Roll Off Your Rockers

COLIN SMITH

LIGHT YOUR FIRE: Musical director Katie Holland, left, and Off Your Rockers choir founder Robyn Beckingsale , with some of the other choir members.

Walk past Nelson's Baptist Church on a Thursday afternoon and you can be sure that echoes of rowdy banter will be followed by a burst of voices belting out a string of rock songs.

Have a look inside, and there will be an unusual scene – grey hair, a few instruments and a gang of about 45 smiling senior citizens getting into the groove of Credence Clearwater Revival and The Doors. It's Nelson's Off Your Rockers choir, founded by Robyn Beckingsale, a 68-year-old bright spark who has no musical training – well, that's if you don't count a lifetime of singalongs with her seven siblings.

"There's an old rocker in a lot of these people still, even if they were 30 or 40 when rock music came in – it's a feeling where people just want to listen to some really good rocking music. They want that feeling of something rocking along," Ms Beckingsale says. "Just because they are old doesn't mean they have to sing a boring song."

Inspired by the movie Young @ Heart, which documents the trials and tribulations of an unlikely American senior citizens' choir covering rock songs, Ms Beckingsale had a great idea.

"It touched a lot of people. I came out [of the movie] and said to my friend that I would love to be in a choir like that and she said: `You start one, then'," she laughs.

After putting an advertisement in the newspaper last year, she received 100 phone calls of interest by Christmas. Now, the 45-strong choir of people aged between 60 and 84 has its own musical director, Katie Holland, and has been practising all year for its first public shows.

These will unfold over the next two weekends, first during a slot at Sunday's Broadgreen Rose Day followed by an appearance at the Nelson Bays Harmony Chorus Star of Harmony show on December 5.

Ms Beckingsale says the group has seven well-polished songs up its sleeve including Dave Dobbyn's Outlook for Thursday, The Doors' classic Light My Fire, The Rolling Stones' number You Gotta Move and a song by Kiwi band Breaks Co-op called Otherside.

The success of the group has been incredible, Ms Beckingsale says.

"There's lots of choirs in Nelson, but this seems to have its niche because people want to sing that type of music."

The group isn't aiming for the small-time either and hopes to perform at next year's Opera in the Park.

"We want to get up and sing at some big event and everyone gets up and waves light sticks around," Beckingsale says. The choir also plans to get a band together, hopefully with a dedicated keyboardist and drummer to join its two guitarists. The singers themselves are also trying to get the instrumental side of things cranking, with members having a lengthy jam session before their choir practice once every fortnight. Instruments which have turned up include an auto-harp, drums, ukulele, a harmonica and even a mandolin. One woman picked up the violin again after putting it down 50 years ago.

After the upcoming shows, the choir will start concentrating on its repertoire for next year which Ms Beckingsale hopes will include the REM track Losing My Religion.

"It's getting people off their bums and moving to the music."

• The Broadgreen Rose Day will be held at Nelson's Broadgreen House between 11am and 3pm on Sunday.
• Off Your Rockers will also perform at the Nelson Bays Harmony Chorus produced Star of Harmony show on December 5. The show, which starts at 3pm, will feature the world music groups Octopella and Te Manawa, the Bays Barbershop Chorus and the Nelson Bays Harmony Chorus. Members of the award-winning Wellington City Chorus will also appear. Tickets are $18 for adults and $15 for seniors and students and can be purchased from Club Waimea or from nbharmony@gmail.com