Rocking to a national final

Alternative, old rock band from Trafalgar High School “The Leftovers” has won the senior section of Rockfest.

The Leftovers include students lead singer Ishy Lewis, drummer and backing vocalist Grady Ruiter, keyboard player Seth Benson and base guitarist Josh Geiberras.

Originally named the “The Arrival,” the phrase “The Leftovers” popped up after one of their singers left the group.

Whilst lead singer, Ishy, is the main songwriter of the band, the boys said they produced songs by “playing around with riffs and sounds and then bringing it together.”

Pouring hours during and after school into their work, they have written almost 20 original songs and plan to soon release an album of five songs.

An example of their work includes (moulding) together two songs, ‘Sticky Tape’ and ‘One in a million’, as they each hold similar keys which makes an interesting combination.

“We love how unique it is and the crowd at Rockfest loved it as well. It was probably their favourite performance,” Grady said.

In addition to this, they occasionally perform covers. The Leftovers also talked about the influence that rock bands such as The Police and Metallica as well as pianist Lionel Yu have on their music and style.

Though one of their biggest achievements so far is gigging at Cranbourne Music and performing next to a range of experienced musicians, their win at Rockfest comes close to being another great accomplishment as a band.

Rockfest is an Australian band competition for students across the country to get the opportunity to play for their school.

Throughout the heats, students are given a set time to play as much content as they can.

“This includes talking to the people, performing and transitioning between songs. We were able to perform five songs.”

The boys also explained how they need to keep the audience engaged while they are performing as it “revs the crowd and gets the judges to feel the energy.”

Ishy also competed in the solo/duo acoustic section with fellow student Patty McInnes. They drew for first place.

In September, The Leftovers and Ishy and Patty will perform at Rockfest’s National titles.

Ishy Lewis (right) had a good day out with two wins at Rockfest last week as lead singer of the band The Leftovers and teaming up with Patty McInnes (left) to win the solo/duo acoustic section.