SMOKEFREEROCKQUEST 2015 - Timaru final results

SMOKEFREEROCKQUEST 2015 - Timaru final results

A fun and happy experience won the night for a four piece rock band at the South Canterbury Smokefreerockquest final in the Theatre Royal on Friday night. It was déjà vu for Kudos from Oamaru who also won the regional final last year. Lead vocalist Joe Martin said he thought it was their tight sound and lots of practice, that made them stand out again this year.

“We have a clean sound and we stayed true to ourselves,” he said. “I think we also put across that we are fun bunch of guys and we are quite likeable.”

Joe Martin is from Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu, Jack Sinclair (guitar) and Shaun Andales (bass) are from St Kevins College, and Alex Mcculloch (drums) is from Waitaki Boys' High School.

Second place in the band category was Fullhouse from Mount Hutt College made up of Jacob Keeley (bass), Jessie Jacobs (lead vocals), Sithum Jayatilleke (lead guitar), Jack Mcdonald (keyboard), Samuel McDonald (rhythm guitar) and Hamish Hood (drums).

The solo/duo section went to an instrumentalist with an interesting style of guitar playing. Joseph Balfe from Waitaki Boys' High School says he plays ‘fingerstyle guitar’, which means he plays the bass rhythm and melody at the same time.

“Without lyrics you really have to create a sort of story with your music,” he says.

This was Joseph’s first Smokefreerockquest: “I’d had a look before but now I am writing my own material, I thought I‘d have a go.”

Joseph also won the MAINZ musicianship award with the opportunity to win a $4000 MAINZ scholarship.

Earlier this month Joseph was the intermediate winner in the 2015 NZ Gold Guitar awards and in January played at the Tamworth Country Music festival in Australia.

Chelsea Klever- Muir and Macey Dalglish from Mount Hutt College, who make up the duo known as Dalmur, placed second in the solo/duo category.

These four acts 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 bands 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.”

The full list of awards made on Friday night was:

Band 1st place: Kudos from Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu, St Kevins College & Waitaki Boys' High School

Band 2nd place: Fullhouse, Mount Hutt College

Solo/Duo 1st place: Joseph Balfe, Waitaki Boys' High School

Solo/Duo 2nd place: Dalmur (duo), Mount Hutt College

Band 3rd place: Semi Colon Closed Parenthesis, Geraldine High School, Opihi College

APRA Lyric Award: ‘Vanity’ by Ethan Coster of Pseudo Sane, Geraldine High School

People’s Choice voted by text: Dalmur, Mount Hutt College

Lowdown Best Song: Second song from Dalmur, Mount Hutt College

Smokefree Award For Women’s Musicianship: Ruby Fraser, from Bitter Class, Craighead Diocesan School

MAINZ musicianship award with the opportunity to win a $4000 MAINZ scholarship: Joseph Balfe, Waitaki Boys' High School

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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