The competition for Rockstar Band Battle on Sunday, June 25 included The Running from Nashville, Murfreesboro favorite Sky-Hi, and Hang the DJ and Secret Gossip.
The Running started the night off with their grungy but poppy sound resembling a happier Nirvana. The Running had lots of funk and blues mixed with an occasional reggae twist. The fast syncopated vocal rhythms and melodies over the smooth bass and drums kept the crowd they drew from Nashville entertained for their entire allotted 45 minutes. Their cover song was quite impressive. They did “The Fresh Prince of Bel Aire” reggae style and before you knew it there was a Bluesboro sing-along.
Second up was a poppy, power-punk trio that goes by the name of Hang the DJ, which actually made most just want to hang themselves. The very energetic Hang the DJ covered the Beach Boys “I Get Around” accurately to the original. Pretty unusual cover for a punk band of their style I would have thought, but definitely surprising and impressive. HTD’s originals have a Blink 182 quality with a little more sensibility. If you like power chords, girly power ballads, and have to be home before 10 p.m. then these are the guys for you.
None of the bands could compete with the massive sound and dancing crowd that the eight-piece musical machine that is Sky Hi brought. With the horn section, porno-music guitars, fat bass, sweet keys, colorful congas and a soulful voice, Sky Hi swept the judges away and the crowd carried them home. Sky Hi has a great, funky feel-good sound with danceable beats. They did a wonderful rendition of the Godfather of Soul James Brown’s “Sex Machine” that no one there will forget, unless they were too wasted to know what happened anyway.
The group told The Pulse they just like to funk peoples faces off. Sky Hi plays what they feel, has fun, and agrees that no two shows are the same. They have been together for four years and are one of the bigger bands around the ’Boro. You really can’t go anywhere and not see or hear about this eight-piece so you might as well just come out to the Barn Party July 28. (For more on this visit skyhifunk.com.)
The last act of the night competing to go to the semifinals was Secret Gossip who are also an eight-piece with horns, congas, keys, bass, guitar and drums?a similar lineup, but a different sound. Secret Gossip has a jam band vibe with a classic rock feel. The instruments were all played with much excellence, especially considering the 1 a.m. time.
Secret Gossip impressed the judges and the people but Sky Hi’s much larger crowd kept them afloat this time putting them just over the winning point total.
On July 2 at the last battle before the semi-finals, The Easy Kill faced off with Crisis Apparition and Destroy By Design.
The Easy Kill, a four-piece pop rock outfit with a decent crowd, has a great stage presence with a lot of energy. Their sound is dynamic and their players are mostly talented. It is frat rock, as some would say, the kind of rock music that makes drunk college girls run around pool parties with no inhibitions. Their cover of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ newest single “Danni California” was expertly pulled off. The melodies and harmonies were catchy and sing-able. The singer has a strong voice and the guitar player had some nice moves also. Bass and drums laid down a nice rhythmic bed for the vocalist to sing to.
A change of emotion and pace came next when the quartet Crisis Apparition took the stage. There was no commercial appeal except when they covered Judas Priest’s “Breaking the Law.” Quite the opposite of the frat rock group before them, Crisis Apparition is a metal band whose show could make drunk college girls vomit into getting their inhibitions back.
When Crisis Apparition took the stage they had no fear at all, but everyone else was kind of scared. As the band played their first song, an intro with no vocals the crowd mingled about as if they were just any ol’ Bluesboro band. Then the singer came from hiding onto the stage like a professional wrestler with that mean and angry look on his face. Nevertheless they played through their 45 minutes loud and proud.
The music of Crisis Apparition is dense and dark. Heavy metal grooves and blast beats galore. The blazing leads that the guitar player pulled were straight from the ’80s and their energy and presence were hard to follow. Believe me when I say this ain’t no cheese metal, this is serious “I’m gonna kill people” music.
The winner of the evening, though, was Destroy by Design. DBD is from the Nashville area but you would have never known it from the sprawling crowd that they amassed this evening. The crowd got into this group like they were at an arena show. The people were singing along to the songs and everything. There was a lot of feeling, energy and emotion in this hip-hop rock or rap metal entourage’s set list this night.
The only flaw that I could see in these guys’ sound is that their songs usually, if not always, fall back into that same old rapping groove that we heard in the previous song. It is great when they get heavy or jazzy, but most songs’ arrangements were mirrors of each other and the keys of the songs didn’t change for a different feel much. Although they were deducted points for not doing 2 cover songs, the strong crowd helped DBD make it to the semi-finals that start off next week.
Destroy by Design, from Springhill, Tenn., has been together since 2002. They say that what holds them together is the fact that they are four humble people who happen to be best friends that click with each other. Be sure to check them out at the Backwoods Metalfest in Cadiz, Ky., July 22 and look for them on MySpace.
