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Blue
Mountains Battle of the Bands 2008 GRAND
FINAL - FRIDAY 25 JULY
Semi-final 3 - Thursday 17 July
Semi-final 2 - Thursday 10 July
Semi-final 1 - Thursday 3 July
First up in Heat 6 was Diminished Behaviour, a 3 piece instrumental group playing some heavy rock with a metal sensibility. The main highlight of the group was interesting interplay between the bass and guitar that on some numbers was quite unusual. Their set opened well and built to quite a crescendo with a Winter Magic Festival-inspired piece that won a terrific audience response. Bandana was a three-piece pick-up blues-rock group that proved the old adage, experience counts. Supurb guitarist Stu Wakely and drummer Dave Brown joined one of the best local singer-songwriters, Mike Norton. They brought us some fine blues. Then Jack Thompson, as accomplished harmonica player as he is actor, joined in as the surprise guest – he was especially good on Blue Mountains Blues. Things really got going when fiddler Nick Lyons also joined them. This was the treat of the night. However, the gong for the night went to the third band, aptly named Charmers. I don’t want to exaggerate, but hearing their singer, Joe, throw himself in some reggae-tinged rock and soul, well, we could have been listening to a young Ray Charles. With Evan on guitar, this group of young guys displayed a musical imagination beyond their years. This is a group we’ll hear a lot about in the future. It is hard to believe this was only their second public appearance. - Reviewed by Ken Quinnell
Heat 5 was comprised of only two groups – one band had to drop out at the last minute. First up was an acoustic singer/songwriting duo, Voodoo Sex Cult. As you may have guessed from the name they are a comedy group engaged in cutting-edge satire. Nothing proved safe from their lampooning – Dr Who, religion, Thai honeymooners, fast food, figures of authority or Japanese sex robots. They played to their audience and were rewarded with heaps of enthusiastic laughter and applause. The started with an excellent song called We’re So Poor where they played together on just one guitar. I particularly like Everyone’s A Little Racist Sometime. It was all refreshingly politically incorrect and funny and they deserved the honor they received on the night. Lewis &
The Teapots Of Doom (a name they appear to have decided on only
moments before taking the stage) is a blue-rock 4 piece. Seasoned
performance, competent musicianship and lot of energy didn’t compensate
for pretty ordinary songs and pedestrian lyric writing. I liked
Trouble, a song about a young girl growing up, best. It was good
to see some older guys amongst all the boy bands we’ve seen over
the past weeks. - Reviewed by Ken Quinnell
Longview is a duo – Ash wanders on electric guitar and vocals and Peter Long on drums. Ash is an interesting writer and performer of songs with a political message and there was something compelling about this combination of rough-edged vocals, raw guitar and rudimentary drumming. However, their set didn’t build as we hoped it would and, in the end, the effect was worthy rather than passionate. The Remarkable Rockets (the name is from an Oscar Wilde short story) is a four piece playing a fusion of Balkan, French and Gypsy cabaret with Julien on guitar and vocals and Anne on accordion. The set began well and got better and better. There was plenty of energy and it built to an engrossing climax. I particularly liked the song Big Brother about CCTV surveillance. The group played off each other, responded to each other and roused the audience with their attractive sounds. The winner on the night, however, was the full-on rock band A Second to Surface. This is a group with enormous potential and they delivered an accomplished performance on the night. They took the audience along with them. Good songs, a deft lead guitar, and a compelling lead singer added up to stylish act – if stylish is a word you can use for a semi-metal band. An especially good song with some very pleasing guitar was Inside To The Truth. This is a band worth watching out for. - Reviewed by Ken Quinnell
The excitement is building and the crowds along with it at the 2008 BLU FM Blue Mountains Battle of the Bands at Jack Thompson’s Gearin Hotel in Katoomba. This week we had three excellent bands with the night’s winning group up first. Evading the Enemy is an extreme heavy metal group with all the things we associate with the genre – ear-splitting sound levels, screaming vocals, killer instrumentation and heaps of posturing. The crowd gave them a very mixed reaction – clearly they were not to everyone’s taste. But, it all came together with surprising finesse (I know, that’s not a metal word) and they connected completely with the members of the audience who follow this kind of music. And they definitely delivered for the. They were a hard act to follow. Radio Luxembourg is an altogether different group – about as far as you can get from Evading the Enemy and still be able to call it rock. Pam is an excellent drummer and overall the band was a pleasure to hear. Guy’s restrained vocal and the classic rock signatures made them truly entertaining. The appearance for the last couple of songs of an excellent fiddle played enhanced the set. As they themselves said (but I don’t think they really believe it) they “are at the Zimmer frame end of the rock spectrum”. The crowd gave them and especially warm response. The Emergency was formed just two weeks ago to compete and were a real surprise. There is no doubt that they were the crowd’s favourite. This was lite-punk full of good humour and an infectious enthusiasm. Josh and Eli are equally good singers and they gave us a variety of very fine songs. There are kinks to iron out and they need to learn to relate more to their audience, but there is no doubt about the talent here. The Emergency's singers both sang excellent songs accompanied only with their guitars. Strong songwriting and a pleasant musical imagination are the keys to this band’s quality. I especially liked their finale, "Shoot to Kill". So did the crowd. Big time. - Reviewed by Ken Quinnell
Five Leaves Left is a four piece group, wedging together traditional Celtic sound with Gypsy vibes. They performed in that self-absorbed way folk musicians tend towards. Nick Sventkuti was an adequate vocalist; Simon Watts played some interesting fiddle; but overall the group lacked energy and cohesion.
