My Battle of the Bands: Round Two (Still Kicking!)

Last week, on May 3, my band made it through the first round of a huge Battle of the Bands at The Legendary Dobbs in Philadelphia. We went head to head with 14 bands, and only nine bands were selected to continue. Our relief when we discovered that we were one of the chosen bands was immense.

On the Sunday following our first battle, my band gathered at Drowning Fish Studios in Port Richmond for rehearsal. The space is owned by my drummer, Jason Dunkerley. It is a bright, comfortable studio live room with killer acoustics. Good work happens there.

My band–Jason Dunkerley, Alan Sheltzer, Dennis Rambo, Matt Agostini, and Joseph Blair–ran through our set from the previous week, tightened some things. Moved on to new material. A few hours, every week, in preparation for our participation in Music-a-Live! Phlily.

I’ll mention again that this contest was put together with the specific aim of raising money to keep music in public schools. In fact, anyone who brings an instrument with them to donate gets in for free. Musicopia has donated their time to fix any instruments that require some repair. The bands are donating proceeds from CD sales to the cause.

There is an atmosphere of hope and camaraderie at the shows. We’re doing a good thing, and the fact that we’re also gunning for a prize package valued at over $10,000, well…that’s icing, a perk, a cherry, whatever you want to call it.

I won’t keep you in suspense: I made it to Round Three.

Six bands from the first round were in “the bottom,” and a play-for-your-life segment on May 10 saw Voorhees oddballs Sexoffice carried through while the other five–Modzilla, Dear Submarine, Done@21, The Justin McNatt Trio, and Sherlock–went home.

The rest of us–LP Stiles, Sylvia Platypus, The Michael Chance Band, April Mae & The June Bugs, Ang & The Damn Band, Black Horse Motel, Stephen DiJoseph, Bride Dressed In Black–geared up for a three-song set.

Last week, I had opted to be a frontman only. This week, I picked up the guitar, and that turned out to be a mixed blessing. For sure, the songs sounded fuller and my performance was effusively praised.

On the other hand, two guitar strings broke within a minute or so of each other and I struggled to maintain stage presence and remember lyrics while two dangling coiled bronze guitar strings shredded the side of my right hand. The band rose to the occasion, I dare say.

The judges remarked that my band sounded “exponentially tighter than last week,” which we found gratifying. They wanted us to keep working on it, to be sure, but one judge called me “the performance highlight of the evening.”

Stay tuned for round three, which will take place this upcoming Tuesday, May 17. The Legendary Dobbs is located at 304 South St in Philadelphia. Come out and offer your applause to the nine remaining groups.

The show starts at 7 p.m., and any instrument–in any condition–will grant you free entry in. Otherwise, a donation at the door will get you nine fantastic bands.