Northland artists continue standout year with NZ Music Awards nominations

Far North soul singer Teeks is up for three awards in the New Zealand Music Awards.

Two Northland acts are in the running for major honours after being named as finalists in the 2017 Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards.

Soulful Far North singer Teeks leads the way from the North with three nominations in the prestigious awards.

Teeks, (real name Te Karehana Gardiner-Toi), whose deep, soulful voice belies his 23 years, is a finalist in the Breakthrough Artist of the Year; Best Soul/RnB Artist and Te Mangai Paho Best Maori Artist categories.

Joining him as a finalist in the Te Mangai Paho Best Maori Artist category is Waipu teen thrash metal band Alien Weaponry. The nominations follow a stand out year for both.

Teeks and Alien Weaponry were both nominated in the prestigious Silver Scroll awards, with Alien Weaponry taking out the Maioha Award, which recognises exceptional waiata featuring te reo Maori, for their heavy metal anthem Raupatu. The song raises awareness of land confiscations by the colonial government.

The teen rockers - Henry de Jong, 17, drums, brother Lewis, 15, guitar/vocals and Ethan Trembath, 15, bass - recently signed a three-year management contract to break them in Europe and are about to put the finishing touches to their debut album before heading to Europe.

Teeks' EP, The Grapefruit Skies, released earlier this year, debuted at number 10 on the NZ Official Top 40 chart and has been garnering him the kind of reviews reserved for a singer with far more experience.

Teeks will also perform live at the awards ceremony in Auckland on November 16. The event will be screened live on television on Three.

Elsewhere in the NZ Music Awards, Onehunga hip hop crew SWIDT led the finalists with six nods across the awards, followed closely by two New Zealand songstresses making headlines across the globe - Lorde and Aldous Harding.