BEST OF THE BANDS 2006
BEST OF THE BANDS 2006
Friday 12th May, Grand Opera House
Best of the Bands is an annual event organised by York City Council, aimed to support and encourage the talents of local school bands. Organisations across York such as The Nestle Trust, Pig Hut Studios, MOR music, Cube Media, Vue and Shepherd Building Group sponsored the event, which was hosted at the York Grand Opera House. The event provided the 15 bands who were performing, some live recording experience and the opportunity to perform in front of a wider audience. 6 judges decided on who should take home the grand prize worth £1,000 - consisting of a further 4 days of recording time in a professional recording studio plus 100 CDs complete with artwork and some promotion through Hangman’s Joke record label.
Tickets for the night had sold out with just under a thousand people filling the venue to capacity. I knew it was going to be an exciting evening but nothing could quite prepare me for just how impressive these bands were going to be.
The doors opened at 6.30pm encouraging squeals of excitement from the army of supporters; a group of fans headed straight for the front row to ensure they were as close to the bands as possible. By now the auditorium was buzzing with anticipation.
First band to take the stage were Conflux (Annete Guilding – Trombone, Sophie Pitt – Trumpet, Eleanor Reedy – Vocals, Alby Rosevare – Trumpet, Laurie Caudwell – Drums, Orlando Bloom – Bass and Ben St.John – Guitar) from the Performing Arts Centre run by the Arts and Culture Service. Their opening track was Sell Out by Real Big Fish. The four-part brass section created a fantastic edge to the bouncy, Blue Brothers style track. The vocalist took a moment to settle during this song, however, she soon found her confidence and it showed. Their 2nd track Always blended jazz, funk & bass with funky drums and soulful vocals – with a cheeky guitar solo providing the icing on the cake. A terrific performance to start the evening, rewarded with the Shepherd Building Group prize for Best Original Song.
Fulford School’s Psilanthropy (Luke Hudson – Vocals, Valeri Popov - Lead Guitar, Liam Bryan – Rhythm Guitar, Andy Wilson – Bass & Sam Anderson – Drums) thrashed out two heavy metals anthems. The first, a cover of Iron Maiden’s The Trooper with heavy aggressive drums and screeching lyrics that shook the crowd into a frenzy. They then played a track of their own - Ex Nihilio which was still dark and melodic, but with some amazing fretwork on the guitar. The vocals were at times a little over enthusiastic but held an extremely energetic performance together.
Next in line, Next in Line (Lisa Ward – Vocals, Danny Lofthouse – Guitar, Danny Akers – Drums, Elliott Longhawn – Bass & Jim Akers – Guitar) from Lowfield School. Chanting erupted from the eager crowd as the band took to the stage performing Escape Artists Never Die. Singer Lisa looked slightly uncomfortable and nervous at times but this was simply down to experience; her mature vocals showed throughout. Nothing At All – the bands second song had a nice commercial edge and the crowd delivered wholehearted applause.
Black Ice (Danny Richardson – Guitar, Rob Walden – Drums, Arran Woodford – Vocal, Tom Harding – Guitar and Jake Scarr Bass) – From Canon Lee school (who won the Pearson Publishing Prize for Most Tickets Sold) opened with NO A, an original piece with an obvious Metallica influence. It was quite fitting that their next track was to be a cover of Metallica’s Enter Sandman – Which was delivered with passion and was well received by the crowd. Although I am not a particular fan of this style I could not fail to be impressed by their ability to enrapture their fans.
The Skits (Angus Yeomans – Guitar, Matthew Norrel – Bass, Charles Code – drums & Ellie McCloud) of St Peters, decided to open with a rendition of Blink 182’s All the Small Things a stroke of genius – performed with passion and guaranteed that everyone would be paying close attention to their own number I Tried.
I Love My Mullet (Hugh Fothergill – Guitar, Harry Fothergill – Bass, Jacob Brown – Drums & Tristan Fayers – Vocals) of All Saints. Having recently seen this band in action I knew to expect a quality and accomplished performance… and that’s exactly what they delivered, rewarded with the MOR prize for Best team effort.
Straight Faced of Huntington School (Rachel Kay – Guitar, Tom Broughton – Bass, Joanna Freer – Tenor Sax, Hilary Ellis – Alto Sax, Amber Chadwick – Alto Sax, Chris Farrel – Trumpet, George McGrath – Drums & Sophia Comito – Vocals) delivered an outstanding performance. My personal opinion was that this was easily the best band of the night. Their magnificent version of Come on Eileen encouraged the whole venue (parents in particular) to participate in the chorus. The band loved every moment and put all their energy into their piece, walking away with a very well deserved award, the Pig Hut prize for Best Band Cover.
All Saints Blue Frequency (Ollie Webb – Drums/vocals, Laurence Longworth – Guitar/vocals, James Orr – Guitar, Connor Simpson – bass, Jasmine Tubridy – Vocals) had a swarm of enthusiasts cheering them on throughout their cover of She’s Electric by Oasis, an interesting choice for a female vocalist. Dressed in a salsa skirt and glittered trilby hat, Jasmine lit up the stage and together the band delivered an inspiring set.
Red Zephyr of Archbishop Holgate’s (Alex McCartney – Guitar/Vocals, Ben Freer – Bass, Ben Mummery – Guitar & Richard Broadbent - Drums) opened their set with a cover of Sgt.Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band an ambitious standard for any band to reach but a sterling effort despite the technical difficulties they experienced. These were resolved in time to appreciate the remarkable drumming throughout the grungy sounding Progression of Regret, which saw Richard Broadbent walk away with the VUE/Bandstrand prize for Best Individual Performer.
Joseph Rowntree’s Dark Star (Nick Fisher – Bass, Dan Smith – Drums, Jonny Wells – Guitar, Chris Smith – Vocals & Graeme Skingle – Guitar) scooped the Cube Media prize for Best Studio Recording for their innovative track Slither. Their cover of No Way Back by The Foo Fighters sealing their act with an energy-fuelled performance.
Kafka (Dan Ashurst – Drums, Tom Cartwright – Guitar, Sophie Benson – Bass, Alex Watterson – Guitar & Olivia Hanson – Vocals) delivered a vigorous and edgy sound with their track The Extremist. With screaming vocals and thrashing drums the band created a craze of moshing on the dress circle, causing the balcony to shake.
The band of the night Breakout Project (Theo Issitt – Vocals, David Earnshaw – Guitar, Jon Oliver – Drums & Reuben Witcherley – Bass) stole the judges votes with their cover of Let’s Get it Started by the Black Eyed Peas and their own Inaffective As Theo entertained the females in the front row much to their delight, the rest of the band rocked the stage so hard their Bass string snapped from the hiding it took– just goes to show they were giving it their all! They were rewarded the Bandstrand prize for the Best Presentation and Nestle-Hangmans Joke prize for Best/Most Promising Live Band for their sensational performance. Expect to hear more from this band in the future.
Once the initial high had settled and all acts completed, the bands returned to the auditorium to greet their supporters and watch the guest band, winners of last years BOTB – Evelyn with their dramatic show, easily the most powerful performance of the night. Again, this is not a style I would usually listen to but with such an incredible show I could understand why the crowd looked on in amazement and why this band were so successful at last years event.
In summary the night was a great success, all of the bands performed admirably and everyone had a great night. With such a degree of talent in York’s school bands surely we can expect to hear more from most if not all of the above bands over the coming months. An inspiring evening - If only I’d spent more time paying attention during those school music lessons!