Over the past few weeks we were judging along side, Brian Coney and Philip from SONI in Kraken Sounds, a battle of the bands style competition in The Pavilion, Belfast. The winner was to walk away with all the door money that was collected over the knockout rounds, semi-finals and finals, which tallied up to a massive £1300! And as if that wasn’t sweet enough, the winner got a slot at the increasingly popular music festival Sunflower Fest 2012. With such a great prize came a lot of competition.
Last night was the final which brought four of great bands to one stage.
Shake! – A female fronted 5 piece with really big tunes. Listening to these guys over the past few weeks was great. Going into the final I thought Shake! could have walked away with first prize. They proved to have really well crafted songs, a very strong stage presence and it left like they worked really hard on their music. Although it’s not really my genre of music I’d believe it if some told me these guys got into the charts. For me personally, these guys were a mighty strong second place. I imagine they’ll do very well even without first prize.
20 Second Century – I really, really like this band. They have a lot of energy, they are all best buddies and they are a lot of fun to watch on stage. They fall into the category of pop-punk and there’s no mistaking it, which is maybe their only flaw for me. I think it just lacks a bit of originality. I think because they have so much passion, energy and spirit, they’ll keep gathering a lot of momentum, and when that happens they’ll find something that sets them apart from the rest of the pop-punk scene and at that point 20 Second Century will become a really big band with big party tunes that will get you dancing!
Mudblind – A 3 piece blues, rock band that take you on a hippy trippy journey into their world. These guys seem to be on the stage for all the right reasons, they love it. They love music, they love performing and they’ll always be doing it. For me personally, I’d have scored these guys higher if there was less vocal and more awesome tuneage. A band that’ll entertain any crowd. A very lovable band.
Psychojet – The winners of Kraken Sounds Summer 2012. I really don’t know much about the background of these guys, but i know a little bit about their music. I’ve been really enjoying these guys since the first time they played. They’re a 4 piece instrumental band, which is nothing new these days, but they most certainly have their own signature sound. I’m going to mention ASIWYFA, because I want to and most people can relate to them. So if ASIWYFA smoke crack, then Psychojet smoke cigars, if ASIWYFA are the bull in the china shop, then Psychojet are the sniper on the roof. I don’t think Psychojet are in the same position as ASIWYFA, but I can see them becoming something that big in the future. They are a deserved winner of Kraken Sounds and I already know that their £1300 is going on recording an EP. This band is really just out of the starting blocks and they have just made a huge impact!
Catch Psychojet at Sunflower fest 2012 and get these tunes into you.
Let’s hope we can get this competition running again for the winter. It’s a really great competition for bands, even if you don’t make it too far, you still manage to get a night out, some more exposure and you get to do what you love, perform your music.
Keep you eyes peeled for all these bands and for more Kraken Sounds competitions in The Pavilion, Belfast!
Now Here’s a bunch of photos from the night. If you want to see more go check them out on The Pavilion’s Facebook page!
