Frankly Mauve Win Canterbury Regional Smokefree Rockquest Final
26th May 2007 (c/o Matt Davey, The Press)



Frankly Mauve from Burnside High School won the Canterbury Regional Smokefree Rockquest Final at the Christchurch Town Hall on Friday night. For some young bands this is where it all starts – the high school rock competition or, as it's known in New Zealand, the Smokefree Rockquest. While some winners disappear from view almost as quickly as their success is trumpeted by the nation's music media, others, such as Anika Moa, The Have, the Black Seeds and The Datsuns, have gone far, having spent their early years battling it out in band competitions. This year's regional final in the Christchurch Town Hall was enjoyable because of the high standard of entrants and the huge variety of acts.

Styles ranged from the blistering metal of Beneath the Silence to the bouncy ska of Waskabi, the emo punk of Sweet Animosity, and the acoustic singer songwriter fare of Sami Blakelock. Several bands were fearlessly uncompromising – We Will Fight, for example, chose just one long, sonic piece to play in front of the judges. Death metallers Plague of the Fallen were a vicious, uncompromising sonic assault.

Also impressive were all-girl rockers 3rd Inertia, passionate Pearl Jam style rock group Something Contagious and melodic, 60s inspired rockers Much Too Much. The huge range of sounds was apparent. Bang! Bang! Eche!, for example, gave the impression that they had been listening to their parents' B-52s albums along with contemporary electro punk, while Kaiapoi High School's Minerva took out the unofficial biggest and wildest mosh pit award.

The loudest cheer during the final roll call of acts was for Frankly Mauve, from Burnside High School. Thankfully, the judges, who had been scoring the groups on things such as uniqueness, presentation, energy, creativity and musicianship, agreed that Frankly Mauve were the best on show. Singer Ollie Sewell has a fine voice and the group's melodicism, lyrics and focus on song writing (rather than just energy and performance) were superb. Their songs were the simply entitled Hey! with its classic 60s pop feel, and The Flower Night, which was marked by clever changes of pace and rhythm. Let's hope they go on to better things – the national final in Auckland on October 20 awaits them.

In second place was We Will Fight You, an Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti/Shirley Boys combination, followed by Something Contagious made up of students from Burnside, St Thomas's College and Riccarton High Schools. Best women's musicianship went to 3rd Inertia, best song to Sami Blakelock and best lyrics to Waskabi. A people's choice award went to Plague of the Fallen.

Here is a slide show of the night.

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