Battle of the Bands
maybe I'm living under a rock.... but it's been way too long since I saw a battle of the Bands anywhere. Just wondering who would be interested if one was put on. any ideas?
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Guy Cooper on -
I've personally had enough of Battle of bands comps, its always a bit funny, never seems fair (even when I'm judging). Bands playing for free or sometimes having to pay to play, and applying judgmental marking to music across several genres that don't line up and cannot be fairly compared. I was working with Transport in 2002 when we went all the way through the Jim Beam NCBC comps and actually won the whole Australian final, got about half the prizes and then got shat on.
But thats just me :)
-
Permalink Reply by Metropollis productions on -
cheers for your input Guy. I think i've only ever seen one in my entire life. You're right in what you said about them being kind of unfair in a sense. my overall idea there was more so not to make it a comp but have some kind of name like that to get more people involved. Like there's so much talent out there that goes unnoticed or that don't have the budget, resources or contacts to make themselves known. The hardest part for me is always where to start. once i've figured that out I'm fine and I'm sure a lot of others out there have the same problem.
I dunno, I just think there needs to be more promotional coverage for local bands. Some event that lasts half the year, like every 2 or 3 months have a big concert somewhere. obviously there has to be some kind of regulations... eg: ya have to be able to play/sing properly and ur not just some stoned idiot talking crap for 5mins. hahaha.
on that note, is there anything out there that i haven't yet heard of that covers what i just said?
-
Permalink Reply by TroubleKarmaFlow on -
-
Permalink Reply by ROOTS ABOVE GROUND on -
Hey there, we have stopped playing battles as they are or seem to be rigged, Bands we play with at the battles are friends with the judges and make comments back stage about allready winning the comp ? And we played a battle and made it to the final just three bands and befor the final we went to record a song only to find the guy recording us is friends with the manager of the band comp and told us that his friends band have allready won ! what the ! and when your playing with bands from all styles you know that the judges are only after that one style of band ? PUB ROCK BANDS !
-
Permalink Reply by Metropollis productions on
-
thats a really valid point..... judges that are chosen should be a neutral party and not know any of the bands. in all honesty, they should be 6 random members of the public. 2 from each generation and given a criteria to judge by that is fair to all bands. not some producer or studio engineer,
-
Permalink Reply by Mayan Fox on
-
They're around. Yes sometimes they can seem a bit unfair or even rigged but what band doesn't really believe that they're hot stuff and deserve to win every award and given every plaudit available to mankind? We've won a couple of comps this year and we've lost out on a few as well. sometimes the losses are by slim margins and I could sit around thinking "Dammit, we were so much better" but the truth is that someone has to miss out and if the least you got to do was perform to a new audience in front of industry professionals and you enjoyed the stage experience well then that's a win in itself (I apologise if I'm sounding a little 'Tony Robbins'!)
One thing I would like to see changed in comp criteria however is the bulk of the points coming from 'Audience Reaction'. When Audience Reaction is judged as a higher indicator of ability than lets say, musicianship, showmanship or vocals then that's a strange thing. It is a valid criteria but how is it fair to say that one band is better than another because they have a bigger network? We played in a comp recently where we lost by one point to a band that had hired out TWO buses and given every supporter on that bus a t-shirt and more! I was actually impressed and to tell you the truth this band was pretty damn good and deserved to win by more than a point BUT - imagine if that band had been rubbish but had snuck through on audience alone?
And that's all I've got to say about that.
-
Permalink Reply by Mike on -
haha thats so true about the audience reaction vote.... i was a judge at the global battle of the bands at the hard rock last month.. and everyone that played was awesome.. and the winners were in my top 3.. but the band that was by far the best on the day.. who i just realized also left a comment on this topic (haha how embarrassing).. nine sons of dan.. came 4th!.. and i was seriously in shock.. haha I rated them so much higher than the rest! I'm pretty sure all the other judges did too!.. I know theyre just trying to get more people to the gig.. but crowd judging accounting for 50% sucks... haha so much fun judging though! If anyone wants a judge.. I'm all yours.
-
Permalink Reply by JACKSON DUNN on -
One day when I get married, on my wedding day, instead of hiring/paying musicians to perform and keep the audience entertained
while they drink & mingle I think I'm just gonna hold a band comp so I get all the muso's to play for free, that way they'll bring all their friends & make me look much more popular than I really am.
-
Permalink Reply by David Aurora on -
jacko- hahahahaha
p.s. fuck band comps. art isnt a competition, its a form of expression. band comps are just another way for venues to milk naive bands some more for unpaid gigs. and yes, they are plenty rigged. on quite a few gold coast battle of the bands events in the last few years i have known who was going to win before the bands even played (and no, im not involved in any way. i wouldnt be caught dead involved in a battle of the bands event as an official or performer). its weird, i always think of battle of the bands shows as something you do a couple times in high school before you realise it's not a real gig. but then i see grown up musicians i know getting all excited about it and then getting disappointed time and time again cause it was rigged, or cause the prize turned out to be bullshit, or cause they realised they had just paid to play, or cause "opportunity" and "industry exposure" are just bullshit buzz words that dodgy promoters throw out there to talk shit up.
-
Permalink Reply by New Age Writer on -
I agree we are artists. I played at my first battle of the bands with our new band 7th Ray at the Lost City Tavern last weekend. The band who was the least threat won the heat he had rounded a heap of people up who all bought untold drinks. Its not about winning but I just wanna gig, be out there doing it. We're happy to gig for free, we love it, and will get better each time. As we dont have any decent recordings of our songs yet we cant book gigs just now. I'm all for battle of the bands its a good way to showcase. If there are any opportunities to gig out there please give me the heads up!!! cheers
Top Members
© 2012 Created by Mike.
