Kirsten, whose brother Richard was Janet Peters’ partner in the 1970s: Janet and Richard came and stayed with me and my flatmates at our house in Herne Bay when they first moved to Auckland in 1973. They must have been about 19 then.
Richard was desperate to get a room in the big house where the band members of Dragon lived, but he had to wait until a room was free. When they finally moved into Dragon’s big rental house in Murdoch Road in Grey Lynn, Richard thought all his Christmases had come at once. He was living and breathing music on a daily basis. The stereo was on first thing in the morning to last thing at night. Janet was less enamoured when they first arrived, as their “room” was a mattress behind the couch in the living room. Then they graduated to the small room which was part of the stairwell down to the basement, where the band practised.
Todd [Hunter, from Dragon] had cut a hole in the floor of the room and formed a staircase down to the basement which was the band practice room. Janet and Richard would hit the hay and then all night long, people would crash up and down those stairs.
Janet Peters, author of the memoir Heroin to Heroine: In the 70s, Auckland city was alive. Fashion was a “thing” for both men and women. There was a band in every club and every pub, such as the Gluepot and Windsor Castle, where Dragon, Hello Sailor, Split Enz, Human Instinct, Th’ Dudes, Street Talk and others performed.
I felt so cool living in the coolest house in New Zealand (in my eyes, anyway) and was having fun daily. Dinner was amazing as Todd Hunter’s partner at the time, Kerry, was a wonderful vegetarian cook. She would make a feast and then we’d all talk music. We all loved going to hear Dragon play.
Richard, Janet’s partner: The days in that house were some of my favourite memories. I loved living with them even though it was only about a year. Dragon were a fantastic band and living with them was amazing. Songs were written, practised and came alive in the basement of that house.
All sorts of people from other bands visited – Hello Sailor, Rick Bryant, Mark Williams, and Mother Goose.
Surprisingly, we didn’t do all that many drugs in that house. Todd was anti-drug, but Marc [Hunter, Dragon’s singer] was the opposite. Most people smoked dope a bit and drank but that didn’t really count. Then there was the occasional line of speed or coke and we all popped Mandrax or did acid from time to time but nothing serious.
Todd Hunter, from Dragon: Living at Murdoch Road was a blast. We were all living and breathing music and trying to get along in this huge house with people everywhere.
Kerry, Todd’s partner: I loved cooking and would make bread and granola. Janet was not very confident at the time and was often reading.
Janet: Living with Dragon was very important to me. It was only a year but it was my claim to fame for the rest of my life.
Adrienne, Janet’s friend: I remember visiting Janet when she lived with Dragon. The house was fantastic – a huge two-storey place set on the edge of Grey Lynn Park.
We went to Buck-a-Head concerts at the Town Hall. Bands like Dragon and Citizen Band played. It was fantastic. Janet was dancing in the aisles, oblivious to anything except the music. I think that was the time I drank too much and threw up in the band van on the way home.
Kirsten: I still saw Janet and Richard occasionally when they lived with Dragon but suddenly their lifestyle changed, and they spent lots of time with the band. I called them Dragon’s groupies, which Richard didn’t like. I mainly saw them at the restaurant where I was working, Tony’s Steakhouse restaurant in Wellesley St. They loved coming in for a meal when they could afford it. I remember when Janet turned 21, Richard brought her in for a meal and she had her first fillet steak.
It was always lovely catching up with them and having a laugh about what had been happening in the house. Whether it was girls throwing themselves at Marc or someone sleeping with someone else, or a new song being written, something was always happening.
Duane, who was on the scene: Janet showed me the first short story she wrote. It was so bitter and sad. She wrote it when she was out of it on speed and feeling fucked off with Richard. At the time, Richard had an obvious crush on a young model called Jessime. Jessime was gorgeous and on the cover of the Woman’s Weekly. The fact that Jessime had a boyfriend and wasn’t interested in Richard finally sunk in, but it was a hard time for Janet.
Sadly, Jessime got into heroin, and Adrienne and Janet last saw her with the Hells Angels at Sweetwaters. She had no teeth. I can only imagine what had happened to get her to that state.
Richard had a bad acid trip one night. He had taken some acid and we’d all been out at a gig. We’d come home and Janet had gone to bed. The next thing I hear is a commotion in the kitchen. I got up and there was Richard emptying all the contents of the kitchen cupboards into a pile on the floor. And when I say emptying, I mean emptying. Tomato sauce was mixed with Weet-Bix and flour.
