The band comp rolls on...

My two penneth about last night:

At a half full/half empty Junction last night, victory went to a pub rock collective called The Beards who played songs about fish and erm...beards.Behind them, images of beard-wearing celebs were flashed onto a big screen. The band also shouted "Wow!" a lot in faux-American accents.
Second went to Mr Zed. Psycadelic space prog isn't my thing really so they also failed to win me over.
In third were Col Bastard, the brilliantly eccentric hat-wearing indie boys who sing about Hollyoaks and randy bears (I think). They deserved more - the highlight for me was a fantastically awkward looking jumping about sequence at the end. They got my vote.
Fourth spot went to some former St Ivo School pupils called Plus Guest. Apparently it was only their second gig ever..which leaves me wondering why they were there in the first place. They played watered down grunge and had a song about refugees. FunFunFun.

Before you ask Mr Hairy, yes the sound was total shite for the entire evening.

So who won?

The Beards.

Oh sorry I thought you were just telling us the running order. Thats a shame, I bloody love Col. Bastard it's just a shame i never get to see them.

hehe :)

Cheers for saying you enjoyed us Bastards. It was a great evening all round - well done to the Beards, Mr Zed and Plus Guest for entertaining so brilliantly. Nice to have such a range of styles... Also thanks to James from Karmadillo for stepping in to play bass.

Yeah, my t'penneth too... firstly, f**k me, how bad was the sound! - i felt sorry for the earlier bands because the soundman took until about 10:30 to work out how to work the desk! the first three bands fell foul to bad sound, then the beards stole the show purely because the sound man got their act together.

The beards were tight and fun, just not my thing really - i think its a shame that to get your music taken seriously in the local scene you have to wear silly hat, facemask, fake beard and suit and tie of course - there's got to be a paradox in there somewhere?

Zed and Bastard were very cool, but the sound just didn't carry off the stage too well. Anyway, was still a fun night out. All the best to the beards in the final.

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dunno, but half way through the third band they realised the lead mic wasn't working and changed it - where as the rest of the audience realised after about the first 5 mins!

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To bands playing The Junction. Save yourselves loads of hassle and just turn-up with bass guitars cause the sound guys don't want the audience to listen to much else!!
Awful sound.

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I agree with Pupik, the engineers do have a lot on with 4 bands on at the best of times. It gets more difficult when there are bands that dont have the experience of gigs on that scale to be able to communicate what they want in each monitor, what sound they are going for etc.

It's always a good idea to talk to the engineer, they're not mind readers.

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no no i just stood there tutting.

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i agree with grab, a hell of a lot of engineeers have to do 4 bands in a night and do it well. A sound engineer is largely being paid for his ears, and if they can't work out what sounds good and what sounds bad, they surely are no good at the job?

it wouldnt have taken telepathy to realise it sounded bad, they just had to listen with their ears.

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Regarding the sound last night, we did give technical specs beforehand (they even had a custom form for this), and the sound in our monitors was fine - we each got the mix we asked for. The sound problems seem to have been out front, not on stage (for us at least).

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The Junction managed to have crap sound when they had Pete Buck from REM on stage ... to not know which band member needs more monitoring is one thing, but to not realise the main mic isn't loud enough is another, and suggests disinterest or incompetence on the part of the guy doing it. Or it could be the venue!

If you're suggesting that bands get their mates to talk to the sound guy when there is a bad sound on stage at the Junction that sound guy is likely to end up hiding in the loos...

Also all bands entering the band comp have to fill out their tech specs on the application form so you can't blame the bands for that.

Our sound check beforehand was up to an hour. Surely enough time for a thorough check?!

Getting your mates to talk to the sound guy doesn't help.

Getting your mates to imperatively bark instructions at the sound guy can. Especially if your mates Know Their Onions.

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Fair point, has it been the same guys every week or maybe they are trying out new engineers etc at the comps rather than what they deem to be 'pro' gigs?

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I agree, but sometimes larger venues seem to look down on local bands and band nites such as the Fiver and Band Comps etc. Sad but true...

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Friday Night is Boogie Night! Ah Yeah!

Dont think Toby and Paddy are there much these days though

it was amusing watching the girl on the desk last night doing the sound - it was obvious to my dead cat that the sound was shocking - and she just kept looking at the desk like it was going to give her some answers as to why she was rubbish.

anyone know who the mc's in between the bands are?

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Maybe the band comp should move to the portland! It'd pack out for sure.

BTW, who is this king of engineering you speak of? Is it Mr Graham?

Maybe the band comp should move to the portland! It'd pack out for sure.

BTW, who is this king of engineering you speak of? Is it Mr Graham?

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well.... ikt wasn't gonna be jazz was it??? (JOKE!)

I posted a while back about doing an alternative band comp and got roundly blatted about it - only two people got in touch about supporting the idea. I'd love to do a proper Cambridge bands (for Cambridge people) one, if some others were interested in getting it off the ground.

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um... davy does work at the junction. he did sound for my band when we played a fiver a while back, and i'm pretty sure he was at the desk for the recent broken family band gig...

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hairy, how in touch with cambridgebands.com are you? i'm sure similar ideas have been posted there...

