Sharing love of music in schools and festivals

MUSIC MAN: The Band School holiday programme performance with Ricky Boyd in the centre. Back: Roman Benson, Auric Pocock, Cody Dyer, Dylan Dyer, Ricky Boyd, Ruby Williams, Tui Cave, Thora Pocock. FRONT: Erica Butt, Kate Roche.

Born in Christchurch, Ricky attended Oaklands Primary and Hillmorton High both in south Christchurch before attending Christchurch Jazz School and then Massey Jazz School in Wellington, where he finished a music degree in percussion/drums.

He then attended teachers college at Victoria University, before working on the television show ‘What Now?' in Wellington, while he transitioned to drum teaching.

Moving to Gisborne, with partner Erica Starnes and children Cornelia (12) and Clem (10) he set up The Band School, a music school based at Gisborne Intermediate.

“The school's a lot of fun. Seeing tamariki grow and develop is a constant source of justification and job satisfaction,” he said.

“We're always looking at ways to improve the school, so that keeps up the creative mind too.”

The Band School has been going for 10 years now.

Ricky has played in many bands, toured nationwide with the Zed, worked in studios, made videos and released albums. He even drummed for The Royal New Zealand Ballet.

His band, Ricky Boyd and the Boomshack, played with many iconic musicians.

“I put my 14-piece band together to perform 19 songs with the First Lady of Rock'n'roll (literally) Wanda Jackson in 2010. She was dating Elvis in the 50s and was the darling of country music, before succumbing to Elvis's pressure to try the Rockabilly style.

“She was really cool, and told us stories all night about touring with Elvis, when she wasn't hanging with the fans. It was a real challenge as we didn't get to fully rehearse the songs with her beforehand.

“Being the musical director was the most nervous I've ever been, but her compliments to the band (Ricky Boyd and the Boomshack Band) saying we were the best pickup band she'd played with, and our guitarist equal to Scotty Moore (Elvis's guitarist) were definitely highlights.”

Ricky is also deep in the planning stages to put on another Beer Festival in Gisborne.

He said he decided to put on a festival for the first time in 2019 after watching the rest of New Zealand move forward and grow into craft beer fanatics.

“When I moved here there was very little on offer, and I thought I could help introduce the amazing flavours to the region.

“The first and the loudest was 2019. It was just as much a concert with famous bands as it was a beer festival.

“It is progressing a lot each time, as we're now moving into entertainment-based fun, such as buskers, performers, belly dancers, magicians, as well as bands. We've gone for three smaller sessions as opposed to a big event, as we're keen to refine the festival.”

He has had to overcome the inevitable challenges faced by all large events in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“There were lots of delays, and calendar changes. It was hard as all the other beer festivals around Aotearoa had to shift around.

“All of a sudden you had three festivals on the same weekend, and the same the next. We still prefer Easter but that passed us this year with RnV announcing they were planning for Easter too. We are a small boutique festival, and can't compete with the big festivals.”

Not content with his busy workload he still finds time for his children and their activities.

“I'm in several bands still, play weekly football when I'm not injured, and I'm into making beer.”