Re question number 2:
Jimi this is not an attempt or an act to smash up their guitars. They would do that to create a sense of feedback only the likes of sonic youth i have seen could create. But in more recent shows they tamed that down.

re all your other questions jimi about the rockquest:

the rockquest is bullshit. It is a terrible thing to start competition and rival bullshit which is not needed in NZ. I think with the money they spend on that sham they could create a huge festival where only up and coming high school bands could play at.

1.) I hope so
2) // PRETEND to smash your instruments, apart from the rebuttal from the h, I'd have thought it was pretty obvious what they were doing. If they were trying to smash their equipment, I am sure an overhead swing the ground would have been more effective.
3) ha,ha...but i don't know if i could live without my alternate identity.
4) 90% of video grants it seems are for bands that don't need the money, but NZon air only fund a song they deem to be commercially viable kinda thing, and artists need to go through the "new recording grant" first, with the video grants, nz-onair kinda expect the artists label to match the money from nzonair as well.
5) generally, except maybe fro akl, since so many bands who are based in akl now, weren't actually from akl. ChCh, Wgtn, Hammy, Dunedin, Napier..while not all bands sound the same, if you hear an NZ band..sometimes you cxan make an educated guess as to where they are from.
6)
7)respect.
8)// school bands are crap. generally..yes, but thankfully the quest usually weeds out the terrible ones, The regionals are usually worth going to, if not depressing at seeing wasted talent, as bands prepare only for the quest and then give up when not getting past the regionals. I'll be there bro, with camera, so if your group of munters from nelson make it to the nationals, look for me and my mullet down in the press pit buddy.
9) Radio, i am loving it, except for the high rotate...what is it NZZM??. I mean i hear sometimes the same song twice in an hour. Shit that is AAAA rotate mofo.
10) oi!!!!! wazzzuppp, there can be only one blink. and I (goes red) have set up 4 accounts. 3 out of nessecity when i kept on forgetting passwords etc. and having deleted my originals. i still use one other of them on occasion, but 2 accounts of mine are just floating in cyberspace.

click on the link below to view stefan's elaborate ruse

[ http://www.blink.net.nz ]

Don't get me started on the rockquest. I remember my old school's contributions - mostly groups of three guys (guitar-bass-drums), tuneless 2-3 chord thrash with idiotic Nirvana-lite doddering as lyrics ("I hate the world, I hate my parents, I love you" etc, etc). Then again, a lot of the bands that play the Auckland Uni quad during lunchtimes aren't that much better.

[ external link ]

shihad have always been pretty honest in the past with winging away for ages then planning hell nz tours on the return home.

so it's no worries i reckon. (hope).

10) Well Jimi... sometimes I wonder if I'm the only person with only one account also. Guess thats 2 now. Oh, & Trixie.
9) Prob chat... if I can do both at once, then I will.

1) I know Shihad won't forget their origins (the new album's a fucking monster if you hadn't guessed already)

2) I thought that they were just trying to created some fuckedup sounds?

3) Who cares? As long as people keep on supporting nzmusic i don't think it matters.

4) I think that it should be spent on up and coming talent. If a label is behind a band it does kinda guarantee that nzonairs investment will be more comercially successful. Some of Salmonella's vids have cost up to $70g. not the good ones either. just thought I'd throw that in.

5)The radio won't work for me either. I don't know why.

6) I think that NZ is possibly too small to notice geographical differences.
Dub has taken off in Wellys though - due in part to Radio Actives regime. You are what you eat.

7)I've never heard anyone ever slag those two off. I think that it's more about the concept than the people who run it. Look at Big Day Out. How much credit do those organisers get?

8)I'm not too concerned about all age gigs. I used to put on a all ages gig every year back in my home town. Made a shit load of cash out of it too. it's not really that hard. rockquest is a good thing. i've just got sensitive ears. (my moneys on the lady bugs too!)

9)NZM Chat - I'd love it if my radio worked though.

10) I am nato. my parents call me nathan.

Jimi...
how'd the heats go, did your band kick ass?