After six years away from the TV spotlight, the musical trivia show for all ages, RocKwiz, is back, bringing to the panel an A-list of rock royalty and a swag of undiscovered musical talent.
Host Julia Zemiro and co-creator, comedian and “rock brain” Brian Nankervis return after a decade-long stint on SBS – along with the blue-singlet-wearing human scoreboard Dugald, and an updated RocKwiz Orkestra – to a new home at Foxtel.
And they’ve set the benchmark high.
Nankervis introduces the first episode with a warning our senses will be working overtime, and he was right.
Jimmy Barnes joins the panel, as does newcomer, Geelong soul singer WILSN on the opposite bench, and together they smash it out of the park with a Temptations duet, Shakey Ground, at the end of the show.
The place was … rocking.
“Wow to the power of wow,” said Zemiro, delighted as ever to be in music heaven with a 15th series, and a massive 181 shows under the belt.
So, what’s different?
It’s a shorter, 30-minute show. It’s filmed in a Melbourne television studio – not the iconic Esplanade Hotel in St Kilda – and it has a whole new vibe, a new set, and audiences have been re-awakened, eager to share their music general knowledge.
“We thought we need a new set, tweak the look a little … it was always crowded for the band [in the Gershwin Room] and now they’ve got their own spot,” Melbourne-based Nankervis told The New Daily, reminding us they’ve never actually stopped making the show, performing 100 live shows on the road since 2016.
“It was exciting, challenging, and we knew that it would add to our process … that is something we learned doing it for six years on the road, change is really good for a show.
“It inspires you, pushes you, almost unconsciously to rethink, lift your game a little.
“We knew it would be good.”
Kooky, quiz-based and quintessentially flamboyant, there will be no “dumbing down” questions for their audience participants, who all have solid music brains, says Nankervis, as the show prepares for launch with eight episodes.
Not to mention the line-up, which will feature new and established musicians including Vance Joy, Tina Arena, Ben Lee, Dan Sultan, Sam Cromack, Allen Stone, Meg Washington, Chris Cheney, Ella Hooper and Meg Mac.
There’s quiz shows … then there’s RocKwiz
RocKwiz was born in 2002 when Renegade Films’ Ken Connor and Peter Bain-Hogg met Nankervis to conceive a TV show that combined a mutual love of live music and pub trivia.
They shot a pilot, it was shopped around and rejected, and then SBS gave it the thumbs up and commissioned 10 episodes in 2005.
The rest is history and the show ran until 2016.
Nankervis is an entertainment industry veteran, having done studio warm-ups for shows like The Micallef Program and Lano and Woodley, performed on Hey, Hey It’s Saturday, and written and directed various theatre productions and documentaries.
For the past five years, he has co-hosted and written for The Friday Revue on ABC Radio Melbourne.
Some might say his job as head writer, co-host and producer of 14 series of the AFI award-winning RocKwiz counts among his proudest achievements. He agrees.
“We really hit on a very strong structure when we started doing the show. We honed it, refined it and going on the road was crucial to the show,” he said.
“You do Burnie, Launceston, Hobart and Devonport, you find out what works, and what holds an audience. I am really proud of it.”
Nankervis said at one script reading, colleagues thought the questions might be a bit too hard for the audience. Wrong.
“We had a couple of freaks on the show, and I think there’s something exciting when ordinary people [as in not famous people] can show incredible brain power or display remarkable skill,” he said.
“The real fans are not necessarily blinkered about music from a certain era. Music fans adore Jimi Hendrix and Mark Ronson, Adele and Dusty Springfield.
“I always try and have something for everyone.”
‘Not often you get a second bite at the cherry’
Of Barnsey and WILSN’s duet, Nankervis said: “I said to her, you’ve got to be very proud. That’s not an easy situation to go in to, more than holding your own with an artist like Jimmy Barnes who is very big and bold – that’s a really tough thing to do. She shines.”
“It’s not often you get a second bite at the cherry,” added Zemiro.
“RocKwiz hasn’t been on TV in a long time, but we will be back on screens to celebrate our music genius contestants.”
For Nankervis, it’s a reminder the older musicians are vital and that audiences will discover new artists along the way.
Most importantly, he hopes people play as a family, get together and test themselves.
“Everyone loves a quiz.”
RocKwiz premieres on Friday, February 24 at 7.30pm on FOXTEL and On Demand
