 Mandrill began with a simple 4-track Teac recorder and by the early eighties had upgraded to 24 track MCI and Otari machines with Trident mixing consoles.Tucker became a major influence on the New Zealand music scene encouraging and developing scores of bands and singers, producing many hits on his labels Mandrill and later Reaction.Some of the acts he signed and/or produced were, Alistair Riddell, Citizen Band, Rick Steele, Midge Marsden Connection, Human Instinct, The Crocodiles, The Mockers, Danse Macabre, Car Crash Set, Paul Agar, Marginal Era, Blond Comedy, National Anthem, Gotham City Express, Knightshade, Wayne Roland Brown, Everything That Flies, Mark Loveys Satellite Spies, David Hasselhoff, Billy T James, The Hi Marks, Suzanne Prentice, Howard Morrison and others.