The only exception to this was WEA, under the guidance of Tim Murdoch, who had released a number of recordings including that of Toy Love, at that time, the biggest live act in New Zealand, and Ripper, owned by Bryan Staff, which had released a couple of singles and was about to issue the enormously influential AK79 collection, which documented the New Zealand punk scene of the late seventies.
However Ripper was documenting a past scene rather than signing and releasing the raft of acts filling the pubs and halls around Auckland and the rest of the country.
Both, by The Features and The Spelling Mistakes, sold out their initial pressings immediately and entered the New Zealand singles chart, causing quite a stir.
The initial result of this deal was the Class of 81 compilation, a collection of young acts from (mostly) Auckland, which defined the city’s scene over the next few years.
In July and August 1981 Propeller celebrated this success with a nationwide package tour featuring three of its acts, The Screaming Blamatic Roadshow, which swept through Universities and cities to capacity houses everywhere, culminating with three sold out nights at Auckland’s Mainstreet Cabaret, playing to some 30,000 people across the country.