Culture

A Review of Battle of the Bands

The atmosphere was kinetic for so early in the evening. Maybe it was the collective nerves, band members tense about not only their own performance, but what the competition would bring. Maybe it was the alcohol. Together, it elicited a potent mix of frenetic socialisation and unrestrained fidgeting. As Jamie Green, wary from the previous nights chipped tooth, stepped up to battle the mic again, the scattered crowd gathered ready for the marathon of bands that would ensue.
As the opening act, Vicars were keen to make a good impression. While they battled to keep up with the myriad of ideas slung together, finger-pointing was turned up to maximum. It was a powerful display of Yosemite Sam enthusiasm so insistent I had to check whether there was something on the ceiling more than once. Travolta were next up, their slight line-up buffered by guitarist Lee's loop pedal fetishism. An angular powerhouse driven by one of the most solid drummers of the evening, their fifteen minutes was impressive, but the songs got lost in a quest for sheer intensity. Ink Mathematics followed with their own take on suit-and-tie metal, a requisite genre for Battle of the Bands. If the lead singer can say 'vestigial' in between songs, sorry, it just ain't brutal enough. This was followed by the always heady combination of pub-rock, bbq-reggae and Red Hot Chili Peppers rhyme structures presented by Jam and the Slydogs. While they sung a song about Aotearoa, I ruminated on what reggae actually meant in New Zealand these days, and made my way to the bar. 
Halfway through the Mr Biscuits set, there was a technical malfunction that lead to the most 'inspired' moment of the night. As a song built, the kick pedal broke, and the crowd was subjected to feedback-laden guitar shards, broken drumrolls, and bratty vocals broadcast through AM radio speakers. Their short set was noisy and rough, but ultimately memorable. Probably contained a lot of X-factor, whatever that is. Bugged me all night. The next band, In The Loop, relied heavily on a loop pedal to build up the rhythm for their jazzy-reggae grooves. They sounded more proficient than they were original, despite the loop pedal. OK! Crazy Fiction Lady had the largest crowd response of the night. With their sound lying between Elemeno P and So So Modern, it wasn't surprising they also had a crowd-surfer. The Exclamations! were definitely a band with a vocalist, and the Something Quartet were one without. The replacement singer worked out for the Something Quartet in the end, as their washed-out quarter hour was awarded third place, with OK! Crazy Fiction Lady taking second, and Mr Biscuits winning the competition.