Whakatāne Teen Takes Another Step Towards His Dream of a Music Career

At just 13 years old, Whakatāne musician Rohan Evans is already building a musical journey that began when he first stepped onto a stage at the age of 10.

By the age of 11, he was performing at NZ Smokefree Rockquest, where he was among the youngest performers in the competition.

A year later, he released his debut single, Synthetic Horizons, and has since continued to write, record and perform his own music.

Evans regularly performs at venues and events, both as a solo artist and alongside fellow musicians, playing a mix of original songs and covers.

Now, with his second single, Echoes of Tomorrow, released, the young musician is continuing to develop his sound while gaining experience both on stage and in the recording studio.

For Evans, songwriting is becoming more than simply a creative outlet. It is the beginning of a long-term ambition to build a career as a full-time musician.

His latest song began with a relatively simple goal: to have an original song ready to perform at Rockquest.

With the event approaching and no original material prepared, Evans set about writing.

The process, however, was not always straightforward.

He spent around a month developing the song, initially finding himself putting off the lyrics while trying to work out the music.

Eventually, the pieces came together and Echoes of Tomorrow took shape.

The song explores the idea of making the right choices in life and understanding where each decision can lead.

One of its central lyrics, “every step shows us where we are”, reflects that theme, looking at the journey behind us while considering the direction of the road ahead.

For Evans, songwriting is often an organic process.

Rather than beginning with a clear message or story in mind, he starts with a verse or musical idea and allows the meaning of the song to develop as he writes.

“It’s a bit of both,” he said when asked whether his songs are drawn from personal experiences or ideas he creates along the way.

His musical development took another step forward in 2023 when he began guitar lessons with Hāni Totorewa, also known as Hāni Dread, a founding member of Katchafire.

What started as guitar tuition gradually evolved into songwriting sessions, with Evans and Totorewa beginning to work on original material together.

Totorewa said it did not take long to recognise that Evans had something different.

“Within 10 minutes you can tell, you can just tell it's like, wait a minute, something different here,” Totorewa said, describing his first impressions of Evans’ ability.

Rather than simply focusing on learning existing songs, the sessions increasingly became about writing, experimenting and jamming with Evans’ original ideas.

That transition, from learning an instrument to creating complete pieces of music, has been an important part of Evans’ development.

He has increasingly begun putting more time and thought into his original songs, writing lyrics and working collaboratively on the music.

His recording experience has also allowed him to work alongside more experienced musicians.

Totorewa led the project behind Evans’ debut single and returned as the main producer and keyboard player for Echoes of Tomorrow.

Stan Bicknell played drums on the latest track, while Damian Lunson worked as the sound engineer.

Working with seasoned musicians has given Evans an insight into the recording process and helped him understand the many stages involved in turning an idea into a finished song.

For Totorewa, allowing young musicians to experience that traditional recording process is particularly important at a time when technology and artificial intelligence are rapidly changing the music industry.

From developing an initial idea and drafting a song through to booking studio time, working with engineers and musicians, recording and eventually promoting the finished track through social media, there is a lot for an emerging artist to learn.

“It’s quite a big package, actually,” Totorewa said.

While the way music is created continues to evolve, Totorewa believes there remains value in understanding the craft and process behind a professionally recorded song.

For Evans, that experience is helping him build not only his songwriting ability but also an understanding of what it takes to develop and promote himself as an emerging artist.

And Echoes of Tomorrow is unlikely to be his last release.

Evans is currently looking at gradually forming a band, with the possibility of creating more original material together.

For now, he is focused on playing more gigs, building his experience and earning enough to invest in new equipment and future studio time.

His long-term ambition is to become a full-time musician, whether that ultimately means performing as part of a band or pursuing a career as a solo artist.

With two singles now released, Evans is already building the foundations of the career he hopes to pursue, one song, gig and recording session at a time.

The full interview with Rohan Evans and Hāni Totorewa is coming soon.