24 May 2024 - 0 Comments

Undiscovered teenage musical talents hunted out in Waikato have combined forces to record an album.

Logan Nathan, founder of Waikato Rocks, is in his third year of developing and producing The Tunes of Waikato, a yearly released album containing 12 tracks.

The tunes feature genres such as indie, pop, and rock-and-roll. The artists are as young as 16 - some would have been 15 when selected.

After their successful auditions, they were mentored over the 12 months before the album release. “So much talent,” Nathan said.

“Sometimes when people try to write a song, you can kind of hear that it just sounds like an already existing song. You will never say that for any of these guys.”

Artists this year are from Cambridge, Hamilton, Raglan, and the Hauraki Plains. They include solo artists Summer Jane, Anna Olivia, and Jacob King, and bands Sure Brake, Pineja, and The Interns.

Nathan is feeling pretty impressed.

“Jacob King, he’s 16. And his voice, man, it just blew my mind. He has great potential I think. And Summer Jane, she’s fantastic.”

This is the third year of Tunes of Waikato. It started in 2021, after Nathan surveyed how much hidden music there was in the district.

“We surveyed 300 people in Waikato. More than 100 people said they write their own songs and perform them,” he said.

“It’s really sad to see so many talented musicians and no one’s picked them up.”

Image: Teenage band Pineja rocking out in Auckland last year.
Article written for the Waikato Times by Sarah Morcom.

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