JAWZ: The next generation of hard rock

In celebration of this year’s 25th New Zealand Music Month, Nelson Weekly is interviewing local musicians throughout May. This week Kate Russell speaks with Nelson Intermediate School and Nayland College band JAWZ, who are making quite the impression on local stages.

While most kids spend their Sundays winding down the weekend, or maybe completing that last bit of homework, a group of four talented young musicians are turning up the volume in a suburban garage.

JAWZ is a hard rock band made up of Nelson Intermediate School students Ari Johnson, Caspar Phillips and Cullen Harris – all 12 years old, and Nico Floerl, 13, who attends Nayland College.

They clinched the regional Bandquest title in August 2024 and have played a handful of concerts – including a recent gig at Silvan Steps.

“Yeah, that was probably the best concert we’ve done, we even got an encore,” mentions vocalist Caspar.

They also played at ‘Tune Up’ with other local youth bands during the Nelson Arts Festival last year.

“School concerts don’t count though,” they all agree.

JAWZ has been a band for around three years, forming at Clifton Terrace School. They were joined by bass player Cullen last year at Nelson Intermediate School.

“It’s just fun jamming together and playing shows,” says guitarist Ari, who, according to his dad Ben, used to be lulled to sleep by Nirvana when he was a baby.

The boys say their biggest influences are bands System of a Down and Rage Against the Machine.

In fact, it was a cover of ‘Bulls on Parade’ that helped them earn their Bandquest win last year. Cullen also cites New Zealand alt-rockers Villainy as a Kiwi influence.

JAWZ is now churning out the original tunes and preparing to enter their first Rockquest in just under two weeks.

They have written about “three and a half” songs, including ‘Parasites’  and ‘Piggies’ – the latter of which impressed judges at Bandquest.

“Well, we do actually have six songs, but we only play four of them… some don’t really count,” explains Caspar.

Practices are a bit harder now they are not all at the same school, but the band manages to meet up every Sunday for a garage jam and a Tuesday after-school practice has been added in the build-up to the Rockquest heats.

All four boys say they plan to keep playing music.

“If it works out, I guess it could be a good career,” drummer Nico concludes.

Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiEer4ejQ9M to see JAWZ perform ‘Bulls on Parade’ and ‘Piggies’ at Bandquest last year.