Our school band ‘The Mondays’ got a great taste of what it means to compete at the famous Wellington Rockquest. 10JF's Hazel Don walks us through the experience.

The Mondays consist of five Year 10 students - Layla Martin-Smith (vocals), Henry Tegg (lead guitar), James Tilley (rhythm guitar), Rory Braddock (bass), Hazel Don (drums) and Year 9 Saul McCawe (keyboard/synths).

We arrived at school on Saturday morning for a final run through of our original song "Freedom", before departing for Sacred Heart College, where the competition was being held. 

We signed in at the desk and entered our lyrics into the lyric competition. Rockquest was pretty long. We sat around watching the other acts for about an hour and a half until it was our turn to perform, and then we got called up to warm up/tune up in the green room before going onstage. 

It was super bright on stage so we couldn't see the audience. The MC talked to our vocalist and then we were ready to perform! Our drummer counted off and we started playing.

Although we did not make it to finals, the experience was awesome and we all had a great time. The Mondays are currently working on writing new music and playing covers, and we plan to release our song “Freedom” later in the year.