Top 5 Kiwi Bands Fight It Out for a Kickstart

February 28, 2007 Auckland, New Zealand

Media Release

Top 5 Kiwi Bands Fight It Out for Their Chance to Get a Kickstart With MTV

Auckland, 28 February 2007 – MTV NZ announced today the shortlist of five upand- coming local bands who’ll fight it out for a chance to ‘kick start’ their rock-star careers. The finalists are the DUKES, HAPPY PALACE, NYTMARE & BAND, THE HOT GRITS and THE MIDNIGHT YOUTH.

In just under three weeks, MTV received a phenomenal amount of entries into its ‘Kickstart Your Rock star Career’ competition, offering Kiwi bands a unique opportunity to launch into the music industry. The five finalists were selected by judges Damian Alexander from Blindspott; Mikey Havoc, 95BFM Breakfast Show Host; Stephen O’Hoy from Amplifier.co.nz; Groove Guide Editor, Kerryanne Brett and Stefan Chapman, MTV programmer.

The judges will select the winning band at a free, all ages, event featuring all five bands on Friday March 9, at The Studio, 340 Karangahape Rd, Auckland. To be on the guest list, the public simply need to register on-line at www.mtv.co.nz/kickstart The top band will literally get a ‘kick start’ in the music industry, including a professionally shot film clip produced by MTV, introduction to A&R executives and an all expenses paid trip to the Australia Video Music Awards.

The New Zealand winner will then go head-to-head in a Trans-Tasman showdown, against five Australian Kickstart winners from Victoria, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and Sydney. They’ll be competing to win the Grand Prize of NZ$20,000, a performance on MTV Networks Australia’s newest TV show ‘The Lair’, attend the 2007 MTV Australia Video Music Awards and have their film clip played during the Awards’ pre-show on April 29 in front of hundreds of industry executives, not to mention through all MTV territories with a potential audience of 1.8 billion people.

Each finalist will be posted on the MTV website where Kiwi’s can get behind their artist by voting online at mtvkickstart.com. The Kickstart grand champion will be announced on March 29.

To listen to the Top Five entries go to www.mtv.co.nz/kickstart

ENDS

About Dukes: The Dukes hail from the musical south of Christchurch. After releasing their debut LP 'Lil Sunshine' the boys toured extensively through NZ.

Creating interest from International artists such as Kelly Clarkson (before she cancelled!) getting invited by INXS to play support on their South Island leg of the NZ tour and invites to tour Canada, these boys are set to take the world stage. Described as a melodic, harmonic musical powerhouse of groove and catchy tunes, the Dukes are a 4 piece rock’n-rhytmn’n’ band of soulsters.

About Happy Palace: Happy Palace is a four piece originals band also from Christchurch and includes Al Beere (lead guitarist/vocals and song writer), Ruth Beere (keyboardist/vocalist/songwriter), Locky Samson (bass player/vocalist/PR man) and Matt Mulholland (drummer/vocalist/songwriter).

About Nytmare & Band: Nytmare aka Hera Tamati is a singer/rapper that has been recording and performing for the last three and a half years. Originally from the Waikato, she relocated to the Bay in 2002 to pursue her dreams of being an artist. After gigging here and abroad Nytmare went into the studio to start working on an album with Jayson Gardiner and UK producer Dj Eskay. What was produced was a mashed up multi genre influenced album that was a little tricky to perform live with out losing authenticity. So at the end of 2005 Hera decided to trade in her MPC and backing tracks for a live band in order to do the music justice

About The Hot Grits: The Hot Grits cover the stylistic ground between deep funk, soul and afrobeat. From Meters-style struts to superfast deep funk assaults to churning afrobeat soul. Overall The Hot Grits sound is funky and sweet, always energetic and never too smooth. The aim is to get people moving, and The Hot Grits definitely succeed at that. The Hot Grits are a powerhouse funk and afrobeat outfit, capable of creating havoc on any dancefloor. When The Hot Grits hit their stride, no-one in the room is immune from the power and sheer soulful funkiness of their groove. The band and audience become one in a giant, convulsing testament to the power of good funk music. Residencies at The Rising Sun, Galatos, Khuja Lounge, Rakinos, Crow Bar and Safari Lounge have built The Hot Grits’ reputation as an unmissable live act. As always, their aim remains simple: to bring great funk and afrobeat music to the people.

