Thanks for the stories guys. Update: My band got called back for a quarter final wild card round and we are through to the semi finals! Funny enough the only reason we got through to the quarter final round was because of another wild card round...
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Battle of the Bands
- Thread starter TopBillinBass
- Start date
Betrayer_Bass
Profanity Fish.
- Sep 24, 2011
- 1,381
- 854
- Disclosures
- Endorsing: Spector basses, Winspear Picks, Spector Formula 603 strings
My old band was at a Wacken Battle (to play at Wacken festival in Germany) And all the judges were from black metal bands. There was one black metal band there. Guess who won?
Yup, the one black metal band. The bassist was awful. He had a 6 string bass but kept fretting the octave on the lowest string. The guitarist just pretty much held the "Keep of Kalessin" chord. The singer looked like he was in some trance and the drummer was all over the place.
The drummer also won the "best musician award" for the night. I was very disappointed with the whole thing. And there were about 12 people in the crowd, all about 15.
The band that won soon broke up. Go figure I guess.
Yup, the one black metal band. The bassist was awful. He had a 6 string bass but kept fretting the octave on the lowest string. The guitarist just pretty much held the "Keep of Kalessin" chord. The singer looked like he was in some trance and the drummer was all over the place.
The drummer also won the "best musician award" for the night. I was very disappointed with the whole thing. And there were about 12 people in the crowd, all about 15.
The band that won soon broke up. Go figure I guess.
6jase5
Mammogram is down but I'm working manually
I won't do any that require selling tickets, but I've won 10 Monster cables, 15 hours of studio time (they pushed us to buy more, we didn't, got 3 good drum tracks finished), $500 (my favorite), a few radio interviews, etc. Another time we were told that for $2000 we could buy the winning slot, which went on to be some horrible tv show with bands travelling to various cities trying to sell tickets. SOOO glad that we never even considered it. Show lasted all of one season.
No complaints other than once losing to the cheesiest metal band called White Tower. It was Spinal Tap without the funny parts.
No complaints other than once losing to the cheesiest metal band called White Tower. It was Spinal Tap without the funny parts.
Actually my bands first show was a competition. We had a twenty minute set, and one song had to be an original cover of a holiday song... Our set was this: Higher Ground (RHCP version), an original, merry Xmas war is over, and Stockholm Syndrome. It was our first show as a band actually. Despite my obnoxious banter witht the crowd and crappy oooos during some
Songs, we had an amazing performance for our first show. We sold a lot
Of tickets, played well, and did a good cover and we won the contest! (500 bucks and a headlining show) . I was thrilled and it was a great experience to have, and would do it again in a heartbeat. See? Positive story!!!
Songs, we had an amazing performance for our first show. We sold a lot
Of tickets, played well, and did a good cover and we won the contest! (500 bucks and a headlining show) . I was thrilled and it was a great experience to have, and would do it again in a heartbeat. See? Positive story!!!
I did a few of them around roughly the dawn of time. That would be 1981 or 1982. I don't remember when time actually dawned, but I must have been there. Just ask my kids.
My main memories of Battles of the Bands:
First one: I was a junior in high school. My best friend was our drummer. We had two adults on guitar and both of them were far above average lead players. Our lead singer, who was in the same class as the drummer and I, quit a week and a half before the show. His replacement had never sung in front of a crowd before. Be totally froze. Not just that he couldn't sing once he realized how many people were watching, he couldn't MOVE either. Statue city. I stepped up and tried to take over lead vocals while we waited for him to get over it. It was not pretty.
Second one: Senior year, same drummer, me, my girlfriend on keys, and one of the guitarists from the previous band. Drummer, Girlfriend, and I all sang. I'd gotten better. This one was at the bar upstairs above a bowling alley that is now a church. We were the fourth of seven bands to play. We were the only ones to get the whole audience up on their feet singing along and worked up. We came in third. Shockingly the winning band included the son of one of the two promoters on drums. Every song he played went 'boom-bap-boom-boom-bap' all the way through.
Third one: band from the second one playing at the same place the first one was at, just a year later. Covers allowed only. We did (as best as I can recall) Hold On Loosely, Tempted, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Stop Dragging My Heart Around, Don'T Stop Believing...and then topped off all that pop music set with...Day Of The Eagle by Robin Trower.
Admittedly not the best set planning. But it was cool watching how all the people who'd been getting into it suddenly weren't, for the most part. But the people who hadn't cared all set suddenly got fired up.
We didn't even place in that one. But some people came up afterwards and asked if we could do a whole night's worth of stuff like the first three quarters of our set. We said "Oh sure. We could do another five hours like that." and they booked us to play for our own prom.
My main memories of Battles of the Bands:
First one: I was a junior in high school. My best friend was our drummer. We had two adults on guitar and both of them were far above average lead players. Our lead singer, who was in the same class as the drummer and I, quit a week and a half before the show. His replacement had never sung in front of a crowd before. Be totally froze. Not just that he couldn't sing once he realized how many people were watching, he couldn't MOVE either. Statue city. I stepped up and tried to take over lead vocals while we waited for him to get over it. It was not pretty.
