Youth band Kitchens brings the heat to Northern Rivers music scene

INDIE rock band Kitchens is quickly making a name for itself as one of the Northern Rivers’ emerging musical acts after taking out the under-18 Battle of the Bands section at the Mullum Roots Festival.

The four-piece formed in early 2024 when Xavier Catholic College students Cooper Adamson and Lennox Broadley decided to start a band together before bringing Ryan Jack and Oscar Klose on board.

All four are still at school, but already write and perform original music, release songs and compete on stages across the region.

Lennox fronts the band on vocals and rhythm guitar, with Ryan on lead guitar, Oscar playing bass and Cooper on the drums.

The group’s name was born during its first rehearsal, which took place in a kitchen showroom at Cooper’s father’s cabinet making business.

 

“We were looking around and we’re like, ‘What are we going to call ourselves?’ And then we were like, ‘Oh, hang on. We’re in a kitchen right now,'” Cooper said.

“Lennox writes a lot of the melodies and lyrics, and we sort of come together and write the composition of all the instruments together as a band.

“It’s super fun, especially going to those battle of the bands things where you can play your own original music and people notice it.”

Cooper and Lennox lean towards indie rock, while Oscar and Ryan bring heavier influences to the group.

Kitchens has already released a three-song EP, ReTwist, on Spotify, taking them from the garage sessions to a proper studio project.

The group has also recently recorded a new song at The Grove on the Central Coast with producer Jack Lovell, with the track now mastered and being prepared for release.

While all four members are aged between 16 and 18, they are already looking beyond the typical school-band experience.

The group competed in the 2026 Youth Rock Competition in Sydney, advancing to the finals and bringing home the regional band award.

The band also regularly performs at Lennox Hotel Jam Night on Thursday evenings.

It provides an opportunity for them to continue developing their live performance skills.

With two members in year 11 and the other two in year 12, they are balancing the demands of school and the HSC with its ambitions for the future.

“We’re hoping to write a few more songs to the point where we can get a few more paid gigs around where we can maybe even do a bit of a local tour,” Cooper said.