About The Midnight Youth: The Midnight Youth are the up-and-coming band in New Zealand right now. After placing second and winning the Best Song Award in the 2005 Smokefree Rockquest, the band has gone from strength-to-strength.

The Rock FM sponsored the band with their Rock Scholarship Award in August of 2006 before INXS personally selected the group to play with them in half of their shows on their 2006 'Switched-On' Tour. The band has also successfully released three singles to the NZ media and has enjoyed rave reviews.

About MTV New Zealand: MTV NZ is a 24-hour music and entertainment channel targeting 15 -29 year olds on SKY Digital channel 60. Visit www.mtv.co.nz for more details.

About MTV Networks International includes the premier multimedia entertainment brands MTV: Music Television, VH1, Nickelodeon, TMF (The Music Factory), VIVA, Paramount Comedy and Game One seen in 420 million households in 164 countries and 18 languages via 104 locally programmed and operated TV channels and 90 Web sites. The company's diverse holdings also include interests in television syndication, digital media, publishing, home video, radio, recorded music, licensing & merchandising and two feature film divisions, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. MTV Networks is a unit of Viacom International Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B).

About Amplifier.co.nz: Amplifier is the home of New Zealand music. They're the only place you'll ever need to go to learn about NZ music, catch up on New Zealand music news, listen to your favourite kiwi musicians, watch NZ music videos and purchase CDs and legal MP3 music downloads by kiwi artists.

Amplifier.co.nz started in 1999 and is the longest running legal music download site in New Zealand. Some of the artists that have been with them since the early days include Scribe, P-Money, Fat Freddy's Drop, Goodnight Nurse, Fast Crew, Goldenhorse, Steriogram and The Datsuns. Amplifier.co.nz is also a member of Independent Music New Zealand, an organisation dedicated to representing the indie record labels of NZ.

About Groove Guide: Groove Guide is, and has been for 3 years, New Zealand's most comprehensive and readily accessible music and entertainment street press.

A whopping 10,000 are printed and distributed throughout the country every single week. Served up hot in every issue you'll find music reviews and interviews with local and international acts, the week's best album releases, live gig photos, competitions and giveaways, a massive tours & events section and of course the best damn nationwide gig guide you'll find anywhere! The Groove Guide provides direct and credible communication with an audience renowned for its cynicism, yet voracious in its consumption of media which speaks its own language, providing up-to-date, vital lifestyle information and content, in a distinctly New Zealand voice. A concise (but highly charged and dedicated) team assemble what some may claim to be a small miracle each week, from the central Auckland offices of Real Groovy Records.

About 95bFM: In 1969 when students did crazy stuff, radio Bosom was born as a capping stunt. It was set up in a boat – which ran aground somewhere in Auckland's Waitemata harbour – and broadcast illegally on speakers around the Auckland University student union. Over the next few decades the Bosom morphed into the mighty 95bFM, a sizzling casserole of New Zealand music, news and views. 95bFM has independent news and interviews, weekdays on the Wire at midday. This is brought to you, the people, by volunteer staff who research the news and ask the questions that cut through the rhetoric. What you get is information you won't hear anywhere else, delivered in a style that doesn't patronise. 95bFM offers listeners a shelter from the harshness of mainstream (crap) radio. The ads are fuckin' funny and the attitude is real. It's the voice of the little guy or gal and the loudhailer of people who simply love good music.

Give it a go. And not just once.

ENDS

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