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We all want to be rockstars right? Playing sold out shows to millions of adoring fans around the world, listing things like (warm) white tube socks in your rider, and bypassing waiting in line – who doesn’t want that? Well for us common folk, the path to stardom has been made THAT much easier with the inception of Battala Rockstars.

Wednesday night marked the final week of Round 1 that featured head-to-head action as bands battled song for song, high kick for high kick, and guitar solo for, well, guitar solo. I show up at Healy’s Roadhouse (the new location on Blue Jays Way, of course) to be greeted by not one but TWO stages and a room full of music fans.

Soon after, Sons&Lovers took the main stage and belted out their first of four songs (sidenote: these guys have their own light guy on stage as part of the band!). I shuffled with the crowd to the second stage to catch A.P.E. (A Primitive Evolution) front row centre.

The second pair of bands featured local acts Bury The Bully and Obsidian. And here’s how it works: the first band would play one song and then the second band would play their first song. Then back to the first band. Cool, right? My ADD brain could actually keep up with what was going on here! Judges included Jeremy Taggart (Our Lady Peace), Gavin Brown (producer), and Karen Bliss (music journalist).

Tons of photographers and video peeps were out so I’m sure you’ll be hearing about Battala Rockstars everywhere. They’ve got battles scheduled for Ottawa and Halifax in the coming months with bands competing towards recording and touring deals. Winners of last week’s battle – which was sponsored by marketing/promotions team Must Be Santa – were Sons&Lovers and Obsidian, who will both advance to Round 2. I can’t effing wait to see more. Skate4Cancer has their night coming up in February!

This ain’t your average battle of the bands, folks!

Posted on Friday, February 8th, 2008 at 7:18 pm by Mike VK and is filed under Concerts & Events.

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