Gamlingay Battle of the Bands

I ran the sound for the inaugural Gamlingay Battle of the Bands on Saturday. We had the local community centre which is a fairly large standard community hall and had 10 band splaying and about 250 in the audience. The day ran from 3.00 – 11.00 and there were two categories – under 17s and 17-25 yr olds.
In the order that they played, the bands were:
Under 17s
- Target n Takedown
- Default Affection
- Pretty Tied Up
- Call this a Comeback
17-25s
- Screwd
- Error 404
- Phoenix Impact
- The Jamlingjays
- Noise
- FTA
The standard was much higher than we had expected with all bands putting in good performances, with some of them great. The judging panel consisted of local music business luminaries who came along and decided on the winners and losers.
For the sound we hired and Allen and Heath GL2200 mixing desk, lexicon effects and behringer and Peavey PA management systems and achieved a loud but controlled front of house sound by keeping stage levels (relatively) low, which meant I could mix PA sound to suit the audience – always the better option.
We used my EBS bass rig, which performed impeccably (as you would expect) even when some a**e spilled beer on it. We had Marshall and fender guitar amps, which most guitarists stuck to and kept a core drum kit from start to finish.
I had Wayne Hipgrave helping me with the sound, a local celebrity and fireman – he was excellent – really calm and helpful – he sorted out a number of on-stage issues we had.
The under 17s kicked off at 3.30 and 4 bands played. The standard was surprisingly high, with some guitar playing worthy of much older musicians, IMHO. The first band Target n Takedown were excellent – a really difficult thing to do to open the event. Then we had Default Affection, a more funky sound. They were great too with great promise. Pretty tied up were the most punk we had with loads of attitude. Loved them. Call this a comeback were the last of the under 17s and were very good – they really got the crowd going and were a fine finish to the first part of the day's proceedings.
By 5:40 they had all finished but they had to wait until the end to find out who had won. That gave them the chance to chill and listen to the older bands. The winners of this section were Target n Takedown – the judges saw lots of potential there.
After they had finished local singer/songwriter, who had entered the competition with his band, only to have the band break up a week before the gig, treated us to a few songs, including some of his own.
The second part started at 7.00 and we were treated to some amazingly good performances. There were some real highlights, and all of the bands performed well and got sections of the crowd going. The first band on, Screwd were a revelation, with a distinctive sound, some excellent bass and some interesting songs. The eventual winners, Error 404, from outside the area, were very polished and early set the night rocking. Really tight sound and vocals with lots of harmony and counterpoint(!!!!!) The Jamlingjays (despite a rather old looking 25yr old bass player) were great with some amazing bass playing and quite an individual style. Local lads Phoenix Impact made quite an impression, with their distinctive vocal sound and some really good guitar playing, and one of the judges had said he will keep an eye on them over the next 6 months to see how they develop. We also had an amazing Nervana-esque band called Noise – perhaps a bit too copycat to win the competition, but really good. The last band, FTA were also amazing and really worked the crowd. Very tight and polished.
The evening ended at 11.00 and most of the clear up was done by 12:30. I wasn't able to get back on Sunday to help with more clearing up as I had to record a promising young jazz duo, but by all accounts the village was buzzing with talk of the gig and all consider it to have been a real success. To cap it all, the press team had worked really hard, and Anglia News did a small feature on the competition, showing the young section winners Target n Takedown and an interview with Bridget, our tireless organiser and inspiration. And my bass amp was on telly!!!!
Thanks to all who took part, came to watch or helped in any way. All our efforts were worthwhile. A special mention must go to Chris and her fantastic hot dogs. But let's not forget the lads who had made it happen and the adult volunteers who played such a massive part – you know who you are. Now please enjoy some of the left over beer!