Young musicians from across Alberta will compete for a place in an upcoming music festival’s lineup at Rock For Your Spot.
Lemmon Stage will present the Rock For Your Spot competition on Oct. 7-8 at the Scott Block Theatre in downtown Red Deer. The event is the successor to last year’s RD Battle of the Bands.
The top bands in the competition will earn spots at a music festival in Calgary, which will be named at a later date, as well slots in a Calgary recording studio with a professional producer.
“It’s going to be a pretty cool opportunity for these kids,” said Roy Rhyno, an event manager with Lemmon Stage.
“This year we have more people involved who have been in the industry a little longer and they’ll be able to chat with the bands and give them tips to succeed. That’s really what we want.”
There will be junior and emerging age categories at Rock For Your Spot. Junior bands must have at least 50 per cent of their members be aged 18 and under. Emerging bands must have at least 50 per cent of their members aged 19-25. Bands with members who are 26 or older will not be accepted into the competition.
“We’re trying to be more inclusive to people because last year there were lots of band we had to turn away. We’re trying to avoid that,” said Rhyno.
Artist submission forms must be completed by Sept. 23. The Lemmon Stage team will review all of the submissions and select a number of bands to compete in the two-day event.
A panel of four to five industry professionals will evaluate the bands’ performances based on several key factors, including planning and preparedness, songwriting, quality of performance, originality, audience interaction, and overall presentation.
The winners from last year’s RD Battle of the Bands, The Dillmans, will play a set at the end of one of Rock For Your Spot’s two nights. The band will also be the ones to hand the winners their prizes on Oct. 8.
“We have some inclusion from last year, which makes it all come full circle,” said Rhyno.
After winning last year’s competition, The Dillmans and second-place finishers Mixed Blame opened for Canadian rock band Whale and the Wolf at a concert inside the Red Deer Memorial Centre.
For more information, including a signup form for bands, visit www.lemmonstage.com/Rockforyourspot.
sean.mcintosh@reddeeradvocate.com
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