It took me another six or seven years before I was in a band of my own, but for a group of eight girls in Year 8 at the school, they are living the rock and roll lifestyle now.
They’re calling themselves Socially Awkward and they’ve already made a name for themselves as an 80s loving, exceptionally talented band. They performed in BandQuest, which is the intermediate version of the high school competition RockQuest. Ponsonby Intermediate had three bands in the competition and Socially Awkward came second in the Auckland heats.
In the music room at Ponsonby Intermediate, I sat down with the band and their mentor Joe Lonie, the former bassist from Supergroove.
The band are: Georgia, Mila, Elliott, Imogen, Hattie, Charlie, Isobel and Tabitha.
Elliott started at the beginning, “One lunch time we were just singing some a capella, and joking around, and I said, oh my God guys we should do this for talent quest. Everyone said no. Then Imogen said, we could start a band! Then we all started ‘bagsing’ instruments. That lunchtime we came to the music room and started jamming out.”
The most surprising thing was that only a couple of the girls had played instruments before this year, a testament to the determination and skills of them and their teachers.
“I didn’t play guitar beforehand, I just sang,” said Mila, who is the exuberant and energetic front woman, and has since picked up the rhythm guitar duties.
Georgia, “I’ve played guitar since Year 3,” This shows as she blazes out all the guitar solos, of which every song has to have at least one.
Imogen had started bass at the beginning of the year, with teacher Joe Lonie, and Elliott’s brother played drums, so it was a logical instrument for her to start on. Hattie had never sung before and Charlie and Isobel hadn’t played much keyboard until joining
the band.
Socially Awkward are playing songs by The Cure, David Bowie, Prince, and their influences are widespread but Joe plays a part in the
song selection.
“He helps us find all the songs we want to learn,” Georgia says.
“We’ve done The Cure, Bangles, a Pink song that didn’t work out. The ones that have stuck, we have loved,” says Mila.
“We also, or Joe did, found this really cool song by The Primitives called Crash,” Georgia says.
Joe pipes up from the back of the class where he’s fastidiously tuning all the guitars ready for their practice. “I try to pick songs that will be fun for everybody, but they’re also pretty good musicians you know, so I want to take that into it also. I try to pick songs that will show off some of their musicianship, but you can’t always please everybody all the time. They’re songs that feature everybody in different ways and challenge them.”
“We’re learning In the Air Tonight [Phil Collins],” Mila says. “Which will be exciting for Elliott. Every song needs a guitar solo for Georgia.”
“They’re writing a really good original song,” Joe prompts them.
It started with Imogen, “I came up with this really random bass line. We took it from there. I had a lesson with Joe and he figured out the guitar chords.”
Elliott chimed in that she sometimes writes songs when she goes to sleep at night, and they all quickly and excitedly recounted the rap they’d written, and the lyrics they’d started for this song.
“Imogen and I got together and had a lesson with Joe, and we wrote up the chords and we wrote down some lyrics that stuck and we’ve just been evolving from the chorus,” Mila explained.
The band are practising every Tuesday after school with Joe. Joe works with each of them on their parts, as well as their stage presence - although it was clear the girls had very strong ideas of how to present themselves! It certainly seems to be working.
“It’s not just playing, it’s the whole package. Not that they need that much help with band dynamics. They’ve got a great attitude and are very supportive of each other. Once we get the music down we think about how we could make it more entertaining for the audience.”
They all universally loved BandQuest, and found the experience exhilarating. “I loved the feeling when they called our name out,” Mila says.
Singer Hattie says: “When they said Ponsonby Intermediate, we all thought it was one of the other bands, and we all looked at each other, and then you can see in the video all of us bobbing up and down with excitement.”
Having played at the school Talent Quest and BandQuest, they are on the hunt now for more shows. They’d be the perfect fit for Christmas or birthday parties, and it’s all about experience now, getting on stage and trying out their songs and seeing how they’re received.
If you think you’ve got an opportunity for them, please get in touch and I'll pass you along! (FINN MCLENNAN-ELLIOTT)