentioned in the festival section. We are still waiting for Christchurch and Dunedin still to be put on the psychedelic map! Gisborne also had its first outdoor party put on by trippy Kiwi (formerly Navajo Denmark). Hopefully we will see more!

New Years Festivals and parties

Resolutions-the annual 24 hour outdoor festival in Whitianga this year (2004 ) has an excellent lineup of Psychedleic trance with International acts such as P-Mac, Zirkin, Dark Nebula, Luke Psywalker, Sensient to name a few.

Full-circle-a new party put on by the same people who brought the Aliennation party is putting on a 2 day New years party. Although its multi genre there will be 2 dedicated nights of Psy Trance-This festival has a much higher quotient of local talent and there seems to be no shortage!! Worth checking out and probably a nice relaxed and hippy affair! Big acts are Antix,Ozone and Pied Piper Paul.

Alien Nation party-Should be on on Waitingi weekend ( Feb 6th-7th 2005). This years party was an absolute blast in a very nice location-strictly psy trance it should provide a nice weekend of stomping tunes! Full-On and progressive

StarDust-Stardust will be doing their annual outdoor party on the weekend of Feb 19th 2005. They will also have a dedicated Psy trance zone and will be in a nice location on top ot Takaka hill, Nelson-worth seeking out

Visionz-Sadly Visonz had a few problems with their regular site but they have assured us they will be back with another festival in 2005/2006-cant wait!