The Suburban Reptiles were one of the first two punk bands to form in New Zealand, the other being the Scavengers. History The Suburban Reptiles were conceptualised by Auckland students Simon Grigg and Brett Salter in late 1976, with some encouragement from filmmaker David Blyth. Grigg and Salter had originally planned to form a jazz band, but Grigg was redirected by Blyth after he saw a live review of the Sex Pistols in the New Musical Express. Grigg, seeing himself as the manager, explained the concept to Salter, who played the saxophone, and other students, William Pendergrast, bass guitar; Clare Elliot, (Salter's partner), vocals; Trish Scott, guitar; Brian Nicholls, guitar; and Kim Smith, backing vocals, were invited to join. Grigg found a drummer, an apprentice butcher and part-time juggler, Des Edwards, and the original lineup was complete. This group only lasted the first few practices in a basement in Ponsonby, an inner suburb of Auckland, before Smith and Edwards departed. The first practices did produce the nucleus of a live set, consisting of a mix of covers (including songs from Roxy Music, the Damned and the Modern Lovers) and originals. The only live show by this lineup was an late night performance, planned on the night, in the University of Auckland's Student Quadrangle, which was aborted when the power was pulled by a University custodian after one song to a bemused crowd fresh from a concert by Th' Dudes. The Suburban Reptiles had thought they were the only 'punks' in Auckland, until earlier that evening, when they went to the Globe hotel and encountered the members of the Scavengers, who likewise had believed they were the only ones. A drummer was now needed and Salter and Elliot had a chance encounter with Mark Hough, who had been playing in a band called After Hours, with Neil Finn. Hough, an art student at Elam (Auckland University's Fine Arts School), was asked to join and the first serious lineup was formed. The members then, in the tradition of punk bands the world over, took stage names: Salter initially became Jimmy Vinyl and later Jimmy Joy and Lino Clone; Elliot took Sally Slag but quickly became simply Zero (although to the band she was simply Zed); Nicholls was Shaun Anfrayd; Pendergrast naturally identified with his (highly strung) Buzz Adrenalin but opted for the more user friendly Billy Planet; Scott was Sissy Spunk; and