Second one: Senior year, same drummer, me, my girlfriend on keys, and one of the guitarists from the previous band. Drummer, Girlfriend, and I all sang. I'd gotten better. This one was at the bar upstairs above a bowling alley that is now a church. We were the fourth of seven bands to play. We were the only ones to get the whole audience up on their feet singing along and worked up. We came in third. Shockingly the winning band included the son of one of the two promoters on drums. Every song he played went 'boom-bap-boom-boom-bap' all the way through.
Third one: band from the second one playing at the same place the first one was at, just a year later. Covers allowed only. We did (as best as I can recall) Hold On Loosely, Tempted, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Stop Dragging My Heart Around, Don'T Stop Believing...and then topped off all that pop music set with...Day Of The Eagle by Robin Trower.
Admittedly not the best set planning. But it was cool watching how all the people who'd been getting into it suddenly weren't, for the most part. But the people who hadn't cared all set suddenly got fired up.
We didn't even place in that one. But some people came up afterwards and asked if we could do a whole night's worth of stuff like the first three quarters of our set. We said "Oh sure. We could do another five hours like that." and they booked us to play for our own prom.
Three years ago our drummer and singer/guitard decided to play the links instead of the last round of the competition. My guitarist and I got the call about an hour before our slot and were about to throw in the towel when I saw a buddy sitting at the bar. This kid is one of those multi-talented,musical savant types that can play anything he hears,tears it up on guitar and easily holds his own in drums. I explained our situation and asked if he'd like to sit in for our set. He and I had played together for years in other bands,so I knew he was capable. We listened to four of our songs(it was an originals competition)a few times out in the truck and he agreed to give it a shot. We played the four that the guitarist could sing,and two covers(Quiet and I am One by The Smashing Pumpkins) because we all knew them and had time to fill.
In the end,we got 2nd place as a three piece with a guy we pulled off a barstool,and had a great time. That was also the end of the drama-filled originals band and the start of my current band,the Intoxitones,so I guess we won after all!
In the end,we got 2nd place as a three piece with a guy we pulled off a barstool,and had a great time. That was also the end of the drama-filled originals band and the start of my current band,the Intoxitones,so I guess we won after all!
I was 18 and the rhythm guitard player. We were to play at the Lambertville NJ Battle of the Bands. We were all stoked up for this as there were some really good bands competing there. The bass player said he couldn't make it because he had high school football practice. We said, skip it, the band is more important. He didn't, I remember we were so pissed off at him. So we played without him and he quit the band after having a fight with the drummer. That's when I took over playing the bass. I called in sick from a job that I had to work 7 days a week for the tax season and you were not allowed to take days off. That Monday after the contest, my boss was reading the paper and they mentioned our band in the headlines as one of the bands from the area. He asked me, "What was the name of that band you're in?" I said , "What band"
I was going to make a thread, but I bumped this one instead.
I signed my band up for a battle of the band next month.
I was reluctant to do so (since we already gig around 1x a month for a year and we are all a little older), but this one didnt seem too bad.
1: the guy hosting it is around 45 and is 2 local bands that I enjoy.
2: the venue is also the sight of a weekly open mic that I have played at (sat in with a few groups), so I have faith that the sound setup will be legit.
3: no ticket sales are needed, its just a bar, anyone can come.
4: to my knowledge, this should be an older crowd (like over 30, up to 60)
5: prize is cash and I know the host, so payouts should actually happen.
I hope I didnt get us into something lame here...
I signed my band up for a battle of the band next month.
I was reluctant to do so (since we already gig around 1x a month for a year and we are all a little older), but this one didnt seem too bad.
1: the guy hosting it is around 45 and is 2 local bands that I enjoy.
2: the venue is also the sight of a weekly open mic that I have played at (sat in with a few groups), so I have faith that the sound setup will be legit.
3: no ticket sales are needed, its just a bar, anyone can come.
4: to my knowledge, this should be an older crowd (like over 30, up to 60)
5: prize is cash and I know the host, so payouts should actually happen.
I hope I didnt get us into something lame here...
I used to run the sound at a club that held a battle of the bands and they roped me into being a judge for one of the rounds. All of the bands were pretty good but I thought one of them was the clear winner. Imagine my surprise when another band won. I asked three of the other judges who they voted for and all of them said they voted for the same one I did. That means four of the five judges voted for the same band yet, somehow, a different band won. It turns out that the fifth judge did the booking at the club and managed the winning band. Quite a coincidence there.
The last battle my band did won over a band that had never lost a battle. They've been playing for 12+ years so that was cool. I think we won $300 in gift certificates to a local music store. Split between three people of course.
Did one to win a spot opening for a upcoming big name country act. Audience was supposed to pick the winner. We did our thing and the crowd went able sugar, it looked like we wee in at that point. The last band had a female front who looked (and sounded) like she just fired up before they took the stage. Using the mic to keep herself propped up, mumbling and dropping out when she would forget the words, etc. They actually got booed off the stage before they finished their set. When the winner was announced, it was heroin girl.
Found out later she was the promoters GF.
Rotas Ruck with your BOTB.
Found out later she was the promoters GF.
Rotas Ruck with your BOTB.
promoters, bookers, and venues are already out trying to screw you, why would you want to battle with other bands as well?
