2013 Smokefreerockquest - Canterbury Final Results

2013 Smokefreerockquest - 25 Years of Kiwi Music Success

Canterbury Final Results

It was a big weekend for youth music in Canterbury with two nights of the regional finals of Smokefreerockquest at the Jack Mann Auditorium.

On Saturday night Shake Your Extremities from Cashmere High School and Two Odd Friends from Hagley Community College took the honours; while on Sunday the winners were AashaWilland Cullen from Shirley Boys High and Sammi Foote from Rangiora High School.

The year 13 students in Shake Your Extremities are Claudia Jardine (vocals), Liam Kelly (keyboard), Peter Scriven (bass) and newcomer to the group Tom Bagnall on drums.

Claudia Jardine described their sound as ‘melody enthusiast’ and says their energy was a stand out factor on Satuday night: “We are all energetic people, we’re drama students so we don’t mind getting out there and shaking our hair around,” she says. “Our look was a bit different too in teeshirts we’d bought from Savemart and then written our band name across them with cutouts from a tablecloth. We look like The Wiggles when they were teenagers.”

Claudia won the APRA Lyric Writer’s Award – having taken this out at the national level last year.

Two Odd Friends are Grace Jones and Kenzie Middleton from Hagley Community College. Kenzie says the friends met at Rangiora High School five years ago and feel their shared interest in music made them destined to get together. Their name came from a dream Grace had of them winning Smokefreerockquest as Two Odd Friends.

“People ask us to describe our music but we’re not any one genre so we just trance hippe hypnotic sort of music,” Kenzie says. “Our songs reflect our different perspective on life.”

Second place in the band category went to Infinity Edge, made up of Peter Robertson (llead guitar) from Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti), VarunaYoganathan (drums) from Breens Intermediate, Anand Yoganathan (rhythm guitar) and Luke O'Neill (bass) both from Papanui High School.

Joe Coughlin from Burnside High School placed second in the solo/duo category.

Sunday night’s winning band was AashaWillandCullen from Shirley Boys' High School, with solo/duo first place going to Sammi Foote from Riccarton High School who also won the APRA Lyric Award for ‘It Was Never You’.

AashaWilland Cullen are Aasha Mallard (banjo), Will McGillivray (acoustic guitar and kick drum) and Cullen Kiesanowski (double bass). The year 11 students have all played music since year 8, but formed a band only a year ago. Will puts their success down to their distinctive sound.

“Our genre is possibly alt-folk and there were no other bands playing our kind of music so that maybe helped us,” he said.

Sammi Foote says she has always been surrounded by musical instruments and everyone in her family plays something. She describes her musical style as a mix of acoustic, folk, pop and soul, but it’s her voice that she believes, made her stand out for the judges

“They thought my performance was funky and tight, and people often comment that I have quite a unique voice, so I guess that may have contributed too.”

The second placed band was The Haze from Christchurch Boys' High School and St Andrew’s College, made up of Cameron Champion (bass), Chris Nolan (drums), Sam Boyles (lead guitar) and Max Earnshaw (vocals).

Second place in this year’s new solo/duo category went to CJ and Mim from Hagley Community College.

These eight acts win musical gear from associate sponsors NZ Rockshops, and the opportunity to gain selection for the national final in Auckland on Saturday September 28.

Founder and director Glenn Common said from here on the Canterbury finalists would have to work hard and draw on their creativity to make the most of the opportunity Smokefreerockquest offered.

“They now send in videos of their original music that will be judged in August as we lead up to the national final,” he said. “This process demands creativity and musical ability, as well as learning to work together as a group and developing the organisation skills they’ll need if they're going to make it on the Kiwi music scene.”

The full list of awards made on Saturday night was:

Band 1st place: Shake Your Extremities, Cashmere High School

Solo/Duo 1st place: Two Odd Friends, Hagley Community College

Band 2nd place: Infinity Edge, Papanui High School, Breens Intermediate, Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti

Solo/Duo 2nd place: Joe Coughlan, Burnside High School

Band 3rd Place: Secularity, Hagley Community College

Smokefree Award For Women’s Musicianship: Ashy Batchelor from 16 Seconds, St Margaret's College

APRA Lyric Award: Claudia Jardine for the Creator’s Waltz

Lowdown Best Song: Jacob Morris & the Innovators, Christchurch Boys' High School

The Mainz Musicianship Award: Jacob Morris, Christchurch Boys’ High School

Skinny Mobile People’s Choice: 16 Seconds from St Margaret's Coll, St Thomas College of Canterbury, Burnside High School & Christchurch South Intermediate

The full list of awards made on Sunday night was:

Band 1st place: AashaWillandCullen , Shirley Boys' High School

Solo/Duo 1st place & APRA Lyric Award: Sammi Foote, Riccarton High School for ‘It Was Never You’

Band 2nd place: The Haze, Christchurch Boys' HS, St Andrew’s Coll

Solo/Duo 2nd place: CJ and Mim, Hagley Community College

Band 3rd place and Skinny Mobile People’s Choice: Aftershock, Sumner School, Christchurch Boys’ HS, Christ’s College

Smokefree Award For Women’s Musicianship: Olivia Chirnside, the drummer from Pure Innocence, Lincoln High School

Lowdown Best Song: Chunk Of Serious, Kaiapoi High School

The Mainz Musicianship Award: Fergus Ingram, the guitarist from Parasitic Swarm, Hagley Community College

Smokefreerockquest, powered by Rockshop, has national winners’ prize packages for bands and the solo/duo winners, that include musical gear to a total value of $13,000 from NZ Rockshops and their suppliers, inclusion on the NZ On Air Kiwi Hit Disc, radio promotional support, and video play on youth music channel FOUR. There is also the MAINZ Scholarship for outstanding musicianship, the APRA Lyric Award, the Lowdown Best Song Award, the Smokefree Women’s Musicianship Award and the Skinny Mobile People’s Choice voted by text with the opportunity to open the SFRQ National final.

Finalist judging process: Two bands from each of 23 regional finals send in their videos for selection as one of the six bands to play off in the national final. Judging is done from a pool of 50-60 bands that also includes Rockshop Second Chance, an opening for established bands (playing regular gigs) who don’t feel they played their best on the night. The top two solo/duos from each region go through the same process.

More info at sfrq.co.nz or facebook.com/thesfrq

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