Bohally bands strike the right note at Bandquest

Two Bohally Intermediate musicians picked up major individual honours at the Rockshop Bandquest regional event, capping off an unforgettable experience for the school’s young performers.

Bohally Intermediate entered two bands in the competition, with seven students in each group. Among the highlights were individual awards for bassist Beau Terpstra and keyboardist Leslie Liu.

Beau, from Permission Slip, received the Rock-solid Bassist Award, while Leslie, from Minor Problems, won the Outstanding Keyboardist Award.

Teacher Sorayah Lindstrom says the bands were formed at the start of the year, with students auditioning for places before beginning regular sessions run by Six Strings Music Academy.

“It was an amazing experience, they were like ‘wow’ once we got there,” Sorayah says. “They did a sound check, practice under lights then we all went out for dinner together before going back and performing. They even had their own wee mosh pit.”

She says seeing the students’ smiling faces on stage made “all the extra work worth it”.

“They were pretty hyped up, it would have taken them a while to go to bed that night.”

The bands performed songs by Miley Cyrus, Olivia Dean and Walk the Moon.

The Rockshop Bandquest regional event was held at Nelson’s Theatre Royal last Thursday and Friday, bringing together young musicians from across the upper South Island. The event featured 24 primary and intermediate school acts performing in front of whānau, friends and music lovers. Bohally was the only Marlborough school involved.

JINX from Nelson Prep won the first day while Rocksical from Waimea Intermediate won the second day.