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3rd Inertia claim regional Rockquest title

By Jackie and Su Young, Hagley High School

SFRQThe Canterbury regional final of Smokefreerockquest was held at the Town Hall on Saturday, June 28. The energy of the performers warmed up the town hall crowd despite the terribly freezing weather.

3rd Inertia - Burnside High School's Alice and Lucy Foote on guitar and vocals, bassist Gabby Kerdemelidis and drummer Rosanne Burdett - stole the show with their mix of acoustic and rock songs.

Full winners list:

  • 1st: 3rd Inertia, Burnside High School
  • 2nd: Warble, Shirley Boys' High School and Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti
  • 3rd: Sand Fly Bay, Cashmere High School
  • Rockquest Promotions Best Song Award: The Unfaithful Ways
  • The Mainz Musicianship Award with the opportunity to be selected for the $4500 Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand Scholarship, announced at the national finals: Billy Mills, singer-guitarist, Galaxy Stampede, Burnside High School
  • Smokefree Women's Musicianship Award: Rosanne Burdett (3rd Inertia)
  • The APRA Lyric Writer’s Award judged from lyrics submitted at the heats: David Haslett, Burnside High School
  • The Smokefree People’s Choice Award voted by text message: Beneath the Silence, Kaiapoi High School, Cashmere High School and Rangioria High School
  • The Rockquest Promotions Best Song Award, winning $100 cash: The Unfaithful Ways, Christchurch Boys' High School
  • Check out www.smokefreerockquest.co.nz for more band info and pix.

Ms Burdett also won the Smokefree award for women’s musicianship.

Lucy said in a press release the band formed last year and has developed a range of musical styles that helped to impress the judges.

“We put in a lot of effort and practice and we had a good contrast between our two songs, with one of them acoustic and the other more a rock song,” she said.

Second place went to Warble from Shirley Boys' High School and Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti.

These two bands go on to compete for the six national finalist spots in September, and take home regional prizes of vouchers for musical gear from NZ Rockshops and their suppliers.

Burnside High School band Frankly Mauve were national finalists in 2007.

Inside the venue

DarkThe audiences’ bags were checked prior to admission as a security requirement and no allocated seats were given. A dramatic change in lighting caused temporary blindness as we entered the hall.
The room was pitch black with the exception of constantly radiating lights and four life-size glow sticks that were spread evenly across the stage. The colour of the glow sticks was often dependent on the band on stage, and occasionally they would flicker on and off in time to the beat of the music.

The floor, ordinarily filled with seats, was accompanied by a moderate-sized mosh pit of enthusiastic fans. This was surrounded by seats predominately taken by those who were older or those less energetic and present with the sole purpose and intention of soaking up the tunes. Proud parents and grandparents filled the stairways with video cameras recording their children and grandchildren performing on the big stage.

Helena Mcalpine, presenter of Special Features on C4, fed the crowd her humour and dished out freebies that included a number of T-shirts and key chains. The crowd could barely contain their enthusiasm and it was obvious that everyone was psyched to be there.

Three hours of bands

Smokfreerockquest logoThe Smokefreerockquest regional final lasted three hours and featured a total of fifteen bands representing various schools in Canterbury. Each band played a total of two songs and attempted to make their short time on stage memorable for the audience.
Custard Bear, the Boys’ High School band, lightened up the stage with a song comprised of humorous lyrics about milk, cows, and calcium. They seemed to enjoy themselves moving around freely up on the stage and shout three loud 'hellos' to the audience.

Beneath the Silence was a heavy metal band. The students from Kaiapoi and Cashmere High School played their song with all their might and the audience was immersed into their unique head banging, powerful and energetic style of music. One of the downfalls was the problem with the microphone during the performance.

Strategy proudly represented Chisnallwood Intermediate School. They were the youngest competitors to make it to the regional final. However they rocked the stage with the originality of a performance comparable to Broadway with the inclusion of a trumpet, saxophone, and jazz ensemble. The musicians were all in black with a dressy black hat.


The only solo performer of the evening was James Hart from St Andrew’s College. James walked onto the stage only with his long-time-friend, his guitar. As he started his first slow ballad, the audience did not waste another minute and raised their hands up in the air and started wave them to the beat.


Trigger Happy from Lincoln High School and Hagley Community College was an all-boy band with a mixture of hair styles; dreadlock to shaved head. They scared the audience with a scream at the start of their first song but soon eased off and revealed their true music; classic old school rock from the twentieth century. The crowd was cold at first however soon clapped their hands in the air to show support.

Burnside High School's Galaxy Stampede were dressed in metallic costumes - complete with shades, satin shirts, with bandanas in an attempt to make the 70s hip. They held hands with the audience.

Full winners list:

After the finals

Two finalists from Canterbury will go into a selection process based on 15-minute videos of the bands' original music. This whittles down regional finalists from around the country to the six that will go ahead to the national final. It will be held this year at the Christchurch Town Hall on Friday September 5, with a 20 year commemorative concert featuring past Smokefreerockquest successes the following night. 

Heats and finals will be held in 24 centres around New Zealand, and footage from several of these events will be filmed by C4.

National final in Christchurch

The national finals of Smokefreerockquest will be held this year at the Christchurch Town Hall on Friday September 5, and a celebration concert is planned for the following night featuring past Smokefreerockquest successes.

Prizes

At stake in this year's Smokefreerockquest is first prize of musical equipment from NZ Rockshop to the value of $10,000, and The Edge Airplay Award with NZ On Air where the winning band's music and video are recorded at York Street Studios with guaranteed airplay.

Other awards reinforce the key Smokefreerockquest aim of encouraging students to write and perform their own music. Individual prizes are awarded for best lyrics, women's musicianship and the best song.

A scholarship to the Tai Poutini contemporary music course is awarded for musicianship, along with selected bands being matched with past successes in a mentoring programme supported by the Music Industry Commission and the Ministry of Education.

More information is available from the official Smokefreerockquest website www.smokefreerockquest.co.nz