Current Ready, Set! line-up (left to right): Neve Kaptein - rhythm guitar, Tobais Grove – bass, (obscured) Nate Watson – drums, Luka Woods - lead vocals, Ethan Worthington - lead guitar. Photo / Micah Worthington.
He may have taken out last year’s Northland regional Smokefreerockquest final with his band, but, for Ethan Worthington entering as a solo artist this year, the nerves for tonight’s event are real.
The Yr 13 Whangārei Boys’ High School (WBHS) student is the lead guitarist of Ready, Set! which won the band category for the 2023 Northland school competition. But, with their bassist now at university, Worthington decided to give it a crack solo.
“In a band you can feed off the energy of everyone else together. You can hide but also perform as one unit and everyone’s got each other’s back but, in solo, it’s much different as you’re the only one up there so if you make a mistake, you can’t look dirty at your mates,” Worthington laughs, adding that he will be singing while playing guitar.
He debuted performing solo at the recent WBHS Puawai Festival which gave him a new appreciation of entertaining.
“I gave that a whirl and it was really just a whole new kettle of fish. It went well but it gave me a much greater respect of what our singer has to go through. I thought, ‘Damn, that’s pretty full-on!’”
Worthington’s interest in music was piqued at Whangārei Primary School when his music teacher introduced the class to the ukulele and “through his awesome teaching, I fell in love with music”.
From there, he developed his own taste in music - alternate rock - through listening to Radio Hauraki. “I owe a lot to coming home from school and listening to Hauraki on my little radio transmitter,” he says.
At Whangārei Intermediate, Worthington began guitar lessons and performing at school events, later incorporating the electric guitar. Then, at WBHS in Yr 10, he met drummer Nate Watson in music class and they banded together.
“We just had this musical bond. We could play together and it was tight without trying so we arranged a jam one day and it was my old electric guitar and his drum set in this crappy shed. It was heaps of fun and we were like, ‘Okay, we need a bassist now so we can enter Rockquest’.”
The following year, they found a bassist, followed by a singer and managed to “sew together this band to enter the Rockquest for the first time in 2022”.
The group made it to the finals and won the ZM Best Song award for the second song they had ever written together, before returning the following year to win the band category.
Though each band member has different preferred listening musical taste, they all gel with hard rock, indie, alternative, upbeat, energetic tunes and play a mix of covers and originals. Their process begins with Ethan and Nate writing chords, before singer Luka puts lyrics overtop, followed by the baseline and drums.
“Luka writes the lyrics and we help out sometimes with a few critiques here and there but he’s a really talented lyricist and it’s really deep and meaningful words. He’s got quite a good grasp of the English language in terms of writing stories.
“Everyone puts their part in and contributes to a greater cause.”
Ready, Set! has been through various changes with their line-up over the years and now includes two guitarists, a bassist, drummer and singer who unite on weekends for practices and gigs and opened for Sir Dave Dobbyn at this year’s Northland Fritter Festival. However, with the competition restricted to school students, the band were unable to enter this year so Worthington made the decision to enter solo under the name Cloud Refinery.
“They’ve [the band members] all been really supportive so I was quite relieved about that.”
Though he leans toward alternate rock, Worthington says he’s a combination of both his parents’ musical genre; his mum was a Guns N’ Roses fan in her youth and his dad prefers more “chill” singer/songwriter music.
“I’m not totally a head-banger, hard-core person because I also like the chill folky stuff.
“My parents are definitely fans and are very encouraging and I feel like when I’m in my room, they’re camping outside with a stethoscope trying to listen!”
He’s written a selection of his own songs and perfected a handful from which he was deciding the one that represented him the most to perform tonight.
Now in its 37th year, Smokefreerockquest is held nationwide allowing thousands of young musicians a stage to create, develop and thrive.
Participants, representing schools from across the region, have the opportunity to perform their original compositions on a professional stage with a full set-up including stage lighting, a live sound engineer, a projected backdrop, technical support, complete stage set-up and an MC.
Smokefreerockquest is run simultaneously with Smokefree Tangata Beats, which has a focus on the unique cultural identity of Aotearoa New Zealand and the South Pacific. This event follows a similar format, but with entrants in Smokefree Tangata Beats being tasked to explore and celebrate the ways in which identity and culture can be woven into the contemporary music they are writing.
