At the end of Lent term students from St Benedict’s School in Ealing competed in RockFest in Hastings, part of the Hastings Musical Festival. The school entered two bands: ‘The Others’, a Year 10 five piece band which has been together for the last two years and the ‘Jazz Monkeys’ a four-piece jazz band specialising in covers of jazz classics.
The run-away winners on the night were ‘The Others’ who performed three original compositions, ‘Skinhead’, ‘Cheerio’ and ‘Riff Machine’. The judges presented Tom Mythen with the award for best Rhythm Guitarist and Ollie Walsh with the best Front Man. The band was further rewarded with the prize for the best original composition for ‘Cheerio’ and declared overall winners.
The judges praised the ‘Jazz Monkeys’ for their Mod jackets, smooth style and tight ensemble playing. Sam Lubkowski was praised for his vocal technique in the Bowie classic ‘Life on Mars’ and Finn Hobson won the best bassist award for his fluent and lyrical improvisations.
‘Hastings Musical Festival offers senior school students an excellent opportunity to perform in a much larger venue, the White Rock Theatre, and gain feedback from professional judges. The performance of the St Benedict’s musicians was outstanding and I would like to congratulate all the boys for their hard work,’ said Monica Esslin-Peard from the Music Department. ‘We’ll be back in 2017 with more bands.’
