Festival first
Newtown musician, Imogen Holmstead-Scott rocks out.
“I’ve always performed on the community stage, so this year’s a first for me,” she says.
Newtown resident Holmstead-Scott will mark her seventh performance on Fair Day, first playing at the festival with the Newtown school band at age nine. When she was 13, she sang with her father who played the guitar, and one year later she was on stage alone, playing guitar and piano.
She is a big fan of The Wreckers, Missy Higgins and Kiwi music.
“In one of my first performances with my dad, I remember playing a Brooke Fraser song,” she says.
It’s not just a hobby for Holmstead-Scott. Last year, she was one of 36 high-school songwriter finalists chosen for the Play It Strange Lion Foundation Songwriting Competition. “I even got to play at Parliament,” she says with pride.
She performed with her friend Bridie Thompson on the community stage last year too. “That was one of my all-time favourite moments at the festival,” she says.
“The festival brings the community together, attracts all different people, and offers so much – for free.”
Holmstead-Scott heads to university next year. She plans on studying science while pursuing music on the side. She might be on stage anywhere in five years time. Planning an international tour in the States? “Ha, no not yet,” she says.
Newtown Festival organiser James Coyle says the festival has been a launching pad for some well-known Kiwi bands. “A lot of big groups have made their beginnings at the Festival – The Black Seeds, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Trinity Roots and Little Bushman,” he says.
Imogen Holmstead-Scott, Newtown Festival, Main Stage, 12.40pm, March 6.
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