Rockingham Regional Song Contest returns for second year to prove WA live music scene more than just covers

The Rockingham Regional Song Contest is back for its second year to prove WA’s live music scene can be more than “cover central”.

The contest has grown this year to allow musicians from the wider Brand electorate to enter and 21 artists have put forward 67 entries for categories such as song of the year, best back catalogue original song, most creative cover, best instrumental and best music video.

Event manager Arthur Galletly said there had been entries “from Wandi to Waroona”.

“The whole purpose is to try and get people to play original music,” he said.

“All the bands you see in pubs are playing covers. What I’m trying to do is encourage bands to start having one or two original songs on their setlist.”

He hopes it will also open the minds of audiences to hearing original songs from top local artists.

One of last year’s winners, Billy Neal, said winning over locals as a WA musician remained a big challenge.

He is a saxophonist who has developed a big following in Poland and Chicago.

“It’s always easier to be from somewhere else,” he said.

“In Europe, I was this weird Australian bloke who appeared in Poland and suddenly got really famous.

“We get a lot of bands coming from over east to play at events like Bridgetown Blues. And if you play at Bridgetown Blues and you’re from here, which I’ve done, it’s just a weird thing. People want you to be from somewhere else.”

He agreed the WA live music scene was dominated by covers.

“WA is cover central, it’s been like that for as long as I can remember … it’s a historical problem,” he said.

“It’s hard as a band to go out and play originals because the people who book you want to get everybody up dancing straight away. And they’re not going to do that if they don’t know you.”

Neal praised the Rockingham Regional Song Contest for giving local artists an opportunity to play their own music.

“I’m playing much more originals locally because of the competition,” he said.

“Arthur’s doing a brilliant job.”

This year’s winners will be announced at an awards night at the VAT 116 bar on December 2, where music lovers will also be able to check out a sample of the best tracks played in a video presentation.

Six of the nine judges for this year’s awards are also judges for the WA Music Competition.

There’s also a chance for a local music lover to win $250.

People can enter by picking their best three songs in each of the five categories, with the winner the person who picks the results closest to the judges’ decisions. Voting via the Rockingham Regional Song Contest website closes November 24.