SMOKEFREEROCKQUEST 2015 - West Coast final results

SMOKEFREEROCKQUEST 2015 - West Coast final results

A five piece band from Buller High School was named this year’s West Coast winner of Smokefreerockquest at the Regent Theatre in Greymouth on Friday night.

Bass player, Sam Worthington said they had difficulty coming up with a name so they called themselves ‘The No Eyed Deers’. Three of the band came first at last year’s regional final and this year they pulled in a second guitarist, Remy Gallavin, younger brother of lead guitarist Louie Gallavin.

Sam says they’ve been practicing hard since the beginning of the year and had great support from their school.

“Some of our supporters from Westport came to the final,” he said, “and we jumped around the stage but were pretty sharp - we had good stage presence.”

The other members of The No Eyed Deers are Calum Slee (drums) and Connor Harvey- Cameron (vocals).

Second place in the band category was Plethora from Greymouth High School who are: Dean French (guitar), Ethan Wilson-Bruce (bass), Gina Hopkinson (keyboard), Brayden Emery (guitar), Stasha Beukes (vocals), Becky Lomax (vocals) and Blake White (drums).

First place in the solo/duo section went to Year 10 student Meg Theron from Westland High School. Last year Meg entered as part of a band, but she said this year, as a solo performer, it was more personal.

“I love being on stage and I love writing songs,” she said, “ and every song means a lot and showing it to others is really fun.”

Meg has a singer songwriter acoustic sound and says her songs are inspired by tough times, good times, relationships and friends.

“I listen to a lot of rap music but I also really like the sound of Benny Tipene, Sam Smith and Demi Lovado too.”

Sal-Cherie Pretorius, Reefton Area School placed second solo/duo.

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 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.”

The full list of awards made on Friday night was:

Band 1st place: The No Eyed Deers, Buller High School
Band 2nd place: Plethora, Greymouth High School
Solo/Duo 1st place: Meg Theron, Westland High School
Solo/Duo 2nd place: Sal-Cherie Pretorius, Reefton Area School
Band 3rd place: Q4, John Paul II High School
APRA Lyric Award: ‘You’re worth it’ by Sal-Cherie Pretorius, Reefton Area School
Lowdown Best Song: Meg Theron, Westland High School
Smokefree Award For Women’s Musicianship: Freya Johnson from Q4, John Paul II High School
People’s Choice voted by text: Q4, John Paul II High School
MAINZ musicianship award with the opportunity to win a $4000 MAINZ scholarship: Calum Slee from The No Eyed Deers, Buller 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

© Scoop Media