Three Mount Maunganui College students are enjoying their most successful bid at winning the Smokefreerockquest yet after being named in the competition's top nine finalists for the first time in five years.

Rory Priest, Cormac Seymour and Jake Nicholas make up Joe's Van – the only Bay of Plenty act to score one of six band finalist places announced today.

Joe's Van members Cormac Seymour, 16, Rory Priest, 16, and Jake Nicholas, 16.

Bethlehem College's Georgia Lines also made the cut as one of the top three solo/duo finalists.

The finalists were selected by judges who viewed musicians' DVDs submitted from the 23 regional finals.

The alt-funk trio has a six-year history in Smokefreerockquest.

Lead singer and bass player, Jake, says they have a very different sound.

'We kind of draw on African-American funk and artists like Larry Green.

'We've been playing together for about eight or nine years now.”

Rory is excited about the band's chances of winning the annual young muso contest after making the final nine – a first since entering under former name R.P.M five years ago.

'It's the furthest we've gotten,” says Rory, who hopes the band's original funk, rock and blues sounds will set them apart from fellow finalists.

'We bring an old school element of music and funk that hasn't been seen in a long time.”

Whether they win or not, Cormac hopes to build a career in music with the band.

'We'll still keep playing, because that's what we love to do.

'We'll just keep writing original music and funk out for the love of music; and if people like what we do, then that's cool.”

More than 700 entries signed up to New Zealand's largest youth music event this year, with remaining contenders to play off at the national final in Auckland on September 27.

Liquid Sun from Katikati College and Waihi College were among the top 20 bands that also fought it out at this morning's gig.

The top six bands are:

The Bradas from Manukau's Alfriston College, a close harmony quartet backed with just one acoustic guitar. Their banter and choreographed moves give them an onstage point of difference. They are Davian Laufiso, Darius Opini, Dominic Faalavaau and Travis Pita.

Vacant City from Wairarapa College & Rathkeale College have evolved their sound after five years in Smokefreerockquest and now have two guys on synths adding a backing dimension. Lead vocalist and rhythm guitar player Jake Schdroski says they class themselves as rock with a pop aspect and an 80s' vibe. The other members of the band are Hayden Warren (bass & synthesizer) and Zac Emerson (drums) and Jesse Brown (lead guitar & synthesizer).

Soda Boyz is a post-punk trio from Palmerston North Boys' High School & Freyberg High. The veteran Smokefreerockquesters met through the music scene and have been playing live venues for the last couple of years. They are Jules Rosenbrook (electric guitar), Felix Carr (bass and vocals), and Josh Finegan (drums).

Joe's Van is an alt-funk Mt Maunganui College trio with a six-year history in Smokefreerockquest. Lead singer and bass player, Jake Nicholas says they have a very different sound. 'We kind of draw on African-American funk and artists like Larry Green,” he says. 'We've been playing together for about eight or nine years now.” The other members of Joe's Van are Cormac Seymour (electric guitar) and Rory Priest (drums).

HeadChef from Wellington High School are a reggae-rock four piece who got their name from a friend who used to ‘cook us up the meanest feeds'. Carlos McQuillan (rhythm guitar and vocals) says they play reggae inspired rock with some jazz and psychedelic rock. The other members of Head Chef are Leon van Dijk (lead guitar and backing vocals), Dylan Quinn (drums) and Ted Bartley (bass and backing vocals).

Vivid is an all-female Auckland band with a pop sound, an acoustic element and strong cohesion in their performance. Members are Ashleigh Wallace (rhythm guitar/vocals) who won last year's Smokefree Women's Musicianship Award, Kathleen Williams (drums), Ellie McBurney (guitar) from Diocesan School for Girls and Jade Paynter (bass) from Marist College in Auckland.

The three solo/duo finalists are:

Cam Dawson is a Year 10 student at Manurewa High School. He placed third in the Auckland Solo/Duo category and won the award for best song. Cam is interested in writing instrumental music, and has been composing on his computer for the last couple of years.

Elae are Anna Robinson and Olivia Nott from Garin College in Nelson. Elae (pronounced like the city LA) are the initials of Livvy and Anna, the name the girls used for the 2013 Smokefreerockquest. Last year the folk-indie duo made it through to the top 10 finalists. Elae opened for Olivia's older siblings, Caleb and Georgia, at the Broods concert in Nelson this year.

Georgia Lines from Bethlehem College in Tauranga says that her unique voice and lyric combo set her apart from other singer-songwriters: 'I get inspirations for my songs at the weirdest of times in the weirdest of places. Many times, I find conversations with people or dare I say it... sitting on the bus pretending to listen to music, with my headphones in and writing down things that would make great lyrics.”

The national final of Smokefreerockquest is at Auckland's Q Theatre on Saturday 27 September, start time 7pm, tickets on sale from Q Theatre from August 25. Guest acts to be announced. The event will be opened by the overall winner of the People's Choice Award, with the voting taking place on Facebook now.