Sunshine Coast’s FIR made it to final top five bands in the Nimbus School of Recording and Media’s Battle of the Bands on Monday, March 5. The competition began Feb. 3 at The Roxy in Vancouver, after organizers sifted through untold numbers of audition tapes from bands all around the province. Each Saturday throughout February, five bands showcased their talents during live performances. Each showcase included a morning of coaching from Nimbus instructors on performance, stagecraft and soundchecks. The concerts included full sound and lights. Contestants were in grades 10 to 12 and had to play a 15-minute set, consisting of three to four songs – one an original. FIR decided to play all originals in their first round and added a new original and a cover song in the final round.
Members of FIR heard about the contest through their guitar instructor Steve Wright, who went to Vancouver with several other of his students to support the band in the finals.
The band saw the competition as a way to get their name out and have some fun performing. Members were surprised their audition tape had been selected to allow them to perform at the battle and were then shocked a few weeks later when they were selected to perform in the finals, as the talent they witnessed from the performers in the first round of the competition was exceptional.
Most of the other bands played acoustic, jazz or rock – FIR is a hard rock/metal band and literally shook the house when they started to play.
At the end of the night, talented solo singer/songwriter Bukola won the grand prize of a $25,000 Nimbus scholarship. FIR was awarded a $2,500 scholarship, met several important industry contacts and made some new friends along the way – in particular a like-minded band from Maple Ridge, Strange Ways. FIR and Strange Ways were already conspiring to promote a future joint show even before the night was over, so stay tuned.
– Submitted
