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Smokfreerockquest logoRegional finalists announced

Twenty-eight bands have been selected to contest the Canterbury regional heats of the Smokefreerockquest after heats at the University of Canterbury Ballroom.

Smokefreerockquest director Pete Rainey says the competition was inspirational for young musicians.

Regional final

8pm on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 June, tickets are $20 (includes both nights) from Christchurch Rock Shop or $20 at the door.

Prizes

There is an impressive prize list for the national winners that includes 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, and a promotional package from myspace.com.

More information is available from the official Smokefreerockquest website.

“This event really gives some kids hope – it might be someone who’s doing badly in all his classes and doesn’t like sport; perhaps all that kid has ever wanted to do is play drums,” Rainey said. “We come along and say ‘that’s fantastic, here’s an audience, let’s go’ - that can be life-changing.”

The Canterbury regional final will be held over two nights at the Bedford Bar at 8pm on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 June, tickets are $20 (includes both nights) from Christchurch Rock Shop or $20 at the door.

Two regional finals

Smokefreerockquest director Pete Rainey says holding two regional finals in Christchurch reflects more accurately on the number of bands entering: “It increases the opportunities for the Canterbury participants to experience playing off at the regional finals and getting into the national finals.”

Smokefreerockquest is 21 years old and Rainey says its enduring appeal is the irrepressible desire of young people to perform their own music to their peers:

Kids have been forming bands forever but it still takes guts to get out of your garage and go onstage to play your own songs,” he says. “Every year Smokefreerockquest offers this opportunity in halls and theatres in towns from Invercargill to Whangarei. That means the contest airs around 1500 new Kiwi songs each year - it’s original music that makes this event stand out.

Entries were called for from all secondary and intermediate schools in April, and this year have reached 658 and are still coming in.

Regional finals line-up

Friday, 19 June
vinyl 68 St Thomas of Canterbury College
5thDayOfMay Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti & Avonside Girls' High School
Bandname! Linwood College
Beyond Rage Heaton Normal Intermediate
Endemic Burnside High School
Fliss and Jess Rangiora New Life School
Forget Gravity Papanui High School
Insight Burnside High School
Rectophagia Shirley Boys' High School & Papanui High School
Revelry Riccarton High School & Burnside High School
Skatelly Kat Gang St Andrew's College
The Blitz St Bedes College
The Young Souls Burnside High School
Touch My Crotchet St Bedes College

Saturday, 20 June
Brendon Peters Christchurch Boys' High School
Custard Bear Christchurch Boys' High School
Funks Fault Riccarton High School
We The Night Sky! St Andrew's College & Papanui High School
Guerilla Circus Christ's College & Cashmere High School
In The Process Cashmere High School & Lincoln High School
Madeleine Williams Mairehau High School
Plague Of The Fallen Shirley Boys' High School & Hagley Community College
Messing With Sasquatch Christchurch Boys' High School & Linwood College
Midnight in Motion Lincoln High School
Pandora Falls St Bedes College & Shirley Boys' High School
The Cold Front Rangiora High School & Hagley Community College
Sand Fly Bay Cashmere High School
The Poster Society Shirley Boys' High School

After the heats

The 14 bands selected from the heats will go through to the Canterbury regional final. The final is held over two nights at the Bedford Bar, at 8pm, on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 June, tickets are $20 (covers both nights) from Christchurch Rock Shop or $20 at the door. Guest bands still to be confirmed. At the regional final bands win musical gear from NZ Rockshops and their suppliers, starting with a $500 spend for the winning band.

Over the winter, heats and finals will be held in 26 centres around New Zealand, with filming at several of these events for music and youth culture television channel C4. The film crew will be at the Canterbury regional final.

The national final of Smokefreerockquest is at Auckland’s Power Station on Saturday 19 September, start time 8pm.

May 2009