Battle of the Bands: Wednesday Night

Tonight was more fun because Caz and I swapped music files during the sets. I love getting new music. Seven judges again tonight.

The first band up was Black River Brethren, an "O Brother Where Art Thou" looking band doing a bluesy/rockabilly sort of thing. Out of the ordinary instruments included a stand-up bass, cello, fiddle, and a banjo. While I appreciated the uniqueness of their music in an otherwise bland series of bands, the music was sub par.

Scorecard:

Musicianship: 7
Song Writing: 4
Crowd Response: 1
Stage Presence: 7
Vocal Performance: 7
Total Score: 26

Yet another lame wannabe punk band: Foolish Pete. They take after the Green Day / Good Charlotte variety. Agonizing to sit through their set.

Scorecard:

M: 4
S: 2
C: 5
S: 6
V: 2
Total: 19

Three out of the four members of the next band, The Debi Graham Band, were girls, which was a pleasant change. The singer had a funky Ani DiFranco voice while the band played bluesy rock. It was a pretty good set.

Scorecard:

M: 7
S: 7
C: 6
S: 10
V: 9
Total: 39

The final band, Details of Speech, did the happy indie-pop thing. It was hard to get into them because their sound mix was jacked up way too high and was almost reaching distortion. I suspect the sound guy, who was hooting and hollering during The Debi Graham Band, was attempting to sabotage this last act to ensure a win for them. But, despite a cool vocalist after the likes of Ric Ocasek of The Cars, the band still needs some fine tuning.

Scorecard:

M: 4
S: 6
C: 5
S: 5
V: 6
Total: 28

The crowd tonight was very small. Every one of these bands could have benefited from bringing out more fans. The audience vote agreed with the judges by just one vote. It was close overall, but Debi Graham pulled out the win. I'm 3 for 3 on picking winners so far.