This year demand is greater than ever from students taking part in Smokefreerockquest with around 70 per cent of New Zealand secondary schools participating and more than 3000 young people performing in 45 events across 21 regions.
The Northland event will determine the winning Smokefree Tangata Beats acts for the region; the Smokefreerockquest first and second place winners in the solo/duo category; and the Smokefreerockquest first, second and third place winners in the band category. Also awarded tonight will be the Musicianship Award, Smokefree Best Vocals Award, ZM Best
Song Award, APRA Lyric Award, and the Rockshop Electronic Assist Performance Award. The top two placing acts in each section in the region will be invited to submit a video submission for national finalist selection with the finals held in September.
General manager Matt Ealand says participating in the Smokefreerockquest and Smokefree Tangata Beats programmes has a positive impact far beyond the event day for all the young musicians.
“The young people performing on our stage are going through a really significant chapter of discovery in their lives, one that will play a big part in shaping their future.
“These programmes are an important stepping stone for many musicians, where they learn through experience what it means to produce their own original creations and see them through to the end. Their experience is much more than just the performance on the day.”
Says Worthington: “I’m pretty nervous, to be perfectly honest, but I’m excited for the Rockquest as it’s a really awesome event and it’s been a big stepping stone for us as a band so that’s cool to try it in a new form.
“With solo, I think I’m much more just trying to focus on my singing and playing the chords at the right time and not messing them up but in band it’s more relaxed and in the moment and you look around.
“Even I’m kind of interested to see which one I prefer but I think it’s band. I really love playing with my mates but it’s good to spice things up and I’m sure they’ll be there in the audience backing me up.”
The Northland event is at Forum North (expo hall) at 7pm. Tickets are $22 for adults and $15 for students (plus booking fee) via eventfinda or at the door on the night. Door sales close at 8pm, and are available via eftpos only.
The bands registered to perform are: Attention Span - Bream Bay College, Aurelia, Kerikeri High School, AWOL, Huanui College, Basement, Huanui College, DEEP SOUND, Otamatea High School, Mahurangi College Flash Apples,
Bay of Islands College Fork, Bream Bay College Intermission, Kerikeri High School Misconception, Kerikeri High School Moberf, Kerikeri High School, Te Kura Off The Hook, Bream Bay College Sticky Issue, Bream Bay College Tirotai , Whangārei Girls’ High School, Whangārei Boys High School, Huanui College TO BE ANNOUNCED , Albany Senior High School Home School,
Rodney College Visual Soup, Whangārei Boys’ High School The solo-duo registered to perform are: Cloud Refinery , Whangārei Boys’ High School Devil’s Work , Dargaville High School Jelsha, Tauraroa Area School Teah Hagen - Kerikeri High School Kosta Silich (Smokefree Tangata Beats) , Kerikeri High School Alofau (Smokefree Tangata Beats) - Whangārei Girls’ High School
The bands registered to perform are:
Attention Span - Bream Bay College
Aurelia - Kerikeri High School
AWOL - Huanui College Basement - Huanui College
DEEP SOUND - Otamatea High School, Mahurangi College
Flash Apples - Bay of Islands College
Fork - Bream Bay College
Intermission - Kerikeri High School
Misconception - Kerikeri High School
Moberf - Kerikeri High School,
Te Kura Off The Hook - Bream Bay College
Sticky Issue - Bream Bay College
Tirotai - Whangārei Girls’ High School,Whangārei Boys High School, Huanui College
TO BE ANNOUNCED - Albany Senior High School, Home School, Rodney College Visual Soup - Whangārei Boys’ High School
The solo-duo registered to perform are:
Cloud Refinery - Whangārei Boys’ High School
Devil’s Work - Dargaville High School
Jelsha - Tauraroa Area School
Teah Hagen - Kerikeri High School
Kosta Silich (Smokefree Tangata Beats) - Kerikeri High School
Alofau (Smokefree Tangata Beats) - Whangārei Girls’ High School
# Ready, Set! Will be performing at Springboard Youth Music at ONEONESIX, June 21, along with other up-and-coming young musicians.
Much of the South Island is set to plunge below 0C tonight and tomorrow.