As the opening act at Selwyn Sounds, the band made up of high school students will hit the stage at Lincoln Domain at 11am on March 4.
The band members are excited and honoured to be opening Selwyn Sounds, which will also feature Blam Blam Blam, Sir Dave Dobbyn, Mi-Sex, Hoodoo Gurus, Gin Wigmore and Stellar*.
“It means a lot to us. It is great to have this opportunity to play in front of such a big crowd at such a big festival – it is so exciting,” said guitarist Reuben Anderson, 17.
When the four-piece band were known as The Jehts, they won the Canterbury heat of Smokefree Rockquest in front of a crowd of about 500, earning them a place at last year’s national final where they came third.
But Zephyr lead singer Cleo Cavell, 16, said Selwyn Sounds will be a big step up.
“It is a big privilege and great to experience what is going to be a good time. It’s a bit nerve-wracking to be honest, we’ve seen the set lists of all the bands. It’s us then all these Kiwi legends really, so it is a bit nerve-racking to know these people are listening to us from back stage, waiting to go on.”
Anderson said sharing the stage with musicians who have decades of experience in the industry will be both “exciting” and scary.
“A lot of these people have been in the music industry for 20 to 40 years. It’s intimidating but also very exciting to be able to get that sort of exposure,” Anderson said.
After the Rockquest, the group decided to change their name to Zephyr. Bass player Scarlett Robson, 17, said the members were never really happy with the old moniker: “We wanted to freshen our image,” she said.
The Rockquest focuses on songwriting and musicianship, which prompted them to write three original songs – The Relay, She Ain’t Got No Shame and Someplace New.
Said Anderson: “The way we’ve written our originals is that I’d come up with some sort of riff or idea then I’d take it to the band and collectively we’d all work on that riff and create different sections and Cleo would add lyrics and vocal melodies and we’d all work together on structure from the original idea.”
The members agree on their style of music – and have similar musical influences.
“Led Zeppelin, we really dig The Doors and Jimi Hendrix as well. Just that classic 70s psychedelic rock,” Anderson said.
He has been playing guitar for two years and was influenced by some of the great rock guitarists.
“I just fell in love with that sort of guitar work. You know, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan – all these amazing guitar legends, their music was so interesting.”
Zephyr are under the wing of Selwyn Sounds director David Parlane. Cavell said Parlane’s industry contacts have come in handy. “It came about through a family friend, Debbie Haywood. She talked to (Parlane) and said we were a young rock group that were trying to promote ourselves and he was looking for a group to work with so we met through that.”
Cavell was the last to join the band. “Thankfully we all just ended up liking the same music, we never have to argue about what style of music we play,” she said.
Robson has been playing bass for four years. “For a few years before we started the band, we all separately had an interest in the same music. We just came together and it worked out well that we loved to play it as well,” she said.
The band has started playing at The Bower bar in Christchurch every Sunday afternoon for 12 weeks, which means they need to increase their repertoire of cover songs.
Robson said: “At the moment we’re learning a lot of covers to do at gigs, including Selwyn Sounds, but we’d like to focus on making our own originals outside of Rockquest and expanding our own discography.”
- Zephyr will hit the stage at 11am at Lincoln Domain on March 4. For more information, visit selwynsounds.co.nz
