Rockquest
Encyclopedia
Smokefreerockquest is an annual music competition for intermediate and high school bands throughout New Zealand
.
The first Rockquest was held in 1988, and was organised by Christchurch
radio station C93FM
as a local event. The following year, school teachers Glenn Common and Pete Rainey formed Rockquest Promotions and by 1990 had made Rockquest a national event, with five regional finals and a national final. In 1991, Smokefree became a major sponsor, and the name became the Smokefreerockquest.
Initially the bands played covers, but very early in the evolution of the event (and running parallel with the evolution of music in New Zealand) there was a shift to original music. Glenn Common and Pete Rainey now run Rockquest Promotions full time out of Nelson.
Smokefreerockquest is New Zealand’s only nationwide, live, all original, youth music event. Now into its third decade, the series of 28 events from Invercargill to Whangarei, reaches audience numbers in excess of 24,000 every year. Its aim is to motivate young musicians to prove their ability and realise the heights they can reach in their music careers, and to encourage their peers to support 100% original New Zealand music.
Musical successes from Smokefreerockquest over its 23-year history include Midnight Youth
, Opshop
, Evermore
, Ladyhawke
, Minuit, Kids of 88
, Die!Die!Die!, Pistol Youth
, Bang!Bang!Eche!, Ivy Lies
, Cairo Knife Fight, Cut Off Your Hands
, Luke Thompson, the Datsuns
, Zed
, Brooke Fraser
, Anika Moa
, Anna Coddington
, The Electric Confectionaires
, Steriogram
, Aaradhna
, Spacifix
, Phoenix Foundation
, The Feelers
, The Black Seeds
, Nesian Mystik
, Bic Runga
, The Checks
, Julia Deans, Pine, King Kapisi
, Kingston
, The Naked and Famous
, Autozamm
and Elemeno P
.
Lyric Award, the Lowdown Best Song Award and the Smokefree Women’s Musicianship Award.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
The first Rockquest was held in 1988, and was organised by Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
radio station C93FM
C93FM
C93FM was a New Zealand radio station based in Christchurch.C93FM broadcast on 92.9 FM and, after it merged with Radio Avon, also broadcast on 1260 AM. C93FM has had several music formats during its time on the air...
as a local event. The following year, school teachers Glenn Common and Pete Rainey formed Rockquest Promotions and by 1990 had made Rockquest a national event, with five regional finals and a national final. In 1991, Smokefree became a major sponsor, and the name became the Smokefreerockquest.
Initially the bands played covers, but very early in the evolution of the event (and running parallel with the evolution of music in New Zealand) there was a shift to original music. Glenn Common and Pete Rainey now run Rockquest Promotions full time out of Nelson.
Smokefreerockquest is New Zealand’s only nationwide, live, all original, youth music event. Now into its third decade, the series of 28 events from Invercargill to Whangarei, reaches audience numbers in excess of 24,000 every year. Its aim is to motivate young musicians to prove their ability and realise the heights they can reach in their music careers, and to encourage their peers to support 100% original New Zealand music.
Musical successes from Smokefreerockquest over its 23-year history include Midnight Youth
Midnight Youth
Midnight Youth are a New Zealand rock band formed in 2006. Their debut album, The Brave Don't Run, was released in 2009 in New Zealand and Australia. The band have subsequently toured and played festivals across Australasia, the United States and Asia...
, Opshop
Opshop
Opshop is a New Zealand rock band formed in 2002. Their first album, You Are Here was released in 2004. Their second album, Second Hand Planet was released in 2007 and received Triple Platinum certification. It produced the successful single, One Day...
, Evermore
Evermore
Evermore are a band originally from Feilding, New Zealand, now based in Melbourne, Australia. The band consists of the Hume brothers – Jon , Peter and Dann...
, Ladyhawke
Ladyhawke
Ladyhawke is a 1985 fantasy film directed by Richard Donner, starring Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer. The film marked the second 20th Century Fox film to be co-produced and co-released by Warner Bros.. The first was The Towering Inferno; this time Warner got the U.S...
, Minuit, Kids of 88
Kids of 88
Kids of 88 is New Zealand New Wave music duo based in Auckland City, New Zealand, consisting of Jordan Arts and Sam McCarthy. They are best known for their 2009 single, "My House"...
, Die!Die!Die!, Pistol Youth
Pistol Youth
Pistol Youth is a long distance Indie Brit Rock band formed in 2007 by Steriogram lead singer Brad Carter.-History:Pistol Youth was formed in 2007 by Steriogram frontman Brad Carter who admired the conception of Ben Gibbard’s The Postal Service so much it inspired him to start his own long distance...
