A talented teenage duo spent last week in Inverell fine-tuning their vocals in the lead-up to a Joey's Oz Band Music Tour of Germany in July.
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Hailing all the way from Hervey Bay, vocalists Rachel Damms and Kobe McNaught impressed many after performing live late last year.
"We heard about this singing competition during the awards for the Joeys Mini World Cup in Hervey Bay, we performed and won," Rachel said.
A few weeks later the pair received an email offering an opportunity to become two of the nine performers for this year's Joey's Oz Band.
With an interest in community theatre and musicals, Rachel and Kobe had always performed together but it wasn't until February they decided to take the duo to a new level.
"We're cousins so our parents always encouraged us to sing together. We started hanging out and thought we should learn a few songs.
"We sang at markets and then decided to name our duo Melomania," Rachel explained.
With July just around the corner the 16-year-old's spent most of their time in Inverell rehearsing with the band.
Peter Caddey and Ally McKinley will also sing vocals while Paul Damms, Jacob Dewberry, Brock Holder, Tom Sanderson and musical director Chris Richter will play a variety of instruments.
A brainchild of German-born, Inverell resident Heinrich Haussler, the tour will take nine artists and 12 groupies to some of the top destinations from the east to the west.
Kobe was particularly excited, and a little nervous, to perform at the unique locations Germany has to offer.
"There is a castle we're going to, and a military base. We get to sing in front of people who speak a different language and practising with the band has been so fun; everything is coming together," he said.
The band will host a show in Ramstein, where more than 60,000 US soldiers are stationed. The evening will be topped off with Australian food, drink and live music.
Mr Richter said with limited venues available to perform at in Australia, the overseas tour gave artists a different collection of locations and experiences.
"The opportunity was there because Heinrich already had contacts in Germany which made things a lot easier to lock in venues. Since holding the tour for the past three years we've made new contacts each time," he said.
The musical director said it was special for him to watch artists reach outside their comfort zones, performing at new gigs with non-English speaking crowds.
The challenge has paid off for previous touring artists who grew in leaps and bounds after their Germany experience.
Mr Haussler said the opportunity existed and was available every year for aspiring musicians.
"Every year it gets bigger and better. Last year crowds commented on the variety the Joey's Oz Band offered.
"Usually a band plays for four hours and every song ends up similar but with our variety of vocalists, ranging in ages, you get all different types of music.
"They seem to like that everywhere we perform," he said.
