Smokefreerockquest: Manawatu Heats results

Smokefreerockquest: Manawatu Heats results

Aspiring rock musicians sang, strummed and strutted their stuff at the Massey College of Education in Sunday’s Smokefreerockquest Manawatu heats, with the 12 top bands and soloists selected by the judges to go on to the regional final next month.

SFRQ founder and director Glenn Common says Smokefreerockquest is a unique vehicle for engaging and inspiring young people right around New Zealand.

“This year we expect to crack the level of 800 bands entering – that is around 3000 kids being giving the experience of playing their own music live on stage to their peers,” he says. “Smokefreerockquest is an empowering and valuable experience even for the bands who don’t make it through to the finals.”

The bands selected to compete in the regional final are:

Abi Symes: Freyberg High School
Annie Webster: Feilding High School
1 Week 3 Daze: Waiopehu College
Switch: Palmerston North Boys' High School
The Impediments: Feilding High School
Hydro Raspberry: Freyberg High School
Planting Pyramids: Waiopehu College
Amphora: Palmerston North Boys' High School
Minus 52: Freyberg High School
Maddie: Otaki College
Shayla Armstrong: Palmerston North Girls' High School
Ellusive Inc: Manawatu College

The Manawatu final is at the Regent on Broadway on Saturday 9 June, start time 7pm, tickets $20 from Ticket Direct or at the door.

Music teacher Kyle Proffit who now mentors last year’s national winners, Nelson band The Peasants, says he really values having Smokefreerockquest as a goal for his students.

“The structure of the competition creates opportunities for teachers to assess students’ progress and grade them for NCEA,” he says. “Although it’s primarily a music competition, it is much more than just another performance opportunity. It shows young people how much fun playing music together can be, it teaches them to cooperate and learn together, to support and challenge each other – a whole range of skills that can be applied across their broader education and in everyday life.”

The regional SFRQ events run every weekend until 21 July, then the top regional bands submit videos, from which eight bands or soloists are selected to play off at the national final at Claudelands Arena in Hamilton on 22 September. The big incentive is a prize package that includes a NZ On Air new recording and music video grant worth over $10,000, a place on the NZ On Air Kiwi Hit Disc, musical gear to the value of $10,000 from NZ Rockshops, radio promotional support for a single, 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 People’s Choice voted by text with the opportunity to open at the SFRQ final.

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

Smokefreerockquest – 24 years of musical success

Smokefreerockquest is New Zealand’s only nationwide, live, original music, youth event. Now well into its third decade, the series of over 40 events reaches audiences from Whangarei to Invercargill.

Founded in 1988 by music teachers Glenn Common and Pete Rainey, who now run Rockquest Promotions full time out of Nelson, Smokefreerockquest has become a New Zealand institution.

Smokefreerockquest aims to motivate young musicians to prove their ability and realise the heights they can reach in their music careers, and to encourage their peers to support 100% original New Zealand music. For more information visit www.sfrq.co.nz

Hall of Fame
Musical successes from Smokefreerockquest over its 24-year history include Kimbra, Midnight Youth, Opshop, Evermore, Ladyhawke, Minuit, Kids of 88, Die!Die!Die!, Pistol Youth, Annah Mac, Bang!Bang!Eche!, Ivy Lies, Cairo Knife Fight, Cut Off Your Hands, Luke Thompson, the Datsuns, Brooke Fraser, Anika Moa, Anna Coddington, The Electric Confectionaires, Steriogram, Aaradhna, Spacifix, Phoenix Foundation, The Feelers, The Black Seeds, Nesian Mystik, Bic Runga, The Checks, Julia Deans, Pine, King Kapisi, Kingston, The Naked and Famous, Autozamm and Elemeno P.

Smokefree’s Smoking Not Our Future Campaign
Research from HSC shows that 94 percent of all young people have seen the Smoking Not Our Future initiative and that Smokefreerockquest plays a large part in getting its key messages and its celebrities in front of young people. Smokefree has been the naming rights sponsor of Smokefreerockquest for 22 of its 24 years and this longstanding partnership between the two agencies has been mutually beneficial. Smokefree is able to deliver its messages to large numbers of secondary school students attending the regional events. While participants in the event are provided with connections to their schools and communities and develop skills and aspirations, which will help create the future musical stars of New Zealand. For more information visit notourfuture.co.nz

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