Up until March, when Covid-19 lockdowns began being enforced, things had been going well. Shilling opened Totara Street when he saw a space formerly occupied by a metalwork company and realised it resembled a small version of long-running Auckland venue The Powerstation. “It was a tin shed, but it had the basic bones sitting there,” he says. “There was an opening – there was nowhere (for bands coming to Tauranga) to play. The stars just aligned and we jumped in.” He and Munro fixed it up, put in a sound system and crammed in 400 people for sold out shows by L.A.B., Tiki Taane and Hollie Smith.