UNSIGNED BAND COMPETITION MUSIC
BAND COMPETITION
Opportunity knocks? Nah. Stars in their eyes? Phooeey! There is only one way to pop nirvana and Jonathan Trew knows the route.
So you wanna be a rock 'n‘ roll star? Get driven around in a stretch limo. laze about on sun-drenched pool sides and ‘work' forjust a couple of hours a night. throwing ofi’those guitar licks while gazing imperioust out onto the adoring faces of hordes of screaming fans all desperate for just one glance or one touch of your breeks. You'll be lucky.
Back in the real world. Bacardi rum have developed a Scottish national competition to give one band a boost onto the first rung of the ladder to success. They approached us at The List to become involved to lend our musical expertise and knowledge of what it takes for a band to make it big. So Bacardi rum and The List have teamed up and are looking for unsigned bands living in Scotland who reckon that they have got the necessary talent to stand out from their peers. Between now and Christmas we want fledgling chart breakers to send us demo tapes with their three best songs on them. All genres within the popular music spectrum will be considered. We don‘t care whether it‘s drop dead. kick ass rock or bubble gum pop, what we're looking for is the ability to create fantastic music and entertain a crowd.
On the practical side, we know that recording a demo can be expensive and we don’t expect you to spend a fortune creating one. but try and make it
Bacardi rum and The List are looking for unsigned bands living in Scotland who reckon that they have got the necessary talent to stand out from their peers.
audible. If there are more than three songs on the tape then we will only listen to the first three.
Make sure that the band name is clearly marked on the cassettes and not just the cassette box as. getting mixed up is easy when you have a large pile of tapes on the desk. Last but not least, write a contact number on the cassette. Wouldn't you just hate it if stardom was beckoning but you’d left your phone number off the cassette?
We will listen to every tape that is sent to us and representatives from The List and Bacardi rum will pick out the best bands to go forward to a series of local heats held in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee.
Edinburgh and Stirling in the early months of next year. The selected bands will play live in front of an audience and a panel of music industry judges including record company scouts. performers, radio DJs. music promoters and music journalists. One band will go forward from each local heat to perform in the national final which will be held in Glasgow on Thursday 8 May. Throughout the competition The List will be previewing and reviewing the bands involved in the heats. So watch this space.
The eventual winner and geniuses-in-waiting will win the following superb prize package: I £1000 cash Handy for buying a new pair of trainers or celebrating your victory at the bar with a jugful of Bacardi rum. Alternatively you could do something sensible with the money. like buying some decent equipment instead of using the ‘Little Thumper' drum kit your auntie bought when you were twelve. I Two days in Park Lane studios, Glasgow Recording time in one of Scotland's premier recording studios, thanks to the generous guys at Park Lane. Two days will be enough to lay down a world-beating single. make millions and retire to tax exile. Unlikely. but it's nice to dream. I Tascam home recording unit worth £400 Thanks to Sound Control. Glasgow. you will be able to make demos which sound the way you want them to rather
than a monkey screaming down a wind tunnel at midnight.
I Five hundred three track on singles Yup. Bacardi rum will pay for you to make 500 (count ‘em) copies of your single on CD. That's enough to send a copy to every record company in the land. every music mag. every record station and still have enough left for granny to coo over.
I Advice The murky music biz waters are hoaching with sharks all eager to relieve you of anything of any value. However. before you even get your toes wet, we will have armed you with extensive advice in matters of management. promotion and those tricky legal questions courtesy of leading legal and music biz figures.
I And it that wasn’t enough . . . the regional and national winners will receive massive PR support so that everyone knows that your band has what it takes.
Good. eh?
Over in lreland. Bacardi rum have been running the Bacardi Unplugged Band Competition in conjunction with music mag Hot Press for three years. Last year’s winners, Little Sister Sage, have gone on to tour the States, support Aimee Mann and were invited to play a showcase gig at the EurOpop Festival in Freiburg. it could be you. as they say.
See entry forms on page 43 and happy demo recording.
last years’ Irish winners, Little Sister Sage, are now bigger than 02. Sort oi
The List l8-3l Oct I996 49