NZ's only high school steel band set to make history this weekend

New Zealand's only high school steel band is winning fans with a genre-defying repertoire, ranging from pure 1970s pop to hard rock.

The Panimals - who take their name from the steel pans they play - are set to make history this weekend as the first steel band to perform in a secondary schools chamber music competition.

The Panimals hail from the coastal town of Waipū in Northland, are aged 14-17 and go to Bream Bay College in Ruakākā.

Steel band music originated in Trinidad in the Caribbean, but it has become a Bream Bay tradition since a former teacher acquired a set of pans and brought their distinctive sound to Northland.

Many of the current band members are classically trained, although that does not help much when you're playing an instrument that is essentially a cut-down 44-gallon drum.

Gabriella Uphof, 15, started her musical journey on classical piano.

"Once you get the hang of it, it's pretty straightforward but it definitely took a while to get into the groove of it and figure out where all the notes are, because all the pans are set up differently."

Each band member specialises in one type of pan - from the melody-leading tenor pans to the hefty bass pans, so big they need their own trailer - but they all know at least one song on another pan.

Adara Lunjevich, 16, says part of the joy of playing the pans comes from the novelty factor.

"They're so different to other instruments. It's a one of a kind thing. Everyone's reactions are really cool, seeing them go, 'Oh my gosh. what it that?'"

But what makes the Panimals so interesting is their genre-defying mix of music, much of which you'd never expect to hear on the steel pans.

They play everything from the reggae-infused pop of Stevie Wonder and Abba's infectious 1970s hits to hard and heavy alternative rock.

"We've definitely strayed away from the traditional steel pan music. But we make it work," Gabriella says.

Adara says they make their set list by picking songs that resonate with audiences.

"We try to include songs that we like, and are popular, so we can like get people's attention. Lots of Abba because we have a huge Abba fan."

Harlyn Abraham, 15, is the huge fan of the Swedish pop group

"I just love all the Abba songs… I'm obsessed with Abba."

But the band's signature song comes as a surprise - 'Toxicity', by the American alt-metal band System of a Down, which is about as far from the sunny calypso rhythms of traditional steel band music as you can get.

"It's a good song to play and it's probably a band favourite," Gabriella says.

"It's loud. It's fun, it has a very busy melody line, and watching people's reactions when we play it is quite funny. It's not what you'd expect to hear from these instruments."

The band has so far put out an EP, Steel Soup, and has plans for an album of Abba covers.

But right now they're fundraising to get to Australia for a steel band festival in October.

All up they need about $20,000, with the biggest fundraising challenge just transporting their bulky instruments from gig to gig.

"We have quite a bit to go. But very slowly we are getting there. We're always on the lookout for new gigs or new events we can play at, or more fundraising opportunities," Gabriella says.

When the Panimals aren't playing alt-metal you'll find them practising chamber music.

Their dedication paid off last week at the Northland high school chamber music competition in Whangārei, when they qualified for the regional finals in Auckland this weekend.

Kaiser Jacoby, 16, Adara and Gabriella will perform their own adaptations of the first movements of Winter and Spring, from Vivaldi's Four Seasons - a series of concertos written for violin in the 18th century.

It will almost certainly be the first time a steel band has played at the competition.

Gabriella says playing chamber music on steel pans is difficult.

"The main thing about chamber is putting emotion into the pieces, and it's quite hard putting emotion into some pieces of metal."

Kaiser says, unsurprisingly, no one has ever adapted Vivaldi for steel pans.

"So we have to make our own adjustments to the score. It's a journey, but we got there."

Bream Bay College head of music Scott Brown says the school's tradition of steel pan music was revived in 2015 and since then it's gone from strength to strength.

"Each year the younger students come in and see what the past students can do, so each iteration is getting better and better. And this crew is completely self-managed and driving itself, choosing the songs, learning the songs. Pretty much my role is just making sure they're in classes when they need to be, and sometimes driving the trailer to the gigs."

Some readers may already be familiar with Bream Bay College - this is, after all, the same school that produced Alien Weaponry, the world's first thrash metal band to perform in te reo Māori.

Lewis de Jong, guitarist/singer for Alien Weaponry, went on his first overseas tour with a previous incarnation of the Panimals, first as drummer and later on the tenor pans.

Brown says the school has always had a strong music culture.

"I was a student here, and even before I came here, the music department was well known, everywhere. So when I came back as teacher that was my goal, to keep that going and keep building it."

The current incarnation of the Panimals has two more years before they have to leave school - and the steel pans - behind.

Until then they'll keep honing their skills and taking their repertoire in new and surprising directions.

And, as Kaiser explains, the steel pans have given them much more than the chance to compete against other musicians and share the joy of music.

"I guess it brings us all together. It makes us closer as friends," he says.