Everyone a winner at the first
Battle of the Bands

Although smaller in numbers
than originally intended, it con-
tained the variety and excite-
ment that was promised, The re-
cent First Annual Battle of the
Bands organized by the Theatre
Alive Society was declared a
tremendous success.

by Tod Strachan

The audience of nearly 200
applauded and cheered as
Kitimat’s ‘‘Jackhammer’’ pick-
ed their way to the $500 first
prize, ‘‘Fair Warning’’ of Ter-
face and ‘‘No Restrictions’’ of
Prince Rupert tied for second to
earn $200 each and the ‘‘Bimm
Family’’ of Kitimat earned $100
for their third place finish,

Bands were judged on a varie-
ty of points which consisted of
two basic categories: talent and
presentation. The talent
category was broken down into
eight specific areas including ar-
tistry, technical ability and in-
tonation, while presentation in-
cluded the ability to relate to the
audience, projection, confi-
dence, how well group members
related to one another, the
suitability of material and the
balance between musical in-
struments. .

And in ali areas, 18-year-old
Jordan Burgess of Kitimat was
the success story of the night as
he led Jackhammer to their first
place finish with his collection of
Bach, Chet Atkins and progres-
sive rock.

Other entries in the Battle of

the Bands displayed a lot of §

talent, said the judges, and pro-
vided first class entertainment —
but when the final word was
said, they just needed that little
bit of polish that comes through
experience and was displayed b

Jackhammer.

According to Lynn Leydier-
Frolick, one of four judges for
the contest, ‘“When you're look-
ing at the presentation, technical
ability, confidence, relating to
the audience, repertoire, suit-
ability of material — they were
the ones pushing out.”’

As for Burgess, Leydier-
Frolick said, he should be en-
couraged to continue with his
music. ‘‘He’s got good technical
ability. He really felt the music.
Every little dig, every little kink,
every little thing — he was right
there.”’

Surprisingly, Burgess has very
little formal training and doesn’t
read music, .a condition he plans
to correct this fall by leaving his
job at Eurocan and enrolling in
Capilano. College to study
music.

Burgess picked up a guitar at
the age of 10, learned some
basics from friends and later
learned something about class-
ical guitar in a three-week sum-
mer camp in Courtenay in 1986.
Other than that, he picked up his
musical style on his own. He’s
played only a few dances and
spent about a month on the road
with a group last summer.

Following their win, Burgess
said, ‘It was a great chance for
all the local musicians to show
their stuff and it brings the spirit
up in the whole musical com-
munity.”

As for their winnings, Burgess
said that he and drummer Monte
Bromley and bass guitarist
Mathew Havery would be put-
ting the money to good use by
picking up ‘‘odds and ends” of
equipment for the group.

Other entries included rock.

band Fair Warning of Terrace
with Jim and Dan Fraser, Ian

Krebs and Lance Devine, who
successfully projected their voice
and style to the delight of the
younger audience.

Leydier-Frolick said the Battle
of the Bands was a great success
and the credit belonged to the
musicians.

“T thought that all the bands
worked really hard,” she said.
“They put together 20 to 30
minutes of music which is really
difficult to do. They all did a
really good job.”

She added that the event was a
great opportunity for any
musical group to compete in
front of a live audience and gain
some recognition for their
talent. She also pointed out that
the Battle of the Bands was open
to all ages and types of music —

western, classical, dixieland, and

jazz to name a few — and she

expects that with this beginning,
there will be more bands involv-
ed next year.

Theatre Alive representative
Bill Keenleyside said the au-
dience enjoyed themselves '‘im-
mensely’’ and the participants

- felt the same way, ‘‘I was talking
to one of the band members.

afterward and they really had a
good time, they enjoyed it. And
I think the exposure to the com-
munity that they received has
got to be a positive thing.”’

Keenleyside said the event will

‘also help Theatre Alive continue

their work of promoting both
the theater and local talent. He
said all money raised through
events such as the Battle of the
Bands goes toward projects such
as upgrading the lighting and
sound systems in R.E.M. Lee
Theatre.

Mark Stocker and Barry Eso, along with thelr band No Restrictions, helped
rock the R.E.M. Lee Theatre during the recent Battle of the Bands staged

by the Theatre Alive Soclety.

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