Whangārei band’s first gig raised money for Brain Injury Association

Whangārei band Basement performing at 116 in the city in a fundraising concert for Brain Injury Association Northland.

When a childhood friend of Huanui College student Alex Horwood received a serious brain injury, he was determined to do what he could to help his friend and his family and raise awareness about brain injuries and the effect they could have.

Last week, Alex and his bandmates presented Brain Injury Association Northland (BIA) with $200 they made from playing their first gig.

Alex’s friend Sam was injured in a car crash on New Year’s Eve in Rangiora, where the driver died. Alex’s family and Sam’s had been close for years and Alex visited Sam in hospital after the crash, his father Rich Horwood said.

The Huanui College student had recently formed a band, Basement, with college mates Amy Wallace, Rohit Rajaraman, Kate Bradley and Junghyun Lim, and last month they played their first gig at 116 in Whangārei to a packed house, with all profits going to BIA.

BIA Northland liaison officer Vikki Herdman said she was blown away by the generosity of the young musicians and their efforts in organising the gig.

Herdman said BIA struggles for funding so any amount helps, and the efforts of Basement were outstanding. She was presented with the money at Huanui College earlier this month and also gave students a talk about brain injuries. She also let the students use the ‘concussion goggles’, which give an experience of what the world looks like when one is concussed.

Rich Horwood said all the band members are in Year 12 at Huanui College, and the reason BIA was chosen was down to Alex having a great friend from primary and intermediate school who was involved in a terrible crash last New Year’s Eve in Canterbury.

“Sam ended up in ICU in Christchurch for 17 days and a [spent] further 23 days on the ward before being transferred to ABI Rehabilitation in West Auckland for his rehab. He finally went home in May, but has been left with front temporal lobe injury,” Rich Horwood said.

Basement hand over $200 they raised to Brain Injury Association Northland liaison officer Vikki Herdman at Huanui College. (From left): Amy Wallace, Rohit Rajaraman, Alex Horwood, Herdman, Kate Bradley and Junghyun Lim.

“During the time he was in ABI, we went down to visit him. He was 15 at the time and his mum was flying up and down from Christchurch every weekend, funded by ACC as she couldn’t get time off work to stay with him. However, his brother only managed to come up every third week as there was no funding for him. It was this fact that triggered Alex into wanting to do something to help out.”

He said while the money they raised is not a lot in the big scheme of things, it’s something the young musicians felt was a worthy cause.

Basement did not tell people the gig was a fundraiser, and Rich Horwood said all 100-plus tickets sold out, which was an amazing effort in itself for their first concert.

He said Alex was affected by Sam’s situation, with the lad lucky to be alive after the accident.

“There [were] four of them [in the car], but Sam was thrown well-clear. When the emergency services got there, they did not know about Sam until one of the other three regained consciousness and started asking where Sam was. It was only then they realised there was another person involved, and luckily, they then found him and he was airlifted to hospital.”

Rich Horwood and the bandmates’ parents were all proud of their efforts in supporting a worthy charity and raising awareness about brain injuries.

■ The name Basement comes from where they practice - in the basement at Rajaraman’s home.