Queenstown band Estrogen reach their pinnacle tomorrow when they open for the annual Gibbston Valley Winery Summer Concert.
It’s not only the almost-all-girl Wakatipu High band’s biggest gig but also their last for a while with two members, Queenstowner Ruby Ross, and Arrowtowner Emily Johnston, both 18, heading to university this year.
They’re leaving behind lead guitarist Mya Wilcox, 16, who’ll be in Year 13 this year.
Mya, who started the band with two other girls during her first year at Wakatipu High, says ‘‘we were originally called The Four Roses, and then when [bass guitarist] Emily came along she was kind of like, ‘we’re changing the name’’’.
Emily: ‘‘I was kind of like, ‘girl band, what’s something cool you could call a girl band? Estrogen, boom!’’’
Emily joined in 2021, as did lead singer Ruby.
Mya says school head of music Alison Price has been a big help.
‘‘She helped us out so much, especially when we were struggling to find a bassist and she helped find Emily.’’
She also brought in other music teachers to help them, Emily says.
Ruby also pays credit to her singing teachers — Sue Patterson, originally, and then Margaret O’Hanlon through her high school years.
The girls are also grateful to the performance opportunities the RockFormation Charitable Trust’s provided them.
This trust and the Whakatipu Youth Trust also organise the annual Central Sound Wave comp for Queenstown and Central Otago students.
For the past two years, Estrogen’s taken out performance awards which landed them New Year’s Eve gigs in Queenstown’s Earnslaw Park.
Ruby says they were also tapped for the Gibbston gig after the last comp in November.
The girls originally also had a female drummer, however when she left Harper Souness stepped up last year then, when he left, Martin Roy Guy took over.
‘‘He’s amazing, he’s been so helpful working with us,’’ Mya says.
For their latest New Year’s Eve gig the band decided to play the same set they’re playing on Saturday, concentrating on all-female classic rock from the likes of Joan Jett, Alanis Morisette and Blondie.
Ruby: ‘‘Joan Jett’s like the queen of rock ‘n’ roll, she really sets the bar for people like us to do it.
‘‘When we perform we do the songs that make us feel good so, literally, just by doing that our music’s going to be better than if we were asked to do something.’’
Emily says ‘‘we have a couple of our own songs we haven’t been able to record yet, it is a goal still’’.
Though the band’s going in to what they call a hiatus, Mya says ‘‘we all have such a connection since we’ve met and come together as a band, it would be so hard and very disappointing if we leave that [behind]’’.
Meanwhile, all three can’t wait to perform tomorrow.
Ruby: ‘It’s like the biggest thing you can really do here in Queenstown, so it’s very good to be ending my and Emily’s journey as school leavers with such a monumental thing.’’
Mya adds: ‘‘It’s not really some thing I would have ever thought we would be working up to.’’
Estrogen, opening act for Gibbston Valley Winery Summer Concert, tomorrow, 11.30am; tickets greenstoneentertainment.co.nz
