The University of Otago Student Union Hall will once again be the venue where dreams are either made or, in many cases, rudely interrupted.
Smokefree Rockquest director Glenn Common says the event gives school bands a realistic taste of live performance in a formula that will be duplicated in 24 other regional centres around New Zealand during the winter months.
"This year I've noticed that we are getting representation from almost all schools in many areas, and the teachers are coming along to support their students and often to assess their performance for NCEA."
He says even for bands that don't win on the night, they still win in the long term.
Acts playing in the final are: Crawling Jelly! (Bayfield); Fun Time? (Kavanagh); Hazel Dawson (Logan Park); Seaton (Taieri College); Angela from the Shrubbery (South Otago High); Redemption (South Otago High); Kane Strang (Bayfield); Before The Storm (Kavanagh); Dr Elongationist (Logan Park); Champayne (Taieri College); Scout (St Hilda's); Triggered (John McGlashan); Sewage (Logan Park); Sounds of the Womb (Logan Park).
The bands and solo acts are competing for more than $1100 woth of music equipment from a music retail chain and more.
The Otago Smokefree Rockquest regional final gets under way in the University of Otago Union Hall at 7 o'clock tonight.
Two finalists and the People's Choice winner from Otago will go into a selection process, based on submitting a DVD, and from each regional final three bands go into the selection pool for the national final in Hamilton.
In August, the eight bands or soloists that have made it to the national final will be announced.
At the national final, prizes add up to a big helping hand into the music industry, including a NZ On Air new recording and music video grant worth $10,000, musical gear to the value of $10,000 from NZ Rockshops, recording time at Auckland's York St Studio, radio promotional support for a single, the Edge airplay award and much more.
Also up for grabs are a Mainz scholarship for outstanding musicianship, the Apra Lyric Award and the Smokefree Women's Musicianship Award.
• More info
On the web: www.sfrq.co.nz
• See it:
Otago Regional Smokefree Rockquest final, tonight, University of Otago Union Hall.
