Local Glenmore Park band The Jestas are a group of young musicians going places, after recently celebrating making the semi-finals of the 2019 YouthRock Band Competition at Bankstown Sports Club.

YouthRock, an official event for NSW Youth Week, is a music competition for teenage contemporary bands to write and perform their own music.

The Jestas are made up of four members which are Ben Wilson on rhythm guitar, Caitlyn Kitchin on drums/vocals, Jesse Gerhard on lead guitar/vocals and Rafaela Safadi on bass guitar/vocals. They are a rock band, performing classic and modern rock.

“To enter YouthRock, the band had to submit a performance video of an original song. All music performed throughout YouthRock had to be written, composed and performed by the kids themselves – their own lyrics and music” said Rachel Byrne, band representative of The Jestas.

“They made it to the semi-final live performances and were up against 7 other school bands on the night. There were 3 semi-finals in total. Only 2 bands from each semi-final made it through. Unfortunately, they didn’t make it through to the grand finale, but they were very proud and grateful to have made it as far as they did. We could not be any prouder of them too” explained Rachel.

All four members of the band are currently studying music together at Glenmore Park High School. They formed the band in 2017, whilst in year 10. They started performing at school events and have since performed at other schools, restaurants, clubs and are often the support/opening act for the band RockOz.

In between doing their HSC, they get together every weekend for band practice and rehearsals and continue to do live performances whenever they can.

“There has been a lot invested into the band and they hope to make a big impact in the music industry after leaving school” Rachel ended.

You can follow The Jestas on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thejestas, Instagram @thejestasrock and YouTube at www.youtube.com/channel/UChkIiR2nE_ByJx0yhmqgn9Q.