The chief executive of the music programme for schools' trust Play it Strange, former Mushroom NZ record label chief and former chief executive of the Australasian Performing Right Association (Apra), Chunn told the Queenstown Times he would be looking for almost instinctive communication between band members.
Chunn (58) joins the judging panel at the final of the 2010 Ultimate Battle of the Musos competition, on Friday.
"Then I go into the details of are they good players, is that musicality working, do they have a sense of dynamics, do they project?" Chunn said.
"Do they have a sense of pride in themselves? Do they have a glint in their eyes that says we're here to entertain and impress you?"
Chunn, of Auckland, said he was "extremely looking forward" to watching the Ultimate Muso finalists in action at the Stanley St centre.
The finalists include second-heat winners vocalist-guitarists Sarah Foley (16) and Holly Arrowsmith (16); first-heat winners duo Emily Burns (17) and Max Gunn (16) and teen rock four-piece the Fletcherz; plus "wild card" contenders a young blues and jazz quintet called the Artful Hustlers.
Performing on stage was the true test for young acts. Writing a three-minute pop song was the most "mysterious and difficult craft in the world", Chunn said.
He said that in his address at the X-it fundraising dinner and auction at the Heritage Queenstown on Saturday night he would talk about what led him on to the path he has travelled through the music world, what role he feels he should now play in his career and how lucky he was to work with schools through Play it Strange.
When asked what would happen next if he spotted exceptional talent at the Ultimate Muso final, Chunn said: "I'd love to sit down in a coffee bar on Sunday morning with someone I feel their ambition is unstoppable and talk about `the game', as we call it.
"I can tell them which boxes should be ticked."
