Newdegate Machinery Field Days: Hale boarders reign supreme at Battle of the Bands

Six rock ‘n’roll-loving Hale School boarders led by a farm kid from Mingenew have taken out the second annual Newdegate Battle of the Bands. The Senior Boarders Band powered through two sets of hard-hitting tunes by The Living End, Incubus, Kings of Leon and Thirsty Merc to claim victory over four other acts from Albany Senior High School and Hale. The winners took home a first prize package of $500 to be shared among the band members, while the school received a $700 donation to its music department. Frontman Ryan Obst has been singing in the band since 2020 and said the battle was above all an opportunity to perform. “We do get to perform quite a bit, but we always get excited whenever there’s a chance,” he said. “We didn’t really think that we were going to win, so we were pretty thrilled about that.” While lead guitarist Jack Johnson grew up in Houston, Texas, the rest of the line-up that performed on the day hail from farming towns across WA’s Wheatbelt. Rhythm guitarist Adam Jespersen is from Yealering, drummer Shaun Robinson hails from Wongan Hills, bassist Caden Ward comes from Lime Lake and keyboardist Jordan Petchell is from Dowerin. Ryan’s family grow canola, wheat and lupins and run a few hundred Dorper breeding ewes at their 6000ha farm. He plans to study communications and media at Notre Dame after graduating Year 12 later this year, but said music was his passion. “Certainly everyone in the band likes their rock, and rock’s good fun to play, it’s not as difficult, and the crowd loves it,” he said. “I’ve been singing for seven or eight years. I was introduced to it at my old school, Geraldton Grammar.” Ryan said he was impressed with the other bands in the competition. So too was competition co-ordinator Holly McDonald, who launched the inaugural event at last year’s Newdegate Machinery Field Days. “They were all brilliant; it was so close,” she said. “They all performed once but because they were so nervous at the start, when they saw the other schools compete, they all said they wanted to get back and have another go. “Then they got back on stage and they smashed it. They were all so talented so it was a really impressive competition.” Ms McDonald, who was one of four judges, said choosing a winner was no easy task. “I think what put the Senior Boarders Band above the others was that they were definitely a little bit older and had fine-tuned their skills a bit more,” she said. “The runner up was an Albany Senior High School band called The Bad Apple. “They came out of nowhere and were obviously super nervous during the first round, but when they got back on stage and did their last set, they were just brilliant. They really owned it.” The second prize winners took home $250 to be shared among them, with a further $250 donation to the school music department. This year’s event was sponsored by Moylan Grain Silos to the amount of $3000 and was held undercover in the CSBP Community Food Court tent, which proved fortunate as cold September winds battered the showground on Wednesday. “The acoustics were probably a bit rattly, which was the only issue that we have picked up on this year,” Ms McDonald said. “I’m definitely hoping to do it again next year and as we’re trialling it we’re just going to keep ironing out those speed bumps.” Each participating school received a $250 fuel voucher from Newdegate Stock and Trading and every participating student received a free show bag.