The Wonder Cats have won the People’s Choice Award and the Fatboy Style Award at the Auckland Central Finals of the Smokefreerockquest, meaning they can now make a bid for the national finals.
On Saturday night at Auckland Girls Grammar, the band made up of MAGS students Denzel Kelemete, Billy McColl, Amitai Aharon and Viliami Toafa Moli along with Ethan Broughton (from Auckland Grammar) competed against 14 other acts.
They had seven minutes to do two songs maximum but decided to warm the crowd up with a funky James Brown-style intro to their indie rock song Running that segued into a jamming outro.
Billy and Denzel said they were blown away by the crowd’s enthusiastic reaction to their performance, especially as the band had only been together for six months.
Winning the People’s Choice Award, which is decided by text and online voting, means The Wonder Cats can now submit an entry for the National Final.
Denzel said this takes the form of a video of a live performance of four songs that is then judged. These entries from around the country are then whittled down to a Top 30 that is put in front of a judging panel that chooses nine bands and solo/duos to compete in the final.
The Top 30 should be announced at the end of July, with the date for the National Final yet to be announced.
Pictures courtesy of Smokefreerockquest
