North Shore and Auckland Solo/Duo final results

SMOKEFREEROCKQUEST 2015 - North Shore, Auckland West and Auckland Solo/Duo final results

A new bunch of potential recruits to the Kiwi music industry emerged at this weekend’s four Auckland Smokefreerockquest regional finals for 2015.

‘Desert rock’ three piece Altered Blondes won the North Shore final at the Dorothy Winstone Centre at Auckland Girls Grammar on Friday night.

Drummer and backing vocalist, James Thorrington from Rangitoto College was in Old Greg’s Love Shack - winner of last year’s Rockshop Bandquest. He says Altered Blondes has been together for about 18 months, and describes their sound as ‘heavy with aspects of mellow psychedelic’.

“We’re influenced by a whole lot of bands including the Beatles, Foo Fighters, Tool, and ELO,” he says. “We find it really difficult to stand still and that creates an energy that makes it hard for the audience to stand still as well…hopefully our musicianship showed through in our two songs and that must have impressed the judges.”

The other members of Altered Blondes are Callum Yule, Long Bay College, lead guitar and vocals; and Luke Rice, St Peter's School (Cambridge) on bass. James Thorrington also won the MAINZ musicianship award with the opportunity to win a $4000 MAINZ scholarship

Second place went to Long Bay College punk duo, Bo No, made up of Lachie Smith, lead vocals and bass, and Jacko Henderson, drummer.

These two bands have the opportunity to send in footage of their songs for selection as national finalists.

The full list of award winners at the North Shore final on Friday night was:

Band 1st place: Altered Blondes, Long Bay & Rangitoto Colleges & St Peter's School (Cambridge)

Band 2nd place: Bo No, Long Bay College

Band 3rd place: Modern Tricks, Rangitoto College

APRA Lyric Award: Tara Ravi, Long Bay College

Lowdown Best Song: Limitless, Rangitoto College

Smokefree Award For Women’s Musicianship: Carly Gill, the drummer from Carolena

People’s Choice voted by text: Carolena, Westlake Boys' & Westlake Girls' High Schools

MAINZ musicianship award: James Thorington, Long Bay College, the drummer from Altered Blondes.

Auckland West:

On Saturday night the West Auckland honours went to The Big Gus from Greenbay High School, made up of Luke Walsh, drums; Mitchell Baber, lead guitar and vocals; and Fergus White, bass.

Mitchell Baber says they have been playing together for just over a year, and he describes their sound as ‘Kiwi bluesy rock’. He says the threesome has very broad tastes in music, which gives them a genre-switching very different sound.

“We perform for ourselves and for each other. I was so stoked to be doing what I love with my best mates. I didn’t expect to win – it was a bonus,” he said.

Second place went to Avondale College soul/funk/rock six piece, The Kicking Screaming Love Machine from Avondale College, made up of Cullen Erson, bass; Josh Parker, drums and backing vocals; Zain Azimullah, saxophone; Mykelti Prayoncorn, lead guitar; Oscar McFarlane, rhythm guitar; Arjuna Oakes, lead vocals and keyboard.

These two bands have the opportunity to send in footage of their songs for selection as national finalists.

The full list of awards at the Auckland West final on Saturday night were:

Band 1st place: The Big Gus, Green Bay High School

Band 2nd place: The Kicking Screaming Love Machine, Avondale College

Band 3rd place: The Second, Kaipara College

APRA Lyric Award: Erin Geraghty from Moon Children, ACG Sunderland

Lowdown Best Song: The Second, Kaipara College

Smokefree Award For Women’s Musicianship: Jami Kerrigan from Courtney Hate

People’s Choice voted by text: Courtney Hate, Green Bay High School

MAINZ musicianship award: the drummer from The Kicking Screaming Love Machine, Avondale College.

Auckland Central and Manukau Solo-Duo

A full-on day of performance on Sunday from 77 solo-duos saw GMG from Western Springs College take first place in Auckland Central and Manukau section of the contest. The initials stand for the first names of Gracie-Mae Austin (14), vocals and Grace Kayes-Moller (13) on acoustic guitar and vocals.

