I had the opportunity recently to judge Utah’s Multi-Regional Battle 2008 here in Utah on February 2nd. This was an opportunity to see some of the most talented High School bands from Salt Lake City and Utah Valley. In truth, I was absolutely blown away by the level of talent that is becoming prevalent in High School Bands.
No doubt that the talent level grows more every year as competition between bands continues to grow. As a judge, I had the responsibility to judge the bands in many different categories including technicality, musicianship, creativity, crowd participation and etc. The final goal was to pick the top three bands to go to State. This previously would be a simple task. However, this year the competition was very close. In fact, all of the bands scores were within a few points.
The winners were Cluster Funk, Gypsy Cab and This Way to the Exit. These three bands also won some time recording at Noisebox Studios and I hope to have the permission to post their recordings to show how talented the bands in Utah have become. Check out the Demos page in the near future to hear recordings of the bands.