Ah...spring is here, and the forecast calls for scattered Funk and thunderous Rock N Roll, mixed with some scorching hot days of Hardcore Metal, and a guaranteed 100% chance of some incredible music and good times!!! Hey all!! It's been a bit since I've written here, and there is a lot to talk about. In the last couple of weeks, I have been compiling performances and interviews, building my site, and putting this incredible charity event on for the Children's Hospital - The Battle of the Bands Street Hockey Tournament...24 of some of Winnipeg's most talented bands competing for some fun and cool prizes!!....so I'm busier than busy! For the good I must say as well!! But I want to talk about something I saw recently.

This past weekend, I attended a Battle of The Bands where I was supporting a band I’ll soon be featuring. Now, in this particular battle, the bands were into the Semi-Final Round, and were allowed to play 45 minute sets!! And they were allowed to play covers too! Crazy! Now, if you're not familiar with what a Battle of the Bands is, here is a short summary - Bands compete against each other by playing live to a crowd, for a title and other prizes such as recording time, gift certs., and gigs. There is usually a panel of judges from various musical resources like studios, and music stores, and bands are usually judged on talent, showmanship, originality, etc.... Now, this was a pretty relaxed battle, in that everyone was out to have a good time, and even the guy putting it on was not afraid to tap my glass in cheers a few times! He even gave me his card...twice! lol Now back in the day, I had the pleasure of competing in a few of the local the ritualistic music battles myself, but we only got to play 3 tunes, and they had better be friggin’ good or you’d be sure to have the opportunity to walk with your head down low for looking so bad...I mean, that's what rehearsals are for, right? You know... getting your s**t together so to speak? But if you have the nuts to say that your band is better than someone else’s, AND get 45 minutes to try and prove it, you better not ‘choke’ when you’re up there! Now there was a band that played that night, I will mention no names, and during the end of the 2nd last tune, the singer broke a string. No big deal, right? Well he spent an agonizing 10 minutes trying helplessly to find a string in front of a packed crowd, while the rest of the band played an improvised blues jam till he found a string, did the necessary change and re-tuning - all so we could hear the final song which was a CCR cover! I mean, 10 minutes? Come on! They could’ve stopped playing, helped the poor guy find a string, and redeem themselves with 3 last songs, but, no, they instead opted to play the old ‘please stand by” blues thing. Now, yes, of course they should have a chance to play another song, but a cover tune should not have been it. Shit happens...I’ve been there... strings break, drumsticks break, cables go ‘haywire’, mics go down - but you got to be prepared for it...and if there’s a chance to redeem yourself in any way, it should be done with something of your own...not someone else’s. Even if you have to play an original over again. It’s a contest, not a jam, and you have to promote YOUR music as much as possible. Isn't that the idea? Live and learn, and suck it up. We all have.

Now the band I went to support, TINNITUS, definitely showed up to compete! They came with their game face on, and proved to the crowd that they were serious about winning. Heavy at times, melodic and rythmic in others, Tinnitus was not afraid to come out full force and drive the crowd into a frenzy! They blew the lid off the place and showed the other bands what metal is all about. They're a good bunch of guys too!

Oh, yeah...and they won. Congrat's boys!!

Be sure to check 'em out when I feature them later this week!

Now, if you want to sign your band up for the Street Hockey Tourney, or have you or your band featured on my site, or to just say hello...you can send me an email here...or check out my Myspace page here.....

More news to come soon!!!

Cheers!! Vince