I got Janet out of bed, and we tried to talk to him, but he didn’t seem able to talk or understand us. Then, the next thing he did was take off his clothes and walk outside down the footpath. It was 2am in Grey Lynn Auckland in 1974 – not the place to go for a stroll naked.
In desperation, I called an ambulance. He got taken to hospital where somehow the police were called and unfortunately, he got busted for taking acid. I felt bad about that because it was like selling out to the establishment but we couldn’t think of anything else to do but get an ambulance.
Although Richard used to say it was the best trip he’d ever had, he laid off the acid for a while.
Richard: It sounds stupid but back then I had always really wanted to try smack. I had it in my head that to be a junkie was the coolest of the cool.
The opportunity came after Janet had become friendly with some guys she worked with who were into dealing smack. I remember my first line as if it was today. Tony sprinkled this white powder on a mirror, cut it up finely with a razor and we snorted it using $20 bills. I felt wonderful in a few minutes. Then after about 20 minutes, I threw up. But that didn’t stop me. I still felt great. I could see what all the fuss was about. I felt calm, happy, and as if I could take on the fucking world.
Janet didn’t try it then. She was too scared. However, she saw how much the guys and I liked it, so one day a few weeks later, she did a line. I remember her saying that she loved it.
I guess that was the beginning of the end.
Janet: I was so scared the first time I snorted smack but if my mates were doing it, I’d give it a go. After a slight burning feeling in my nose, I became suffused with an all-over feeling of wellbeing and happiness. At last, here was the peace, contentment, and wellbeing that I had (unknowingly) been craving all my life.
There is no other drug that can produce that high but it had a horrendous impact on my life and health. For months, all of us were snorting smack just on weekends. We honestly thought that it was the same as people who drank on weekends to get drunk. We were convinced that it would never be a problem.
In the early days, we all had jobs, were young and healthy, had enough money, and it was all about friends, musician friends, music, concerts, fashion, smack, and work, in that order. Life was good.
Adrienne: I remember when David Bowie was going to come to Western Springs in 1978 and Janet saying: “I want to be unconscious for that concert.” To go out to see live music without the assistance of chemicals was just not done.
I was flatting with some friends who were in a band (Father Time, before they became Misex). Janet and Richard would come around, out of it, and sit and watch TV, nod off and go home. I mean how pathetic was that? I didn’t see the point of taking a drug that made you feel sleepy. I was much more into having a few wines, smoking dope, and going out to watch the band and dancing.
Both Janet and I were into fashion in a big way – a sort of heroin chic before there was such a thing. Everything was black and we both wore the perfume Opium.
Things started to get a bit messy when Richard and Janet started using more than at weekends. I had a feeling in my bones that it was all going to turn to custard.
Janet: The first time I realised that Richard was using a lot was a time when we couldn’t score. To me that wasn’t a problem as I was still mainly using at weekends, but that night Richard tossed and turned and jerked and sweated. It came to me – he was having withdrawals. That meant he must have been using nearly every day! I was shocked and asked him how much he had been using and he admitted that he was overdoing it.
Over time, we started using more. Using more meant that the days we didn’t have any smack meant feeling tired and edgy, and waiting for a phone call to say that a friend had scored. It meant your life revolving around white or brown powder or crystals.
Life got worse after a while. We started using more often so the main job every day was how to score. Most of our money went into smack. What we earned went into rent, food, fags, and smack. Food often was not seen as overly necessary. When money was tight, we used to live on tea and toast. I always loved my Choysa tea, two teabags in a big cup with three sugars. When all turned to shit, a cup of Choysa tea was a great “perk-me-up”, I used to say – even when I was a junkie.
Richard: A big part of the whole smack scene was the cloak and dagger aspect of it all. To make a score, I would get a phone call in code and then meet a dealer in a quiet spot like by Eden Gardens. I’d turn up and he would arrive two minutes later, after having scouted around for suspicious cars or anyone who might be a D.
Several people OD’d and died. A couple of guys died of heart failure. It was awful seeing things like this happen, but the scary thing is that when you’re a junkie, even someone’s death isn’t as important as when are you next going to score.
Life was cheap in those days. Smack was king.
Around this time, a friend brought around a couple to our flat. Doug and Isabel were from Sydney. Janet and I really liked them. They used to come around, drink tea, eat cake, listen to music and get out of it.
They were later found dead in Australia with their hands cut off. They were somehow related to Mr Asia.
A mildly abbreviated passage taken with kind permission from Heroin to Heroine by Janet Peters, a self-published memoir which is available for $25.50 by contacting the author on janet@janetpeters.co.nz
