UCD Battle of the bands a sham!!

toofast

Just wanted to vent my anger on what a farce UCD Battle of the bands was last nite.
For a start the band I was in was up first.
I know someone has to be up first but how the hell did they decide this???
The line up was already picked before anyone got there.
A draw should have taken place at the start of the event in front of all the bands to see who goes first, second etc. To me this seems like the fairest way to do things.

Also as soon as the second band had finished the UCD organisers put the shutters up that divides the student bar in two thus giving the next two bands maximum exposure to the potential audience in the whole bar.
Why wern't the first two bands afforded this luxury. In essense keeping the shutters closed during the first two bands basically shut them out of the competition.

I was also shocked to hear and see a vast improvement in sound a lighting while the last two bands played. (I do live sound myself and this wasn't my imagination.) Also no surprise that the last two bands had the biggest connections within the UCD Ens office. Hmmmm could this be something to do with them getting to play last.
Its really no surpise the last band won!

I have no problems being beaten by a band better at what they do as long as everyone is competing on a level playing field and is given an equal oppourtunity but to me this event reaked of foul play.

KevIRL

Moved to UCD from gigs/events..

Red Alert

That's terrible. IMHO the light show should have been up to each band, whether they want it subtle or bold etc. The shutters should have stayed down not up if that's what they were for the first songs.

Einstein

unfortunately dude 99% of band battles are shams...and 99% of the time the best band doesnt win.

princess-sprkle

its a bit crap if they only pulled the shutters up for the last two bands. Surely the whole thing should have the same potential crowd? i.e everyone in the bar? pffft, thats not cool at all.

Furious-Red

Einstein wrote: »

unfortunately dude 99% of band battles are shams...and 99% of the time the best band doesnt win.

agreed. the last 2 BOTB's i have been playing we were on 1st and second. who ever the last two bands will have the audience advantage due to the fact more people turn up in dribs and drabs. well thats what i have found imo.

Also if a BOTB every say they are looking for something totally different they usually go for what ever is popular at the time which in my experience is indie bands(no offence to anyone who plays indie music)

MuddyDog

usually the band who wins is the band who has the biggest posse with them and who generally shouts the loudest.

gubbie

Call shanagans. Its my 3rd favourite word

Ziltoid

I'm playing in the next heat and I'm a bit concerned. I checked out the winners of 3 of the heats just out of curiosity and they all sound like the same band. It's clear the judges are a big fan of indie music. We're pretty much screwed as we're as far from indie as you can get. I completely agree that the shutter should be down for the whole show. My old band got to the the final last year and then got disqualified but we were on near the end for both rounds which really helped. Seeing as we had to pay to enter they could at least draw the order out of the hat. They did it for the final last year.

tywy

who won?

panda100

Ziltoid wrote: »

It's clear the judges are a big fan of indie music. .

Who judges it?

HappyCrackHead

Dude, this is UCD, if you're not looking where you're going you'll trip over a clique.

The ents office is one of the worst though. I wouldnt particularly say that about the current incumbent, but in the past and definitly in the future cronyism plays a huge part.

Always beware the Ents crew.

colliewobbs

Get over it mate. I was there that night and witnessed the event. the shutters i can agree with you, was a bit unfair. Alas the decision for the winner of the heat is not up to the crowd, it is up to the judges. also, you could argue that having the shutters down gave you a better atmosphere rather than a big empty room. You are all very talented musicians. the singer has an excellent voice and both guitarists have superb technical ability. the bass and drummer were adequate at best but still the band in general had no stage presence. this is why your band didnt win. i say this out of constructive criticism but i will be harsh. The singer looked at his feet for every minute of every song. where he sounded great, he looked like he didnt want to be there and his heart wasnt in it. People pick up on this more than you'd think. this being the case, the guitarists should have stepped in to save the day. they should have stepped forward into the spot light, wide stances, wild hair waving in the air, face melting solos at the ready. But instead both guitarist didnt move from their dark corners of the stage.

The band who did win, The Depths, on the other hand succeeded in all areas where you failed. instead of singing to his shoe laces, the singer engaged the crowd with his stage presence, singing ability as well as universal 'between song banter' instead of shouting 'in jokes' at his mates who look embarrassed to be associated with him. The guitarist actually made himself known to the crowd. as well as being just as good (if not better) with his instrument he also engaged the crowd with eye contact and general looking cool. everyone loves someone who just looks cool. The bass and drummer where streets ahead. it is not common for the bass player to be so popular with the general public. he had a likability that your whole band lacked. Now the drummer! I must say i have a personal issue with your drummer which i must vent. He is a bumbling ill talented neanderthal who insults every drummer in the world before him when he calls himself one of them. he came out with this stupid jacket like he thinks hes a rock star, (wearing the same exact outfit as last year may i add, same shoes even, like it has ever worked in the past). I think also that his drumming has deteriorated and any sign of hope has faded like his jeans.
These are the reasons you didnt win. oh and also playing an ac/dc tribute set wont get you any favors from the judges and neither will speculating about rigged events.


