Three years of practising has paid off for three Taupo teens whose indie-pop band A Bit Nigel took top honours at this year's Smokefree Rockquest finals.
The band was formed in 2010 by Hamish Nixon (lead vocals, guitar and synth) and Sam Marshall (vocals, bass, synth) from Taupo-nui-a-Tia College, and Manawa Veitayaki (drums and backing vocals) who commutes home from Rotorua Boys High School for band practice most weekends.
Saturday night's final at Epsom Girls Grammar was the fourth year the 17-year-old, Year 13 students had entered the competition, the third they had made it to the finals and the first time they had won a prize.
"After years of trying to crack it we finally have, it's definitely worth the practices," Nixon said.
"It was quite overwhelming - from two years of being in the national finals and walking away with nothing and then going on to win it ... we didn't really know how to react."