, Bang!Bang!Eche!, Ivy Lies
Ivy Lies
-Singles:-Band members:*Emla Palmer - lead vocals, rhythm guitar *Lisa Blatchford - bass guitar, backing vocals *Rosie O'Connell - drums...
, Cairo Knife Fight, Cut Off Your Hands
Cut Off Your Hands
Cut Off Your Hands are an indie pop band from New Zealand influenced largely by post punk and indie pop groups such as The Smiths, Gang of Four, Orange Juice, Talking Heads, as well as NZ post-punk of The Mint Chicks and This Night Creeps...
, Luke Thompson, the Datsuns
The Datsuns
The Datsuns are a hard rock band from Cambridge, New Zealand, formed in 2000. To date they have released four albums and several singles, most of which have charted in New Zealand and/or the United Kingdom...
, Zed
Zed (band)
Zed were a New Zealand pop/rock four-piece band formed in 1998.-History:Originally formed while still students at Christchurch's Cashmere High School, Zed is the dream child of Nathan King, Ben Campbell and Adrian Palmer, along with manager Ray Columbus.King felt the band needed a second guitarist...
, Brooke Fraser
Brooke Fraser
Brooke Gabrielle Fraser Ligertwood, better known as Brooke Fraser is a New Zealand award-winning folk-pop and Christian music artist...
, Anika Moa
Anika Moa
Anika Rose Moa is a New Zealand pop recording artist. In 2001 she signed to Atlantic Records in the United States and released her debut album, Thinking Room, the album reached the top of the New Zealand Singles Chart and was a commercial success.Moa was raised in Christchurch, New Zealand...
, Anna Coddington
Anna Coddington
Anna Coddington is a New Zealand singer-songwriter.. She has released two albums: "The Lake" in 2008 and "Cat & Bird" in Feb 2011. Her previous band 'Duchess', for whom Coddington was songwriter, singer and guitarist, also released a 6 track EP in 2005....
, The Electric Confectionaires
The Electric Confectionaires
The Electric Confectionaires were a four-piece musical group from Auckland, New Zealand. Their music is a diverse fusion of styles ranging from rock to garage, blues, surf and jazz. The band formed in 2005 at Takapuna Grammar School where original members Jaisi Sheehan, Haddon Smith, Rob Fenton,...
, Steriogram
Steriogram
Steriogram is a rock band that formed in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1999. Their 2004 song "Walkie Talkie Man" was used in an advertisement for the iPod and a number of films and video games.-Formation and first album, 1999–2005:...
, Aaradhna
Aaradhna
Aaradhna Jayantilal Patel , better known by her stage name Aaradhna, is a New Zealand-award winning, R&B/pop recording artist, writer and record producer, signed under the music label Dawn Raid Entertainment...
, Spacifix
Spacifix
Spacifix is a New Zealand Funk/Soul/Blues/R&B and Reggae boy group from West Auckland, New Zealand. They formed in April 2003 with the view of entering the Smoke Free Pacifika Beats national competition. Aged between 13 and 18 years they won the competition first time up...
, Phoenix Foundation
Phoenix Foundation
The Phoenix Foundation is a libertarian foundation that has supported numerous attempts which at times have been violent to create independent enclaves based on libertarian principles and tax havens. The foundation was a started by Nevada based real estate millionaire Michael Oliver, his friend...
, The Feelers
The Feelers
The Feelers are a New Zealand rock band formed in the early 1990s in Christchurch by James Reid , Matthew Thomas and Hamish Gee .-History:...
, The Black Seeds
The Black Seeds
The Black Seeds are a musical group from Wellington, New Zealand. Their music is a fusion of dub, funk, afrobeat and soul.The Black Seeds have two double-platinum selling albums at home, and successful European album releases through the German-based Sonar Kollektiv label...
, Nesian Mystik
Nesian Mystik
Nesian Mystik was a New Zealand Hip-Hop/R&B group formed in 1999. Their cultural backgrounds unite a remarkable diversity of Polynesia by bringing together Cook Island, Tongan, Samoan and Maori ancestry...
, Bic Runga
Bic Runga
Briolette Kah Bic Runga MNZM is a New Zealand pop recording artist whose first solo album, Drive, debuted at number one on the New Zealand RIANZ charts. She has since become one of the highest-selling New Zealand artists in recent history...