The girls, both in Year 9, have been playing music together for 18 months and say they had worked really hard on their songs.

“We’re both from very musical families and like to play music and sing and we both like indie-alternative music so we decided to form a group,” says Gracie-Mae. “Our songs are about love and boyfriend-girlfriend relationships. We sounded quite different…the others were more country pop but our sound is a bit more alternative and rocky.”

Second place went to Jenna Jones from Mt Albert Grammar School, third placed was Theo Spike Salmon from Western Springs College and fourth was Frazer Strickland from Auckland Grammar. The top four solo-duos all have the opportunity to send in footage of their songs for selection as national finalists.

The other awards were:

The APRA Lyric Award: Ben Deverell from Mt Roskill Grammar.

The Lowdown Best Song Award: Tequilla & Rapha, Manurewa High School

The MAINZ Musician ship Award: Jono Baker, Sacred Heart College

The Smokefree Award for Women’s Musicianship: Raah Papa

The People’s Choice TXT Award: Free Spirit, Diocesan School for Girls

North Shore and West Auckland Solo/Duo:

Later in the day on Sunday, it was second time lucky for Christopher Bates (16) from Kingsway School, who made it to the top ten in the run up to last year’s Smokefreerockquest national final, and is determined to take the solo-duo title out this year. The 16 year old singer songwriter accompanies himself on guitar, and has been playing music since he was seven, starting with the violin.

“I’ve been writing songs for three years and my songs are kind of slow love songs,” he says. “I used a loop station to build up the sounds tonight and I think that stood out as something different…I was happy with the performance so that helped.”

Second placed was Firedance from Kristin School, third went to Lauren Collins from Rangitoto College and fourth was Rita Laing from Massey High School. The top four solo-duos all have the opportunity to send in footage of their songs for selection as national finalists.

The other awards were:

The APRA Lyric Award: Reuben Ashcroft, Green Bay High School

The Lowdown Best Song Award: Firedance, Kristin School

The MAINZ Musician ship Award: Christopher Bates, Kingsway School

The Smokefree Award for Women’s Musicianship: Emily Dainty, Kaipara College

The People’s Choice TXT Award: Holly Powell, Westlake Girls High

The top two bands from North Shore and Auckland West, along with the top four solo/duos from each of the two Auckland events win musical gear from associate sponsors NZ Rockshops, and the opportunity to gain selection for the national final at Auckland’s Raye Freedman Centre on Friday 11 September.

Smokefreerockquest Founder and director Glenn Common says there are more entrants than ever before reaching the high standard required from national finalists.

“This means that real dedication is required to achieve the ‘stand out quality’ that the judges will be looking for,” he said. “They have to capture 15 minutes of their original material on video in a process that demands creativity and musical ability, being able to work together as a group and having good organisational skills. What separates them out is perseverance – industry success seldom happens overnight.”

There are two more Auckland finals to be held, Auckland Central on Friday June 12 and Manukau on Saturday June 13. Both are at the Dorothy Winstone Centre, start time 7pm.

Smokefreerockquest, powered by Rockshop, has national winners’ prize packages for bands and the solo/duo winners that include $22,000 in Rockshop vouchers, a $20,000 NZ On Air recording, video and promo package’ a ‘Decent Exposure’ campaign on FOUR, a photo shoot with Thievery Studio, a branding package from Imaginary Friends and the Unleashed Travel ambassador award – a seven day trip to Fiji.
There is also the MAINZ (Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand) Scholarship for Outstanding Musicianship, the APRA (Australasian Performing Right Association) Lyric Award, the Lowdown Best Song Award and the Smokefree Women’s Musicianship Award. The People’s Choice award is voted by text with the opportunity to open the Smokefreerockquest national final.

Finalist judging process: Two bands from each of the 24 regional finals submit video footage 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, and three of them will go ahead to the national final.

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

ENDS

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