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Auckland’s Kings Arms To Fight Noise Complaints
One of Auckland, New Zealand’s best-known live music venues, the
Kings Arms – Kings Arms Tavern
More than 100 fans were watching U.S. doom metal bands Cough and Windhand when up to 14 police and noise control officers arrived just before midnight and closed it, Stuff.co.nz reported.
They also confiscated the bar’s mixer and a speaker. The venue had received two noise complaints within 24 hours from the same neighbour. It had received an excessive noise warning at 11 p.m. the day before, Auckland Council’s principal specialist for environmental health, Daniel Winter, said.
After the second complaint, the Kings Arms was deemed to have ignored the first warning and a close-down followed.
Arms Tavern owner Maureen Gordon denied allegations she had ignored the first warning. The doors were shut during the bands’ performances and the noise was measured from outside by a decibel measurement device
. “I can’t do any more than that,” she said. Gordon wants a meeting with the council, arguing that the building was built in 1870 and has been showcasing music for years, and that the resident should have known that when he moved in. The Kings Arms’ soundproofing initiatives included building a NZ$40,000 ($27,614) sound wall. T
he building was sold December 2016 to a developer but was expected to remain a music venue until early 2018. It has continued to showcase music, including a Punk’s Not Dead night April 8. In a Facebook post it updated, “We are taking (even more) steps to mitigate noise issues, and seeking clarity and compromise with Auckland City Council. Most people are aware of the lengths the K.A has gone to, to comply with council requirements.”
However, after the April 1 incident, promoter Brent Eccles Entertainment moved Helmet’s April 22 show to nearby
Its Dave Munro told Stuff, “Ideally I would have loved to have kept it at the Kings Arms, it’s a great little room and it’s a vibing space. But [music promotion] is a risky business as it is, and this just adds another element of risk of ‘are we going to get halfway through a set and get shut down?’”