Sorry. Only have time for one message board : ) If you could point me at a thread i'll check it out.

http://www.thegraft.net/PHP/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1345&highlight=band...

it'll be in there somewhere

ta

Mr Hairy

i would support and help you if you wanna get it off the ground , and i can beat up and or shout at other people to help .

hehe, cool - could you mail me via this site? I'll keep a list ofanyone interested and ask some others if they're up for it. The idea of involving the News has been mentioned before - if there is support for the idea, they might be up for it. We'll see if enough people get behind the notion.

i have sent you a electronic mail

me three

you want the reason why the beards won? look at the crowd everyone paid attention to the beards the other bands had people walking to and fro. the reason for this? we're not big we're not clever we just put on show we gave them something to look at rather than just being a juke box for our tunes

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Part of the problem, I think, is that a lot of bands turn everything up on stage to the point where it's really difficult for the sound engineer to mix it properly. If you keep the volume down on stage, everything is much easier.

how about a sound engineer guide

www.cambridgesound.com

a sister site of cambridgebands.com

"Second gig ever"? Blimey. I was told by somebody who put his band's demo in to the competition a few years ago, and then phoned up to ask why they weren't in the comp, the answer came "You're too professional".

Hey ho.

good game good game..... was a fun nite had by Mr Zed ....... well done to the other 3 bands - top stuff.....

Oh the sound / sound engineer......
Couldnt work out how to send a signal from an aux send on a vocal track on the desk to my on-stage vocal FX box and return it on another track on the desk - took the techi's an hour to sort it - the more i told them how to send + return the signal, the more it confused them.... Sadly they were very amatur.... They even had to get there cheff sound man down to do it for them...... it was a bit silly.......Opppps, s......

Thop as said before - it was a fun nite had by Mr Zed - buschwa

"you want the reason why the beards won? look at the crowd everyone paid attention to the beards the other bands had people walking to and fro. the reason for this? we're not big we're not clever we just put on show we gave them something to look at rather than just being a juke box for our tunes"

I wanted to hear half decent music and if I want something to look at I'll stare at my lounge walls, it would be more fun than watching the Beards prance around the stage. With your sunglasses on you obviously didn't notice people leaving by the back door. If this is what the band comp is coming to, a bunch of ageing musicians singing about mackerel while showing a mix of irrelevant slides onto the side wall to distract from the banality of the music, then it has no future. Truly bloody awful band.

a) sunglasses or no it was my mates who being in the crowd funnily enough were aware of what was going on in the crowd and informed me.

b) im not "ageing" im 24 if you think thats old then you are exactly whats wrong with the world today namely that you're past it when you reach your twenties, when really you only get remotely good at what you're doing when you're at least in your thirties

c) funnily enough we couldnt couldnt care less what moody tossers like you think. seriously its really funny seeing people like you get really worked up about this. in case you hadnt noticed we're fucking about, we had a laugh. and if we're so "bloody awful" how come we won our heat and the beer cheer? that must make the other bands even shitter, no?

d) the fact that you mention the slides proves that they caught your attention. job done.

e) you have the worst tag ive seen in ages

the words BITTER & JEALOUSY spring to mind !

the beards were putting some fucking back into a somewhat dull night of music!

instro mental needs to have some fun me thinks and lighten up a little !

i didn't see these guys but i have heard that they are a good fun band, and coming from a (now deceased) band who played what they played because they enjoyed it, i totally am on the beards side.
A gig should not just be about the music, it should be a show. I doubt very much that the bards were showing a mix of irrelevant slides onto the side wall to distract from the banality because that would just show that they have no faith in what they do. I'm sick to death of people wanting something clever all the time, other than pop. Get your finger out your arse and have a laugh with them.
I can't judge in the final decision as the only lot i;ve seen were colonal bastard, who themselves are doing a similar thing with music - it's fun and entertaining.

i think instro mental should be renamed instro menstrual (sorry ladies).

He obvisouly didnt get the beards, as sneaky said.

Whilst he noticed the few leaving out the back door, he must of missed the many more people who came from out the darkness where they ahd been stranding for all the other bands, and actually enjoy and dance to their set.

I agree that supposed 'comedy' bands can grate very easily on the nerves, and ones such as The Darkness deserve being bogwashed to death. But the beards are excellent musicians, if you see them as ageing or not.

And i hope not as i believe i am older than them. And dont want to be deemed redundant at 25!

Come on the beards in the final "wwoooooowwwww"!

The band comp - its another gig - when you start getting all serrious about it - your taking yourself too seriously...

Like music - if your not having fun - you prohaps should'nt be doing it...

Well done to the beards - keep up funky motherf#cking fun...

