Local band makes top 12

Bare Knuckled, a combined Katikati and Rutherford colleges band, was one of the 12 top bands named after Sunday’s heats at the Bay of Plenty Smokefreerockquest. They will play off for the top two places and other awards at the Bay of Plenty final on Friday, June 30. A song inspired by a girl on a bus won the solo-duo title for Fletcher Oxford, 16 from Tauranga Boys’ College. The winner of Smokefree Pacifica Beats was reggae-soul band, Te Urewera from TKKM o Huiarau.