Hope this helps!

Karma_Police

what a great rant....


well done good sir

Red Alert

Is the ranter one of the judges?

Royale with Cheese

Exact same thing happened to me last year. What can you do about it. That kind of thing is to be expected in UCD though.

I wouldn't have minded but the band that won that night were fairly sh*te, but knew somebody in ents, had the most friends in UCD etc. There was another band there who were brilliant.

Red Alert

A few tweaks on the sound if you know the soundman or have bribed him are a big help in making a particular band sound great or totally crap.

Eean

i agree with CollieWobbs, great rant by the way. we played our heat, went on 2nd and won, and have no connections with Ents what-so-ever, so theres no need to be a sore loser. you win/lose some!
Tripod on Wed for the Final!! Woooo!

Royale with Cheese

Ooooh, fight

ocuf

Eean, You are probably referring to the 2nd heat...The first band(cant remember their name) were robbed.
But as you say, you win some..you lose some

Eean

i dont think so....if we robbed anyone, it was the last band Citizen! but im not hear to judge, we played what we play and hoped for the best.

colliewobbs

The bands who are in the final deserve to be there.Its the nature of competition. Someone has to decide who is better and in this case it was the judges. i suppose its an opinion but its the only opinion that counts in a competition.

An Bradán Feasa

Most of the time the judges already know who's going to win because they've heard the demos provided by the band to the Ents officer. This way they can rig who goes first, second, last and all that. The band going on last will win most of the time, this has been pre-determined by the judges. The point made earlier about bigger crowds for the last band due to people wandering in is very valid. It's all a clever scheme. I remember when I played the UCD BOTB in 2006, this was the case. The band who were on last were mediocre, but had better lighting, and a better crowd due to people wandering in. And they won it, but I'm also sure they had connections with the Ents Officer/Crew.

The only positive thing I can say about bands that don't win in these things is that it is valuable stage experience, if nothing else.

Red Alert

Maybe the band should be allowed decide their own lighting plot so if that goes against them then it's their fault.

Whelo10

Ah here, lighting can help a band look somewhat better, but lets face it, the lighting the in the stu bar is pretty mediocre anyways. Good lighting doesn't mean their a good band. The band that won have played a few gigs and have gained a decent fan-base, why should this be held against them? If you want to win one of these competitions, make sure every1 you know, knows when your playing. I know for a fact, the winning band go to a lot of trouble every time they play a gig, no-matter where to get as many fans as they can...its just good marketing!

Royale with Cheese

That's all well and good, but the best band with the best songs should win. Not the band with most fans present. But you're right, lighting wouldn't make a massive difference imo (whereas bad mixing definitely would).

I didn't see the comp so I'm not saying anything about these bands in particular, just botb competitions in general.

colliewobbs

An Bradán Feasa wrote: »

Most of the time the judges already know who's going to win because they've heard the demos provided by the band to the Ents officer. This way they can rig who goes first, second, last and all that. The band going on last will win most of the time, this has been pre-determined by the judges. The point made earlier about bigger crowds for the last band due to people wandering in is very valid. It's all a clever scheme. I remember when I played the UCD BOTB in 2006, this was the case. The band who were on last were mediocre, but had better lighting, and a better crowd due to people wandering in. And they won it, but I'm also sure they had connections with the Ents Officer/Crew.

The only positive thing I can say about bands that don't win in these things is that it is valuable stage experience, if nothing else.

Only 1 of the bands who was on last won their heat. in the two previous heats the 2nd band won. so this point is therefore invalid. i'm not sure who won last wednesday. if anyone knows could they tell me.

Red Alert

Is there any check that the ents gang or the guys on the sound board have no undue connections to any of the acts?

colliewobbs

there are 3 judges, 1 from ents, and 2 from outside the ents system. sound guy is hired by ents also. do you really believe that there is favoritism towards some bands so far that they would sabotage other acts? ents also faked the moon landing and planned 9/11.

PennyLane

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

That's all well and good, but the best band with the best songs should win. Not the band with most fans present.

While I agree that any music event like this shouldn't become a popularity contest, there is a bit more to it than the quality of the songs. As mentioned earlier in the thread, stage presence can really make or break a gig. My favorite live shows and my favorite artists are not entirely the same, because listening to a good band and watching a good band put on a GREAT show are two different things, and since this is a performance-based contest, the quality of the performance should definitely be taken into account.

Eean

Red Alert wrote: »

Maybe the band should be allowed decide their own lighting plot so if that goes against them then it's their fault.

Lighting??...in the grand scheme of things, its about song quality and performance, the lighting is not going to have a massive affect on these judges, 2 of 3 will have some sort of decent musical experience behind them and can look past lighting! in cake terms....a chef can tell a good cake or not, no matter how many sprinkles are on top!