OK I was a bit harsh. I apologise?..up to a point. The Beards are indeed tremendous musicians there is absolutely no denying that but I did not enjoy their ?show? and maybe the fact that they seemed more concerned with the visuals than the music is the reason. I was blown away by the musicianship in the first few minutes but my admiration for them evaporated as the set wore on and it eventually became, in my humble opinion, downright boring. No amount of jumping and running around the stage, together with the visuals, could compensate for the vapid nature of the songs and I don?t believe they did themselves justice, and I don?t care whether they won the heat and the beer cheer or not. If they are indeed a comedy band, as adeyp pointed out, then great keep it up because they?re excellent at it and it?s a great show and, as priory says, they did indeed lighten-up ?a somewhat dull night of music?, but I?m not sure if that?s what The Beards are totally about. I?d love to hear the band play under different conditions doing some songs far removed from the ones they played at the comp and until I do I can only say that at this moment I don?t like The Beards.

heheheh

I wasn't here for the night (else I'd have been singing and playing in Colonel Bastard) so I can't comment on the bands. I like it when bands have a scrap though. My reports from the evening are that everyone enjoyed it, so it must have been good. The engineer does sound a bit weird though :-)

I like it when bands have a scrap though.
mwhite - none of the bands are having a scrap though - none are bitter towards any other band who wasd involved or won....

Talking about winning - All the bands who made it through to the heats of the Cambs Band Comp are winners... Each band got to play on a resonably big stage - Each band got bradcasted live over internet radio via 209 - Each band had a live interveiw on 209 radio...

So everyone was a winner....

Good luck to the beards and well done you funky motherf#ckers....

Buschwa

Mr Zed

Quite right Mr Zed- bands are scrapping with others and not with each other.

I received good reports of all the bands, so I reckon it was a good evening for all.

I did actually mean - none of the bands are scrapping with other bands...

All bands should be working with each other - theres no need for band rivalry - rivalry will never create a strong music scene - working together is the only way cambridge will ever create a big enough music scene so as music industry bods from other areas will take note and take the diverse cambridge music scene seriously...

Team work is whats required - no one man or band can conquerthe world individualy - so top speak...

so what was the colonel bastard line up then?

It was the same as usual but without me and with James from Karmadillo on bass. In our normal set, I sing the songs I wrote, and Ben sings the songs he wrote, so the set consisted of most of Ben's songs, and two or three of mine. It didn't have much impact beyond a slight change of set, and the absence of my backing vocals. So I guess I'm dispensable. :-)

heh. Must see you do a full set soon, only got the living room to go by. when's your next outing?

Well by sheer chance Mr Logan, we're playing very soon! ;-)

We have an acoustic gig in Peterborough at the weekend, and a full band gig next week at The Loft (April 1st). The original line up are reforming for that one, so it should be special!

mr mental you clearly have an issue with us being a "comedy" band which is fair enough. we're a covers band that some how managed to win their heat at the band comp which we find fucking hilarious. What is slightly dissapointing however is people like yourelf seem to get annoyed with that fact, are we not taking it seriously enough for you? we're just having a laugh is that so wrong?

if you wish to see some of us playing some more "credible" music then mine and the singers other band (we're called Delphi and we're awesome) is playing at the portland tomorrow main support. that is if we're not too old for you....

we're a covers band that some how managed to win their heat at the band comp...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you supposed to only play original songs at the band comp? Not having a go or anything, just pointing out a technicality ;-)

they did - they wrote a set just for the comp

Fair play to them then. Well done Beards!

clap clap clap clap !

they did - they wrote a set just for the comp

that's just even more credible then!

steady on - they wrote a set especially for the band comp.... ?????

mmmmm - they were all reworkings of old funk tunes - same riffs ect ect just defferent song structures...

Though well done lads keep on funking...

arent all tunes reworkings of old ones. tell me you've never ripped anything off. id like to think that most of my bass lines were pretty original they're going to sound like old funk tunes coz thats what i listen to. one of them however is a blatent rip off of funky stuff by kool and the gang!!

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blimey, few issues going on here!! I'd like to add my ore in then and say The Beards also did a set for an UPTIGHT! night the other week and managed to mix in old and new tunes.

AND one of the judges 'things' to note and mark on is STAGE PRESENCE - which i have to say The Beards absolutely rock on.

I was on the panel of judges at the final of the Haverhill Rock Competition a couple of years ago and there was a big stink about how the winning band were actually a dance act - High White Honkies - but at the end of the day they came tops on each of the areas we were asked to judge on. The scratch DJ actually won the most talented musician as to be honest, it was amazing and the technicality behind what he did was as complicated as someone playing the chelo!

So, at the end of the day its about the show and the crowd reaction, just as much as the music ability.

that's my two pennies finished. Yx

arent all tunes reworkings of old ones

Eh!! What a fuckin stupid statement. So he can play but he can't write an original tune.

steady on!!

some bods are getting the wrong end of the stick me thinks...

I may have said that the beards arnt the most original sounding band in the world - but i'll quote - that i dont have a problem with this one little tiny bit... I was just making a critical judgement...

I dont want to take anything away from the beards or the fact that they won their heat...
If anything its kinda good that we're all talking about them - its keeping their name spinning, its all publicity...

The beards are groovy funky motherf@#kers and have a great lively stage act which i've enjoyed on more than one occasion... And the most important thing is - there having fun - which is what its all about... Fun Fun Fun...

Mackerels and fish served on a platter of funkin funky fun - it does it for me...

i was merely refering to the fact that all music is based on that which came before it. and my bass lines are both awesome and original!!