KEY POINTS:
What: Battle of the Bands
Where & when: Kings Arms, Saturday
Line-up: Eqwanox (Waikato), Faster She Said (Wellington), Lapser (Auckland), Liquid Colours (Auckland), Mutangent (Auckland), Porch (Southland), Soulsion (Auckland), Suede Arcade (Christchurch).
First prize: Winning local band gets a guaranteed single release in NZ, flights and accommodation to the 2007 World final in Asia and more.
Countries participating in WBOB in 2007: China, Taiwan, Singapore, The Philippines, Australia, Hong Kong, USA, New Zealand
When Christchurch band Suede Arcade set off for Auckland yesterday they had 100 beers to get through on their two-day road trip north.
And don't worry, they have designated drivers.
They describe their music as "drunk rock" so while drinking 100 beers is hardly an All Black-style warm-up, it only seems right they will be preparing for the national Battle of the Bands final tomorrow night at the Kings Arms with ample amber liquid. "We got sponsored 100 beers for $100 so we're gonna give them a good crack and obviously on the day there will be a few beers to be had, but I can't get too drunk," laughs lead singer Peter Gill.
The song playing back at you when you ring someone's cellphone says a lot about a man and when I ring Gill the day before they leave Christchurch it's a blast of Iron Maiden's Run To the Hills that kicks in before he answers.
"We play a form of blues rock, but we refer to it as drunk rock, so it's pretty much fast rock'n'roll with a good pace and good hooks and it gets drinking crowds into rocking the house," he says.
Suede Arcade take on eight other bands - Liquid Colours, Lapser, Soulsion and Mutangent from Auckland, Waikato's Eqwanox, Wellington's Faster She Said and Southland's Porch - for the chance to represent New Zealand in Singapore at the world final later this year.
Their first gig was in November last year and Gill confesses they hadn't really played much leading into the Battle of the Bands heats which started in July.
"A good friend and I had been in and out of bands over the years and thought, 'Well stuff it. Let's write some music'. We sat down and wrote eight songs in three days and we had a band."
They rate their chances in tomorrow's final but, as you'd expect, the boys from Suede Arcade just want to give the crowd a good time and they'll see what happens on the night.
"It's weird playing music in a competition because how the hell do you compare music against music? It's like saying that artwork is better than that artwork. It's kind of one of those conversations you can't really have without looking arrogant," he laughs.
When you consider they are up against a diverse mix of bands, including Auckland funk band Liquid Colours, he's got a point.
The funk four-piece have very different musical backgrounds to Suede Arcade - they are all students at MAINZ (Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand), they play a fusion of funk, R&B and soul, and share a love for Prince and Aretha Franklin over Iron Maiden and White Zombie.
But one thing the two bands have in common is getting up on stage and having fun.
"Our first official gig was the heat at the Glenfield Tavern and before that we were just jamming casually for six months," laughs singer and percussionist Nas Wolfgramm.
And that gig nearly didn't happen as they only entered the competition the day before the heat after the withdrawal of another band. Now they're in the finals and, similar to Suede Arcade, fancy their chances even in a predominantly rock-orientated competition like Battle of the Bands.
"It has exposed us to a whole different crowd and we were something different from what people were expecting. They seemed to enjoy us, I guess because we all really love playing and it shows. We just have heaps of fun and we laugh a lot when we play 'cause it sounds so good."