, The Checks
The Checks (band)
The Checks are a New Zealand rock band formed in 2002 that are well known for their brand of blues-driven and high-energy rock, similar to contemporaries such as The Hives and fellow New Zealanders The Datsuns, and are at the forefront of the North Shore/Devonport sound, along with Brain Slaves,...
, Julia Deans, Pine, King Kapisi
King Kapisi
King Kapisi is a New Zealand Hip hop recording artist. He was the first Hip hop artist in New Zealand to receive the prestigious Silver Scroll Award at the APRA Awards for Songwriter of the Year for his single Reverse Resistance in 1999, which followed on the popular release of his debut single...
, Kingston
Kingston (band)
-Early Beginnings:Dan Gibson and Scott Cleary attended the same high school and wrote songs together as teens. Dan met Shohan Hustwick at a youth camp in 2005 and invited her to practice as they wanted to form a band...
, The Naked and Famous
The Naked and Famous
-Studio albums:-EPs:-Singles:-B-sides:-Music videos:-In popular culture:"All of This" was featured in the fourth episode of The Secret Circle....
, Autozamm
Autozamm
- As For Now :-Singles:-References:*****-External links:**...
and Elemeno P
Elemeno P
Elemeno P is a New Zealand rock band. The band's first album, Love & Disrespect was released on 4 July 2003, and reached number one on the RIANZ albums chart. Their second album, Trouble in Paradise was released on 24 November 2005 and includes the singles 11:57, Burn, One Left Standing and You Are...
.
Past winners
- 1989 - Outer ControlOpshopOpshop is a New Zealand rock band formed in 2002. Their first album, You Are Here was released in 2004. Their second album, Second Hand Planet was released in 2007 and received Triple Platinum certification. It produced the successful single, One Day...
- 1990 - De Funk ExpressOpshopOpshop is a New Zealand rock band formed in 2002. Their first album, You Are Here was released in 2004. Their second album, Second Hand Planet was released in 2007 and received Triple Platinum certification. It produced the successful single, One Day...
- 1991 - Auntie BeatriceKora (band)Kora is a New Zealand five-piece music group, which consists of four brothers from the Kora family. The band, which originally began in Whakatane, New Zealand fuses elements of reggae, rock, dub, roots, funk, and more recently space funk and dub step elements.-Early years: 1991–2002:Kora brothers...
- 1992 - Exploding Poppies
- 1993 - Halucian
- 1994 - Kate and the Lemon Tree
- 1995 - Dancing Azians
- 1996 - Mary Staple
- 1997 - Atlas Woods
- 1998 - Handsome GeoffreyAnna CoddingtonAnna Coddington is a New Zealand singer-songwriter.. She has released two albums: "The Lake" in 2008 and "Cat & Bird" in Feb 2011. Her previous band 'Duchess', for whom Coddington was songwriter, singer and guitarist, also released a 6 track EP in 2005....
- 1999 - Son of Spank
- 2000 - Evermore
- 2001 - Carriage H
- 2002 - The Have
- 2003 - Falter
- 2004 - IncursaKids of 88Kids of 88 is New Zealand New Wave music duo based in Auckland City, New Zealand, consisting of Jordan Arts and Sam McCarthy. They are best known for their 2009 single, "My House"...
- 2005 - The Electric ConfectionairesThe Electric ConfectionairesThe Electric Confectionaires were a four-piece musical group from Auckland, New Zealand. Their music is a diverse fusion of styles ranging from rock to garage, blues, surf and jazz. The band formed in 2005 at Takapuna Grammar School where original members Jaisi Sheehan, Haddon Smith, Rob Fenton,...
- 2006 - Neil Robinson
- 2007 - SolomonSolomon (band)Solomon is a New Zealand band, who in 2007 were crowned the overall winners of the Smokefreerockquest. Along with this, they took home the award for best song for Grand Vocation....
- 2008 - Beneath the Silence
- 2009 - Jesse Sheehan
- 2010 - The Good Fun
Prize package
The top regional bands go on to the national final to be held at Claudelands Arena in Hamilton on 17 September 2011. The prize package includes a NZ On Air new recording and music video grant worth $10,000, a place on the NZ On Air Kiwi Hit Disc, musical gear worth $10,000 from NZ Rockshops, recording time at York St Studio, radio promotional support for a single, the Edge airplay award, and video play on youth music channel FOUR. There is also the Mainz Scholarship for outstanding musicianship, the ApraAPRA
APRA or Apra may refer to:* American Popular Revolutionary Alliance , a Peruvian political party* Australasian Performing Right Association, a copyright collecting society...
Lyric Award, the Lowdown Best Song Award and the Smokefree Women’s Musicianship Award.