Taste of rock star life for Mount band

Band Revolution Radio recorded a song at Roundhead Studios. Photo by Rebecca Mauger.

A band from Mount Maunganui Intermediate is the proud creator of their own professionally recorded cover single.

Revolution Radio spent a full day in the renowned recording hub Roundhead Studios in Auckland recording the Beatles' Come Together as part of their prize for winning the 2018 National Rockshop Bandquest Competition.

The six-strong band — comprising Finn Hughes (drums), Oscar Kelly (guitar), Pedro Mihailof-Townsend (bass), Ned Johnston (guitar), Katie Parkinson (keyboard) and Mairangi Te Ahuru Quinn (vocals) — beat 44 other schools as winners of the banquest competition in August.

They won a $3000 credit with The Rockshop and the opportunity to record at Roundhead Studios. The eight-hour recording took place in mid November.

Music teacher Christine Pearce describes it as an awesome day.

"Where do I start ... the atmosphere, the experience, the education, the excitement, the unknown, the proud parents, the environment, the performances, the runs and re-runs, the mixing ..."

The day began with a tour of the studios, set-up and soundcheck, performance followed by four hours of mixing.

Each member played their instrument again to enhance the sound.

Vocalist Mairangi was the last to add to the final performance, singing to the completed track and adding two harmonies to her melody.

"Throughout the whole process, everyone supported and encouraged each other,"
Christine says.

"I was immensely proud of how these young 12 and 13 year olds worked like professional musicians under the guidance of James their band tutor. There was lots of concentration, laughter and learning throughout this most memorable day."

Drummer Finn (who also plays in adult band Del Pacifico) says the experience was amazing.

"We learnt a lot about how long it takes to properly record and mix a single song. The engineers were very cool and treated us like professionals. The studio we were in had been recently used by Katy Perry and Pink. We also got to visit the main studio upstairs and play the instruments. The mixing desk was owned by The Who and they said it was worth $1 million!"

The band is grateful to Rockshop and bandquest for providing the experience.

Since the regional bandquest competition, Revolution Radio has played at ASB TECT arena in the lead-up to the AIMS games opening ceremony, the Arataki Community Fair seedling sale and is are due to perform at A Night before Christmas on December 22.