My goodness, I think this is CoA most effective, right here.
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Why We don’t do battles
- Thread starter Nephilymbass
- Start date
My goodness, I think this is CoA most effective, right here.
It seems to me you might alienate some potential new fans if you raise a storm about it being a conspiracy. However, if you keep a level head and do the political thing, you may end up ahead after all this. I know if someone raised a stink about it I'd think they were a bit childish and wouldn't want to support them. It's a poopy situation but I think the way you come out ahead is to play the dumb political games. You'd garner more respect that way.
All the BotB we did when I was in my teens at least there was a cash prize for 2nd and 3rd.
I honestly didn't know that these still existed.
I honestly didn't know that these still existed.
We've done a couple with a band I'm currently in and both times we came away from it thinking "why did we do this?"
Glad you started this thread though because it's been in the back of my mind to mention that if another BOB comes up I'm really not interested. I expect the other band members will likely agree with me.
Glad you started this thread though because it's been in the back of my mind to mention that if another BOB comes up I'm really not interested. I expect the other band members will likely agree with me.
i have played 2 battles. we won one of them and got to play Wakarusa and I was able to meet EVERYONE, free beer and food and even some cash. it was pretty awesome. the next one was rigged and we lost to a pretty horrible band that already had a tour planned than went right through sxsw...... the club owner found out about the fix and immediately gave us the sxsw spot for next year. but I quit shortly after and didn't go to that scam. they had a great time though
It's been forever since I played a BotB. My last one was with Unified Funk Theory, and we beat Carbon Leaf.
We got to make a mediocre 3-song demo with a guy who didn't really know how to record music properly.
Carbon Leaf changed some members and tweaked their material and went on to release a multi-platinum album.
There has been some interest in getting into the BotB chain of shows to get into Lockn. The guitarist in one band pointed out that "the winner" gets to play a really early main stage set to a few zombie early-risers, and maybe something in the dead of night like 3 or 4 am.
What I see is that the string of shows you play along the way are all at good theater venues across VA, and for that reason alone it might be worth it.
We got to make a mediocre 3-song demo with a guy who didn't really know how to record music properly.
Carbon Leaf changed some members and tweaked their material and went on to release a multi-platinum album.
There has been some interest in getting into the BotB chain of shows to get into Lockn. The guitarist in one band pointed out that "the winner" gets to play a really early main stage set to a few zombie early-risers, and maybe something in the dead of night like 3 or 4 am.
What I see is that the string of shows you play along the way are all at good theater venues across VA, and for that reason alone it might be worth it.
Way back in my misguided youth I was at one stage in three different bands, and managed to play with all three in one band battle.
Over a festival weekend there was maybe 40 acts, whittled down to a final ... my bands came first, second and third!
It did my reputation a whole lot of good.
Sadly none of the bands lasted but I actually got regular work from a guitarist/singer who was one of the judges afterwards.
Over a festival weekend there was maybe 40 acts, whittled down to a final ... my bands came first, second and third!
It did my reputation a whole lot of good.
Sadly none of the bands lasted but I actually got regular work from a guitarist/singer who was one of the judges afterwards.
Not all BOTB's are bad! Our local Blues Society hosts one every year. The winners (one for band, another for solo or duo act) get to go to Memphis (expenses paid) to compete in the annual International Blues Challenge. It's a GREAT time. They close down Beale St for 3 nights, and every club has bands giving their 100% best effort. My last band won the local several years ago. The trip and competition in Memphis was a gas!
I love battle of the bands just to see what kind of iffy crap gets pulled by the "inner circle" people that always seem to win them. Since my band doesn't care at all about these kind of events we just go to have a good time, usually get way too drunk before playing, play the absolute wrong type of music and then laugh about all the conspiracy theories that we can come up with about the winners. It's especially great when those theories turn out to be mostly true.
Some of my favs are playing very hard rhythm noise at a folk event or EDM at a hard rock event. As counter intuitive as it might seem, doing this sort of thing has allowed us to build up an incredibly vocal and very very loyal group of fans/followers. Unfortunately we've also drawn the ire of many of this town's "serious" musicians as well. C'est la vie!
Some of my favs are playing very hard rhythm noise at a folk event or EDM at a hard rock event. As counter intuitive as it might seem, doing this sort of thing has allowed us to build up an incredibly vocal and very very loyal group of fans/followers. Unfortunately we've also drawn the ire of many of this town's "serious" musicians as well. C'est la vie!
My bands don't do them because they're usually just crappy pay-to-play shows. Though one of my bands doing one as a joke might be funny if they limited sets by song number rather than total playing time. We could play two songs and have a half hour set.
I have mixed feelings about these. On the one hand, most of them are long, boring, and don't amount to much of anything. I remember playing in a battle of the bands judged by a local radio host many years ago, which just happened to be won by a band that the host had already raved about on the air prior to the show -- despite the fact that their bass player didn't even show up for the gig.
On the other hand, possibly that same year, the band I was in at the time steamrolled a bunch of lackluster acts at a local college and won enough recording time at a local studio to cover half the cost of our first EP.
On the other hand, possibly that same year, the band I was in at the time steamrolled a bunch of lackluster acts at a local college and won enough recording time at a local studio to cover half the cost of our first EP.
* The Peoples' Champion
I'd lose it if I had a band member that made promos that had typos. Also, with that band name, they'll never get out of the local scene.
I've played one of these. 2 bands, the other band brought more fans, we won. Their fans were cheering for us, and asking us for info after we played - it was all kind of embarassing. So, we got a bit of exposure.
What I didn't know until after was the "deal". Each band put up $25. The bar put up $25. The winning band took the pot. So, we netted $50, and the bar only had to put out $25 to audition 2 bands on an off night. The bar wasn't interested in hiring us - they were already booked months in advance on weekends. So, it was..experience.
What I didn't know until after was the "deal". Each band put up $25. The bar put up $25. The winning band took the pot. So, we netted $50, and the bar only had to put out $25 to audition 2 bands on an off night. The bar wasn't interested in hiring us - they were already booked months in advance on weekends. So, it was..experience.
You guys were obviously not prepared to battle. Change the title of the list of red flags to "tactics" and try again next year.
I'd mention:
1) You're not responsible for the actions of your fans.
Even if you do encourage a certain action (obviously not the case here), they're still reposible for their own actions (and if they're so young that they're not, then their parents are).
2) Your fans have a valid point, in that it was obviously rigged (not such a big surprise)
I'd suggest posting something on social media along the lines of "hey guys, we understand that some of you are angry but please stop hassling the radio station about this, it's not worth it". If after this the DJ keeps bothering you, block his number.
Given that you didn't get scammed into paying to enter (and the show was free) and you sold merch and got exposure, and you didn't pass over another opportunity to be there, I'd say you came out on top, despite the minor hassle.
In the end yes: Battle of the bands (outside a school/college context) should probably be avoided.
1) You're not responsible for the actions of your fans.
Even if you do encourage a certain action (obviously not the case here), they're still reposible for their own actions (and if they're so young that they're not, then their parents are).
2) Your fans have a valid point, in that it was obviously rigged (not such a big surprise)
I'd suggest posting something on social media along the lines of "hey guys, we understand that some of you are angry but please stop hassling the radio station about this, it's not worth it". If after this the DJ keeps bothering you, block his number.
Given that you didn't get scammed into paying to enter (and the show was free) and you sold merch and got exposure, and you didn't pass over another opportunity to be there, I'd say you came out on top, despite the minor hassle.
In the end yes: Battle of the bands (outside a school/college context) should probably be avoided.
