I
arrived at Nikitas for the Battle of the Bands at 19:00pm on Wednesday evening
the 6th of June to a very well set up table for the judging panel,
set with platters and looked very professional annnnnnnnd that was about it, except
for the MC who was cool. I enjoyed him. I am really proud to be working with
Stage 24 who has put this competition together. Very professional but like “Murphy”
would have it there were more negative points to the first round than positives.
Im
writing this blog to explain that you CANNOT go on a stage if you are NOT prepared.
The
first “band” came on called 6 Days Remaining and blew people’s minds in the worst
way possible. They literally put their band together 6 days before they got on
that stage. Guys you DO NOT stop playing half way through a song at any point.
If the batteries on your mike "flicker Red", make sure there is another mike on hand. I was
seriously disappointed seeing that. I didn’t make my night.
Then
the saviour of the night came on stage and blew people’s minds with his phenomenal
show, onstage presents and well written acoustic percussive playing. Tombstone
Pete has to, in my opinion, be the most original, most talented guy I’ve seen
in Cape Town. I’m definitely a fan. Check out his Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/tombstonepetemusic.
2nd
Band and round 1 winner, Thank You Johnny, was by far the better band on the
Nikitas stage. Just one or two details that need to be worked on, they know
what I’m on about. Tune your guitar’s bro’s.
3rd
“Cover Band” was The G-Stringers, If you going to do covers guys then make it your
own. I kept saying to myself, “this is a competition guys, be original man”.
After every single song I hoped it would be something original, but to my disappointment,
another version of Van Morrison’s Brown Eyed Girl. Then what irritated me lots was
the fact that they were asked to play an extra 10 minutes, not that it helped,
but again, its a competition guys, every slot is 30 – 35 min. Its just not fair
on the rest of the bands that have entered.
It
was so difficult to judge bands fairly having to look past the terrible sound.
I actually felt sorry for the guys on stage. Luckily one or two didn’t pick up
on it but damn dude, as a sound engineer that’s been in the business for so
many years I heard more excuses rather than finding solutions and fixing it. I
must also just add that the front-of-house rig will be upgraded hugely for the
27th of June which is round 2.
Stage
24 is an amazing company and The “Gareth James” brand is proud to be working
with them. They are punctual and professional and for a brand new company they
have huge hearts and are so driven to make big things happen for their artists.
I am really really looking forward to the rest of this awesome competition they
have put together.
Please
feel free to comment on my blog. Be fully honest. If you don’t agree with me I
completely understand but remember that honesty is always what you going to
read on this blog and you know what they say, “The truth hurts”.
Stay
tuned for more blogging to come.
Cheers
for now!!!
