Whaingaroa Talent Factory, the joint project between Raglan Community Radio, Raglan Community House and CSR Studios supporting youth, has announced their showcase event will be held on Friday 14th October at the Town Hall from 6pm. Five rangatahi live acts are lined up and having completed their mentor sessions earlier this week, the performers are raring to go!
Read the profiles of the performers below:
D Minor is Josh Alexander on vocals and guitars, Sam Madsen and Waiariki Tepania on guitar, Travis Carsten on bass and Hendrix Knox on drums (yes he was named after Jimmy). They’re aged between 13 – 16 and have been playing together for about 6 months.
They all have very different tastes in music ranging from Death Metal through the Ramones, to the Police. This made it hard to agree on songs to play but they’ll be performing covers by the Gorillaz and Nirvana on the night. Josh, who the band agrees is the most natural rock star of the five promises an epic show while others were promising an “ear bleeding experience” – although the WTF sound guy Nicky Keys might get the final say on that.
Wiremu is a Hiphop artist who creates his own tracks and you can check out his first one, Way I Walk on Spotify right now. He likes to rap about personal experiences and for his message to be truthful. Wirmeu is 16 years old and is currently working so he can save up for music equipment. He’s inspired by Hiphop artists, Aaron May and J Cole as well as local acts Muroki and Reiki Ruawai. Seen performing at parties around Raglan this will be Wiremu’s first performance on the big stage
Luna Petzold de la Cruz
Although only 14 Luna is a veteran of the Whaingaroa Talent Factory having performed at the inaugural event 2 years. She says it was an incredible experience where she learned a lot about performing and is much more confident about playing her music because of it. Luna is inspired by chill pop and singer songwriter music.
Abstract Fish Lung are performing two original songs and while they share Travis, Josh and Waiariki from D Minor they also have Lily Lye adding some extra flavour on drums.
Lily says she draws inspiration from lots of different drummers, with Meg White from White Stripes, one of the few female drummers in rock music, definitely being one of them.
They’re performing two original songs; Reality Streams, written during lockdown last year, and Misery which started out with Josh jamming at home and writing some lyrics before the band got together to develop a track that had the WTF mentors praising the complexity of the music.
The band has been together for just under a year and cite Nirvana and Rage Against the Machine as influences.
Luna and Stella
Stella is aged 15 and has been singing with Luna since they were 8 and 9 years old. They’ve been singing at community gatherings and parties but this is their first time together on the big stage. Recently Stella has also been busking and performing solo and both of them are keen to jump on any opportunities the universe might bring their way including WTF22.
Don’t miss the live performances from these up and coming young performers. Whaingaroa Talent Factory LIVE showcase this Friday, October 14, from 6pm at the Town Hall – koha entry.
