Northland regional Smokefreerockquest winners announced

No Vacancy from Kerikeri High School is up for semi-finalist selection in this year's Smokefreerockquest. Photo / supplied

Budding Northland musicians are a step closer to winning a major national music competition after the regional results were announced on Friday.

Inaudible from Rodney College took out first place at this year's Northland regional Smokefreerockquest final.

Inaudible - Mitchell Jones on guitar, Jake Stokes on bass and Jett Mckelvie on drums - are now up for semi-finalist selection in Smokefreerockquest, an annual music competition for New Zealand intermediate and high school bands.

Second place in the band category went to No Vacancy from Kerikeri High School.

They join solo-duo winners Easy Beanz (Justin Soulsby and Lukas Macdonald) from Kamo High School and Dillon Worsfold from Whangārei Boys' High School.

The musicians will now get re-judged with the aim of making the top 30 semifinalist selection.

The top 30 will play off at one of three semifinals held in different centres around the country in late August.

Judge Isaac McFarlane said the winning band had "good energy on stage from the start, and good interactions between each other during the song".

"They were clearly feeling the song."

Another judge, Nat Hutton, said No Vacancy's songs were "super creative".

"Great guitar riffs and melodic motifs throughout...overall, a super captivating performance."

Rockquest Promotions general manager Matt Ealand said running the programme this year feels "hugely significant".

Inaudible from Rodney College - Mitchell Jones on guitar, Jake Stokes on bass and Jett Mckelvie on drums - won this year's Northland regional Smokefreerockquest final. Photo / Josh Burns

"This year we really feel how much living through the pandemic has affected our rangatahi," Ealand said.

"Not only in Smokefreerockquest but across all our programmes, we are seeing themes of mental health, connection through social media, and also just Covid in general pop up again and again.

"Having this creative outlet is just so important.

"It's fantastic seeing how resilient these young people are if they have a space to express themselves."

Smokefreerockquest, powered by Rockshop, has national winners' prize packages for bands and solo/duo winners that includes $22,000 in Rockshop vouchers, $16,000 NZ On Air recording, video and promo package, a photo shoot and branding package from Imaginary Friends.

There is also the Musicianship Award, the APRA (Australasian Performing Right Association) Lyric Award, Rockshop Electronic Performance Award, ZM Best Song Award, and Vocals Award.

Musical successes from Smokefreerockquest include The Black Seeds, Bic Runga, Broods, Marlon Williams, Aldous Harding, Nadia Reid, Evermore, Ladyhawke, Drax Project, Six60 and Opshop.

The full list of awards:
* Band 1: Inaudible, Rodney College
* Band 2: No Vacancy, Kerikeri High School
* Band 3: How Profound, Christian Renewal School
* Solo/Duo 1: Easy Beanz, Kamo High School
* Solo/Duo 2: Dillon Worsfold, Whangārei Boys' High School
* Rockshop Electronic Performance: Eazy Beanz, Kamo High School
* Best Vocals: Kohatu Donovan of Men In Boots, Dargaville High School
* Musicianship (jointly awarded): Braedyn Erdos (bass) of Max Weight Capacity, Bream Bay College and Te Kauri Kingi (drums) of The Secrets, Kerikeri High School
* ZM Best Song: Ready, set!, Whangarei Boys' High School (2nd song)
* APRA Lyric Writers' Award: "Boar with a Knife" by Ani Palmer, of Moberf, Kerikeri High School