They stirred things up a bit with their Hungarian instrumental, "In Budapest", and, being essentially a folk group, an effective political song about war in general and Iraq in particular with its nifty refrain, "All This Is Done In Your Name".
98% Uncertain is a very young band, a runner-up in BLU FM's Rocklympics last year. They have come a long way since then and shaped up quickly on the night as a crowd pleaser. These four young guys have really enormous potential. They come together on stage as a group "responding" to each other and enjoying themselves in a quite infectious way.
They got our attention with a somewhat over the top opening crescendo (well, they are a rock band). Some nicely written songs followed, as well as a gratifying instrumental with Eddie Boyd giving us some Hank Marvin-like guitar. All four of these guys were excellent but Eddie's guitar stood out. The audience lapped it up and the judges too were impressed. They got the gong for this heat.
Normal Day is a four-piece group who proved extremely competent with a solid rock sound. Their line-up featured a keyboard. The audience liked them and responded with enthusiasm. They grew more punk as their set progressed, then they surprised us with an almost lyrical song with a real 60s sound.
98% Uncertain were a hard act for them to follow but Normal Day gave it their all. Their energy level and showmanship never flagged and their on stage moves were pure rock 'n roll. But, in the end, a sense that we had seen and heard it all before set in.
- Reviewed by Ken Quinnell
The 2008 BLU FM Blue Mountains Battle of the Bands kicked off last night at Jack Thompson’s Gearin Hotel in Katoomba with three first-rate competitors. First up was the youngest band so far registered to perform, One-Bollock-Peep-Show. These four young guys really threw themselves into their music, complete with punk attitude and hot from their success in ascending to number one position in the punk section of the present Triple J Unearthed. Distinguished by a variety of interesting material and some effective presentation, they seemed unfortunately to peter out rather than bring their set to a climax. With good work from the drummer, Louie Michaels, and reasonable vocals along with effective lead guitar, that seemed to be following along at times, this was an engaging band. The most entertaining group of the night was the three-piece Superphonic. They followed their dramatic introduction with some excellent compositions. Their showstopper was Just Keep Following, with their lead guitarist in the role of Mr Perfect, supposedly a Superphonic camp follower. All great fun. If there was a little too much of the “guitar hero” stuff, well, who’s to complain – there was plenty of skill and imagination there to back it up. The winner on the night, however, was Blacksmith’s Daughter. They were less polished than Superphonic and not as brash as One-Bollock-Peep-Show. They sport a really fine vocalist in Lucia and Tim is a superb guitarist. This was definitely the most cutting-edge of the three groups, with a finely honed and contemporary musical imagination. Sure, they were a bit over-cranked. Sure, their instrumentation was a bit muddy at times. But, on their composition Gypsy, they showed what they could do. They ultimately shaped up as the most up to date and forward-looking of the three groups. The audience recognized this in their fervent response and the judges backed their judgment in awarding them the gong. - Reviewed by Ken Quinnell Ken was a judge, along with Michael Smith from Drum Media and Sean Glassford from Jack Thompson’s Gearin Hotel. Ken was a contributing editor at Rolling Stone in the 1970s and is a music presenter on BLU FM. |
- Heat 4 review/pics -
Heat 3 review/pics BATTLE OF THE BANDS 2008
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Official website for Blue
Mountains FM 89.1
info@blufm.org.au
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Weekly
reviews 2008
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