Trustees & Tutors

Lawrence Arps

A veteran of over 2500 gigs, 500 livesound mixes and hundreds of recordings Lawrence has continued to play and record since coming to the Coast to teach in 1994. A self confessed guitar fanatic Lawrence's style is heavily influenced by blues and classic rock while his listening taste includes a wide range of guitarists of all styles. 30 years of studying guitar maintenance, setup and construction has lead to an interest in lutherie with 7 guitars  designed and built by the end of 2009. Alongside his musical background Lawrence brings management experience  to the team and has filled the role of chairman of the trust since its inception.  Photo by Sharon Painter-Arps.

Leah O'Driscoll

A.k.a. the Spiritual Guide, Leah is the founding member and currently Treasurer and Coordinator of the YMDT. She completed a Certificate in Contemporary Music Performance in 1995 and Certificate in Audio Engineering and Music Production in 1997 at Tai Poutini Polytechnic in Greymouth . Since then she has performed in a variety of local songwriter gatherings and support for student performances. Currently Leah is bass player for funk/rock/pop/soul/blues/jazz/country band Eve 3 and mentors Youth Bands Ecko and Desolution Whim. Leah has freelanced as a music tutor since 1998 and has continued to mentor and tutor youth bands on the West Coast since 1997. Photo by Sharon Painter-Arps.

Jolan Kilkelly, Tutor, Musician, Bodyboarder, Greymouth Local has been a member of YMDT since 2006. Quite capable at playing Guitar, Bass and Drums, Jolan’s checkered past includes winning the first ever Greymouth Smokefree Rockquest back in 1995 with his Greymouth High School band ‘Nilakantha’. He then moved to Gisborne and won the Rockquest up there in 1996 with his band ‘Dirt’. Then the following year in 1997, with his newly formed punk band ‘Minus Title’ came second at Rockquest. From then on ‘Minus Title’ had countless gigs all around the country, recorded 3 CD’s and never actually made it to the top. Today he plays in a mixed bag covers band called ‘The Dennehys’, tutors youth bands from around the coast and hangs out with his daughter Adison.

Jeremy Ewan has been drumming since picking up a pair of sticks in 1994. In that time he has played in a number of different bands playing different styles, and he has tutored drumming in high schools and privately. He picked up a guitar in 2000, and since then he has been playing guitar at church and tutoring guitar and bass guitar in high schools and privately. He has a Certificate in Contemporary Music, and a Certificate in Sound and Audio Engineering. He gained both of these from Tai Poutini Polytechnic. He has been involved in tutoring Youth Bands since 1997. Photo by Sharon Painter-Arps.

West Coast singer songwriter Katie Thompson has been apart of the West Coast music scene for a number of years now. She started out as the drummer of “Aprillis” an all girl rock band then once the band ended she went onto writing her own music. She released her self funded debut album “Tall Poppy” in May 09. She has appeared on New Zealand’s Breakfast show, Nightline and Close Up after reaching $50k on SellaBand. Katie is taking a break from tutoring YMDT bands as she is about to head over to the UK with brother Chris Thompson to record her 2^nd album with top producer Greg Haver.

Chris Thompson is a 21 year old musician from Hokitika. He has crafted his guitar playing with the guidance of guitar tutor Leah O'Driscoll. This lead to him attending CPIT's jazz school, gaining his bachelor of music degree. During his time there he received the Alan Robinson Memorial trophy, awarded to the top first year guitarist at Jazz school. He has also received various top awards at secondary school level and from his tuition from Leah. Chris has recently moved back to Hokitika to tutor guitar and piano for a period of time. He looks forward to working with the youth of the coast and hopes to help further the development of the music scene in the coast.

Jasmine Duthie is the newest and youngest addition to the teaching team at YMDT. She has been in numerous bands since age 11 as a guitarist, bassist, singer and is now the drummer for Desolution Whim.  Two time veteran of Rockcamp, Jasmine is currently studying NCEA L3 music at Westland High School, and is set to move to Auckland in 2011 to begin her tertiary studies and plans to continue to teach music to support her studies.