 Young
bands are coming from all over the country vying for stardom
- not just the $2000 up for grabs for the overall winner
in the Skool of Rock, Battle of the Bands competition held
at HRC for a few more weeks. Sure, the 2 grand would come
in handy for any struggling artist but the big prize would
have to be the potential record deal and coming to the notice
of the national recording industry and media. The Hard Rock
is probably the only organization in the country with enough
respect from the audience and the bands themselves to achieve
the required interest from all quarters. And what do we
get as punters? It’s not all bad, we get the chance
to see some of the most exciting bands in the country.
September 13
Last week’s PagiHari from Jogya was probably the
best band I’ve ever seen at HRC. That may seem like
overplay, but I have seen just about all that this country
has to offer in Rock and most of it on that stage at HRC
at one time or another. PagiHari played a set of originals
and covers that literally took the lid off. I haven’t
got a clue if it’s commercial or not and don’t
really care but I haven’t seen such originality,
talent and passion in live music in a very long time.
I’m sure I wasn’t the only one there who felt
the same and we’ll be looking forward to seeing PagiHari
again.
Funny thing, at half time on Monday night we were saying
that the first band, local boys Nutrix, was the best one
we had seen till that point in the competition. And they
too, were very good. The singer has a deep voice like ex-Creed
singer Scott Stapp and very classy guitarist pumping out
some classic US style rock. We’ll probably see a lot
more of them too.
September 20
Two local outfits by the names of Puzzle and Blackend
graced the HRC stage for the fourth heat of the Skool
and both would’ve come close to being gonged in
the famous Californian TV show of the seventies but managed
to hold it together thru their 45 min sets to an unclimatic
finish. Puzzle had influences from Shiela on 7 and other
Indo pop bands while Blackend have obviously spent a lot
of time in front of SID and NoFX.
If you like your rock folks, some of the best is going
on at HRC on Monday nights. The last two heats are on
Sept 27 and Oct 4 with Semi Finals on Oct 11 and then
the Finals, October 18. Make sure you get down there for
the finals especially, it’s gonna rock! SS
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