We will rock you

HIGH HOPS FOR SUCCESS: Gisborne band The Rabbits are among 31 entries in the Smokefreerockquest East Coast heats which start at 4pm tomorrow at the War Memorial Theatre. Picture supplied

With 15 acts out of 31 entries in the East Coast heats of the annual Smokefreerockquest, Gisborne Girls’ High School dominates the field in numbers but the top 12 bands selected by the judges is anyone’s guess.

Held at the War Memorial Theatre tomorrow at 4pm, the heats include imaginatively-named acts such as IIminster Intermediate’s Spikey Pineapples, Girls’ High’s Shaggy Hates Figs, Gisborne Boys’ High School’s Worn Out Guitar Strings, Kaiti School’s KYT Sisters, and Tolaga Bay Area School’s Low Key Vibe.

Taking centre stage will also be the East Coast solo/duo and Smokefree Tangata Beats performers. Regional heats serve as finals for these categories and the winner will be announced during this event.

Bands and solo/duos will perform one song and judges will select the regional winning solo/duo acts, along with the top 12 bands. The winning solo/duos will be invited to enter a video submission for national top 30 selection, and the top 12 bands will perform again at the regional final.

The top two winning bands, along with the People’s Choice winner, join the region’s top two solo/duos to enter a video submission for national top 30 selection.

The ZM People’s Choice winner gets the chance, alongside the first and second place solo/duo and band winners, to submit a video for national finalist selection.

Voting for each region starts on the Thursday morning after the heats. To vote, supporters need to text the name of their chosen act with no capitals, no gaps and no characters or numbers to 3196 (for example Red Wav would be sent as redwav, or Arlo Mac would be sent as arlomac).

Only one vote per cellphone number is counted, and texts cost 20 cents.

The regional final will be held at the Lawson Field Theatre, July 2.