A stage starring Headlock
Headlock, from left: Matt Nisbet, Hugh McKendery and Tom Smith (absent: Liam Phelan)
Four teens planning to make music a big part of their careers have got off to a good start.
Headlock - Tom Smith and Liam Phelan, both 15, and Matt Nisbet and Hugh McKendery (both 16) - will play on the community
stage at the Hawke’s Bay Royal A Show.
It is part of the prize pack they have received for winning the Hastings District Council on-line Great Local Band
Competition. They will be paid for the A Show gig and they get a photo shoot and a professional logo designed for them to use to promote themselves.
It would not be their first gig, they have played in a pub in Wellington and at venues in Hawke’s Bay, including The
Cabana in Napier. As well as the A fixture, they are booked to play at Blast in the Park on October 31 and at this year’s Haumoana Tropicana (the old
Haumoana Market Day) on November 1.
The band members are not without experience. All four have been playing music since about age nine and Hugh’s previous
band, Supercone Destroyer, won last year’s regional Rockquest competition.
Tom, guitar and lead vocals, Matt, guitar and backing vocals, Hugh, drums, and Liam, bass guitar and backing vocals,
describe their music as “rock with a reggae twist”.
They play a mix of covers and originals and say they can switch between styles depending on the makeup of the audience.
The Hawke’s Bay Royal A Show is being held from October 21 to 23 on the A Showgrounds.
Headlock is playing at 12.15pm on Friday October 23 on the Hastings Heart of Hawke’s of Bay stage, behind the
grandstand.
See: youtu.be/VcZy-CNosPQ
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