Yesterday, we were part of the semi-final for the Solent Sound Competition and it was a battle of the bands based thing. All three bands of the bands from my year group competed for the audience’s votes which were crucial when it came to what band progressed to the next stage. We each had to perform three songs, as a band we played‘Don’t Start Now’ by Dua Lipa, ‘Purple Rain’ by Prince, and ‘Juice’ by Lizzo.
Leading up to this event we have been working with dancers, which is was a strange addition to myself in the first place but I guess it works, we are taking inspiration from Lizzo, she has dancers with her when she performs live and each song has its own choreography. The video we did with them for promotional purposes for the college went incredibly well because of how many times we went over it, but when it came to the dance for ‘Don’t Start Now’ it fell to pieces when the new dancer was introduced to our set list. She was a bit late when it came to learning this routine I’d say.
We went ahead with the set and the dancers regardless, I hoped that the music would be a uplift it needed to take the attention away from them for the one song. After getting feedback from the audience and our lecture it seemed as though that they definitely added to the performance but it took away the traction from the band and the music.
Whenever I looked up I would have someones bottom in my face and it was something special especially when I tried to keep a poker face on when I play in front of any audience, all I focus on is looking cool and sounding better than everybody else.
Up until this point we have been rehearsing as a band with our keys player, primarily focussing on our new tracks. But with ‘Purple Rain’ we have been playing this song since the start of the second year which is quite along time to me. We couldn’t be any tighter when playing this song, because we now know all of its ins and outs. This was the first time we performed live with our keys player and he has definitely added something to when we play texturally which helps all of the songs we choose to play.
Our first song was ‘Don’t Start Now’ which is a laid back bass driven track, it is the first thing that makes any listeners ears perk up as it is very dominant amongst all of the other instruments within this arrangement. Onstage the bass amp decided to play up but the audience could hear it perfectly so it was a bit hard to keep in time as it was incredibly confusing.
We somehow managed to get through it in the end and the audience enjoyed it regardless as the dancers drew some of the attention away from the bands confusion. Now that we sussed out the problem was the onstage sound we carried on until the next song which was ‘Purple Rain’.
This song is always a crowd pleaser, our vocalist gets to show off her capabilities and so do I which is fun, when we go through it within rehearsal it does get a bit boring due to repetition… I extended my solo to repeat a section again which rounds it all off and eventually brings the song to a close. The synth behind me whilst soloing gives me confidence as it doesn’t sound too empty which is a big bonus, having a keys player is very beneficial.
Our final song was called ‘Juice’ by Lizzo, this is a song we are all confident on as it revolves around a simple progression with a simple, fun and funky groove which makes anyone want to dance around and be playful. We kept it till last for many reasons, one of which is because it is the strongest wrong for the dancers and it is a way to end it on a high note which is something we’d hope get us more votes than we did.
After the final count it turned out that we did not get enough votes to allow our band to progress further within the competition which didn’t bother me as I now don’t have to worry about all the extra rehearsal when I have enough on my plate already. The Fever won, and they primarily played Rock which is fairly popular as it is a very common thing for most bands to play, because it is easy to play loud and stick to simple riffs… There stage presence was definitely there but at times I thought it was a bit over the top, and the singer was straining her self and you could see it was hurting her to be so loud, etc. I wish them luck within their journey to the final event.
Ellie Thornton Music 