He carried his dad's amp to gigs. Now SIT tutor Asher Skerrett is in the Southland Music Hall of Fame

As a boy, Asher Skerrett carried the amplifier. His father, Peter, had a bad back, so the son lugged the gear to gigs, and along the way he got to see the industry up close. Last month that apprenticeship came full circle when the SIT music and audio tutor earned a place in the Southland Music Hall of Fame.

The honour came at this year's Southland Music Awards, held in Invercargill on 17 October, and the Southern Institute of Technology has since set out just how much of the night's honour roll ran through its music rooms. The institute counts it among the evening's highest accolades, recognition for years of work in the Southland music scene, and Skerrett's own account of how he got there, published by SIT, starts at home.

"My dad, Peter, who used to be the programme manager for music and audio here at SIT a long time ago; I grew up lucky enough carting his gear around for him," he told SIT. "He played with a lot of famous people, and I got to see the industry." The rest followed naturally. "I grew up in it, and I knew from a young age that's all I really ever wanted to do," he said. "Dad was a bass player, and I wanted to be a bass player."

What mattered most on the night, he said, was the company. "It was a big deal to me just to have the people around me, my friends, family, work colleagues." His daughter Dominique, herself a former SIT music student, was in the audience, according to a caption on the institute's story.

He was not the only one with a reason to celebrate. SIT music and audio programme manager Antonio Mercuri was named Drummer of the Year, and Brenny & The Bushwhackers, the band he plays in, won Band of the Year. Rhythmonyx, whose line-up includes SIT programme leader Doug Heath on trombone and flugel horn, took Song of the Year with Bones. Former students collected Album of the Year, which went to Anna van Riel for Wooden Leg, and Guitarist of the Year, which went to Vance Manu. Jordan Cossil received the Ambassador's Award, KC Barris was named Southland Entertainer of the Year, and Holly Longman and Shannon Cooper-Garland, both of whom once taught at SIT, joined Skerrett in the Hall of Fame.

The connections ran off stage as well. The awards' house band, Filth Wizard, is made up entirely of SIT graduates: Hana Ott, Joseph O'Donnell, Tyler Reynolds and Marcus Crowe. Larnie Davidson and Eli Tuiavli, in their first year of audio study, worked as stagehands, while Ash Bartlett and Rubin Kennedy, who graduated in screen arts, handled lighting and graphics. Heath said the night was "a great celebration and recognition for so many."

Skerrett sees a pipeline that is filling up. The programme has its largest first-year degree intake yet, which he put at roughly 25 students, and he credits a settled teaching team who have known each other for years. He also thinks young musicians in the south have advantages others lack, pointing to the support of the ILT and to new original-music venues, naming The Riff and Threes and Sevens Records. "Bands can get out there and do it," he said.

Asked to sum up Invercargill's music scene, the boy who once carried his father's amp managed it in a single word. "I think it's blossoming," he said. "One word."

The Southland Music Awards were held in Invercargill on 17 October. Original bands play regularly at Invercargill venues including The Riff and Threes and Sevens Records.