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The story Going Down is a highly fictionalised account of the rise and fall of rival punk bands “Loud Scum” and “Rooted” (Proud Scum and the Terrorways).
This story was first published under the name of Vans, and starts at the disco and punk clubs, Boogie Nights and Anarchy. These are based on the real life clubs Babe’s Disco and Zwines.
The story tells of racial tension and violence – the accounts are highly fictionalised but the racial tension and violence were definately real.
In the story, “Loud Scum” travel to Hamilton for a gig at Jupiters. Absoluely true – Proud Scum’s only gig outside Auckland – before they headed to Sydney. They get very wasted on ether – true – and play terribly to an indifferent crowd – true and true – then drive back to Auckland to get to the big party – true.
Most of the rest of the story is fiction – except:
* The Terrorways had played at Jupiters a few weeks earlier
* Many fans travelled down to support the Terrorways – but none came to support Proud Scum
* Both bands were paid less than the agreed rate by Jupiters
* Proud Scum did miss out on the party – almost everyone had left by the time they arrived at 3am
* The Terrorways did do a gig in Wellington.  Does that make them the more successful band? Surely not.

As I reworked this story, over a number of years, one of the themes that developed further was the rivalry between the two bands – and there’s certainly some truth there.
Looking back, thirty plus years on, it’s hard to say who was the most successful band. But I will say this, Proud Scum has a listing in Wikipedia. The Terrorways don’t.
JJ – May 2012