Bella Bavin (Coast Arcade)

Where are you from?

I am from a suburb in Tāmaki Makaurau called Glendowie. I've lived here my whole life and have been very lucky to grow up in such a cool part of the city.

Was there music around you when you were growing up / how?

My parents aren't musicians but have always been super into music, so we've always had music playing around the house My dad has super eclectic music taste so I was always encouraged to play and listen to music and to develop my own taste.

When did you start making music? 

I started playing guitar when I was 7 and at about 10, I got into my first band at primary school. From there, that was it. I started singing when I was about 14/15 when the singer in my band left and there weren't any other options for singers at school, so I had to learn to sing. And yeah, that was that.

How has the music you make changed over time?

I think as you grow, you're exposed to so many new influences at such a fast rate that the music you create is always going to change. So the music I make has just changed with what I listen to and with preference, also just with growth, maturity and knowledge. I think the music that I make now is what I'll be making for quite a long time to come. Both of my projects are definitely rooted in guitar based Indie rock, Australian rock, but each project has different elements and different things I like to combine to get the sound that I create.

You participated in Smokefreerockquest... how was that experience for you? 

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a huge advocate for Smoke Free RockQuest and Banquest. It's how I started. And without it, I definitely wouldn't be doing music the way I'm doing music now. I met so many people and made so many friends. It showed me that there's a side to the industry that I didn't even know about. It gave me the tools to make connections, which have all led me to where I am in the music industry at the moment.

Do you have any advice for this years participants, or young musicians in general?

 I think the biggest thing about the smokefree rockquest competitions is going on stage and putting out something that reflects you or the band. Don't try and be anyone else or sound like someone else. People always say that it's not about winning and when I was younger I definitely struggled with that concept because I'm a little bit competitive. But looking back, it's true, because I never won a Smokefree Rockquest. I won a couple of regional finals, we got to the national final. But the opportunities I got out of it and the connections I made were far more valuable than winning. So just enjoy it and use it as an opportunity to meet as many people as possible.

You have played on some major stages and had some great media coverage of projects you've been involved in... is there any part of your musical journey that stands out as particularly special / a favourite moment?

 I think it was the moment where we were no longer being booked or treated as a high school band. And there's nothing wrong with being a high school band. We loved it. And in a lot of ways, we're still a high school band because our drummer in Coast Arcade has only just left high school. But when we started getting booked for big festivals and opening slots and building a really good base of listeners. It just showed us that we could do it and that we the work that we'd put in and some of the stuff that we'd worked through was worth it to be where we are now. Over summer we played on the mainstage at Rhythm and Vines, which was crazy and a real full circle experience for us. 

When you're writing, what do you start with? 

It depends on who I'm writing for and the mood I'm in, But I always start with the guitar because that's my main instrument and all of my music is guitar based. I'll come up with a full song instrumentlly before putting any words to it. Or sometimes I have a specific word, phrase or melody that I want to use and incorporate somewhere.

What is your process from beginning to end? How do you choose what songs to release?

Honestly, there's not a whole thought process that we go through. If we like a song, usually we try and play it live quite a few times before recording it because often that changes things. For us, we're a live band. That's the most important part of music for us, we love playing live and so all of the music has to hit really well live for us to release it. After playing it live, we know how fans respond to certain parts of the music and whether there's anything that needs to be changed in the songs. From there, we'll jump in the studio. I do all the writing and the producing, so we'll jump in with an audio engineer usually at big fan studios because we love those guys. The process is fully independent for us and we release using DRM for distribution. All the PR, promo, release schedule, art etc. is usually done by us unless we have funding.

What are two things you have learnt along your journey, that you would tell yourself if you could go back in time?

Just to enjoy the process. I'm someone who achieves something and then moves on to the next thing straight away. So take some time to look back at what you've achieved and take a minute to feel proud of yourself, even if it's just 30 seconds. I need to remember to tell myself that I'm doing a good job and there's no timeline for success. I still have a really long way to go and I'm working harder every day to achieve my dream. But trust the process and know that if you're working hard and you're putting everything into it, then there's not much more you can do other than continuing to do the mahi!

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