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Battle of the Bands

#5
Battle of the Bands - it's a win, win. unfortunately both wins are for the club hosting this circle jerk. The bands pack the place so the club owner makes money; the club owner doesn't have to pay the bands so he makes more money - see; a win, win.

Despite my cynical attitude, if you are having fun, that's the main thing. Good luck!
 
#6
On the positive side, it's a great way to meet other musicians, make contacts etc. you can also learn ( or perhaps steal ideas) from other bands, and compare yourself against them.

Don't be disappointed if you don't win, just be happy if you come away from the experience without having your leads stolen.
 
#7
In these parts we know who will win, its always the guy on the radio who has a band, or the guy that works for the promoter, or the kid that works for the club and promoter. That must mean they are better musicians, songwriters, and performers than all the other bands. Or its the fact that their bands get the mass local press / radio play and chatter for two months leading up to the show. Rigged rigged and fixed!

But hey have fun and laugh at the winners, if you are the winners then laugh at the losers!
 
#12
jmattbassplaya said:
Good luck claiming any reward previously promised to you if you actually 'win'.
Click to expand...

+1

I personally never participated or have the desire to participate in any "Battle of the Bands." They are generally those pay-to-play rackets that it is basically just the promoters looking to fill their pockets on your behalf and your hard work of promoting and selling a certain number of tickets and getting a certain number of people to show up just to allow you to play the gig. The prizes are hardly what they seem as well.
 
#14
I have played MANY battle of the band nights, most are giant frauds and a waste of time, but if you're a new band it is a great way to meet other bands to gig with.

They are not all rigged. We won one a few years ago, we were a stoner rock band who were new so we had no fans, and we were all anti-social so we only had maybe 10 friends there between the 4 of us for the finals. We were the obvious fan favourites since day 1 though, most people suck at putting on a show, that is where you embarrass them. We ended up winning $1500 in recording time at the biggest studio for 500 miles. The next years winners were also promised $1500 cash.... they never saw a cent of that.

If you want some good advice, use your 20 min set or whatever to your advantage, get up there rock hard, do not dilly-dawdle between songs, in fact bleed throughs and carry overs are your best weapon. The singer can say get the ef up or whatever between the note drone then kick into another song without stopping the last one. Audiences eat that spit up, for some reason people are always the most floored by melodies, it is also a good secret to success in cover bands.

EDIT: Well I left that window open WAY too long.... your already out, you made some friends. You win, be sure to talk to the bar management and try to get on opening for somebody at least.
 
#15
We did one 2 weeks ago, had to pay for tickets we had to sell in order to be able to participate. We refused to pay in advance, which worked out well for us, no stress there (although apparently not all bands were as ballsy as us).

The sound was terrifyingly bad, as was the organisation, but we kicked ass. However, we didn't win because we KNEW the organiser. the other bands had noticed and it wouldn't have been fair, we came out third and got great reviews and critics.

The other band members were really dissapointed, I didnt care. I had loads of fun. I'd do it again any time! It is indeed fun to watch all those other bands.
 
#16
I have played in four between two separate bands. We won the first round and then the whole battle got cancelled, though we did get a banner made for us out of the deal. The next one with the same band we advanced and were never told when the next round was (I am not in charge and would have been more thorough about making sure we knew when we played next) and were disqualified. We joined that same battle again this year and are waiting to play in the semi's in July. The worst experience I had was in my original band, the other battle's were cover band battles. For the original band battle we advanced out of the first round. They took 3 of six from each night. Our night we advanced along with a very solid high school christian rock band and a band of 14-15 year olds who showed up with stage lights and tons of merch. I click track played through the PA (or bounced off the walls coming out of the monitors) and could be heard the entire time. Mid way through their set their backing track skips and it becomes apparent they were lip synching and fake playing the whole time. This band made it to the finals.
 
#17
there's an old, fairly funny list of "Things Bands Should Never Do" floating around the web that includes things like:

1- Don't talk between the songs...just shut up and play the next tune. People don't care about anything you have to say and they can't understand what you're saying anyway.
2- Never wear a hat. No matter how cool the hat is it just makes you look stupid.
3- Never enter a battle of the bands contest. It automatically makes you a bunch of losers.

etc.

I agree with the battle of the bands sentiment. And although I have been guilty of participating in them a few times over the years, every time I did I came away feeling like I'd completely wasted my time and swore I'd never to it again. The last one offered a "recording deal" to the winner. Turned out it was all a load of crap and the only participant that benefited from it was the venue that hosted it.

Never again. And this time I really mean it! :)
 

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