An up-and-coming Auckland band got a backstage look into how showbiz works after they were invited to meet the cast of American Idiot the musical.
Smokefreerockquest national finalists Park Rd met the band from the musical on Thursday night, as well as staying to watch the Green Day themed musical.
"It was really inspiring to see how they did their music, and how together they were," bassist Carlos Martin told Newshub.
"Also it was cool to see that there's another side to being a musician, it doesn't have to be touring the world, there are a lot more options."
Martin said it was awesome for the band, consisting of Tom Chamberlain on vocals, Angus Hampton-Carr playing lead guitar, Leo Crawshaw-Bond on guitar and drummer Te Kapua Pene, to actually get some time to learn from the American Idiot cast.
He said the musicians backstage were friendly and showed the group how their instruments were set up.
The indie-pop band placed first in at the Smokefreerockquest Auckland Central regionals and came in the top 10 at the national finals after more than 800 entries in the competition.
The group are hoping to open for bands when they play in town and are currently recording an album.
"We're really keen to start playing like festivals, and to get a whole bunch more music out," Carlos said.
The band have proven popular to listeners so far, making big waves within the Kiwi scene. Their latest single 'Surfer Boy Paradise' has over 236,000 listens on Spotify.
Newshub.
