Carter Hoffman, 17, says he made the right decision to move to Taieri College because of its music programme.
After moving to the school in year 9, Carter formed a band with class mates Matthew Harding, Chicane Woodward and Flynn O’Connor, all 16, called Black Tomato Sauce.
This past weekend they won the Otago regional finals of the Smokefreerockquest.
"It was actually unbelievable.
"It’s something we’ve been working hard for for the last couple of years that we’ve been together so it was a sort of surreal experience," he said.
Carter said Black Tomato Sauce was named by an ex band member and the reason for it was unknown.
For the rockquest the band performed two original songs written by Carter.
"A lot of the time the songs I write, like the lyrics don’t have a deeper meaning but this time they did because there has been a lot of stuff that’s been happening in the family."
He said the songs were about the deaths of a couple of his family members and they evoked a strong emotional performance from him.
The band members were from all over Dunedin — Outram, Mosgiel and Brighton — and so having a great studio facility at school was helpful and gave them a place to meet.
Carter said his music teacher, Brad Martin had been very supportive of their band — giving them plenty of time to rehearse ahead of their performance.
The band was now going to record a video of them performing three songs to be submitted for stage three of the rockquest to be viewed, assessed and judged by a panel of industry professionals.
The top 30 bands from New Zealand would progress to stage four.
They had been taking part in the competition since year 7 and played indie folk music.
Next year, they are planning on studying music and marketing at the University of Otago and hopes to work in the music industry.
