The stage is set for a major Mount Gambier event to make a comeback this year for the first time in half a decade.
While details are still being finalised, Battle of the Bands will be back in the second half of this year after last taking place at the Limestone Coast Pantry in 2019.
Battle of the Bands organiser Bronte Ellard said local drag queens Clitzy von Teaze and Ophelia Butt would host the competition which will see around 10 musicians battle it out for the top spot.
“Obviously it might push a couple of people’s buttons but I want to be inclusive, I want every artist to feel like they can enter this and I think that’s the perfect way to address that,” she said.
“I think it will be the right energy for this show and it will bring something a bit new.
“I am already hearing excitement which gets me excited to organise everything so I think people are definetly getting excited and registration will open shortly.
“We are all such a close knit community with all the creatives in this town so every time I put together one of these events the town support is so amazing and so many of us just want to come back together.
“I think anything in the creative field got hit really, really hard (by COVID) so everyone has sort of just been building back up. I think things are slowly coming back.”
Ms Ellard said each musician will perform three songs, preferably originals, to a panel of judges who will assess them based on stage presence, musicality, originality and crowd interaction, while accounting for each musician’s level of experience.
“I feel like it’s probably a lot of the same musicians but we probably have a lot of different projects now and there are different people in bands,” she said.
“What I am loving at the moment is the bands are all so different to each other so the songs are very, very different.
“I think at the moment people are just being themselves. It is very exciting to see a bigger variety this year.
“I think my favourite thing is every year that we did it, we would have a completely different artist win it.
“I love music and there’s so much talent here and it would just absolutely kill me if those bands did not perform anymore.”
Ms Ellard said she was inspired to revive the event in 2019 from the original Battle of the Bands conducted many years ago.
“I have heard about that from the old musicians and my parents and it sounded really cool and I wanted to bring it back so I think that was the inspiration,” she said.
“Obviously you get fans of music but a lot of the time it’s the artist’s mum, their dad, it’s their brothers, it is people that are just so proud to see their family member on stage, they might not necessarily like their kid’s music but they will scream and they will enjoy it.
“At the end of the day that’s really what it’s all about; giving these kids a go and giving them a stage and letting them be musicians.
“There will not be too many changes this year but we are hoping that if everything goes well we are going to do it bigger next year. I know it is going to be the best year ever.”
Follow the Gigs and Music Connect Mount Gambier Facebook page to keep updated and find out more.
