Yamaha Asian Beat Finals!
Held at Vivo City amphitheatre, this was an event that I've been
highly anticipating judging from the high standards of the bands
that went through.
Unfortunately, there was a mishap for the Live4MusiC team on the night. We LOST our SD card!!! =(
Yeah that means we lost most of our footages that night. Our apologies to the bands on the night. But if we looked at things optimistically, we can count ourselves lucky for having the footage of the champions of the night, BLACK, and former champions, Sixology! I'll just attach the videos of the finalists during heats day on this article in case some of you guys forgot how they sounded like =)
Something that really bemused me about the competition was the fact that every band member HAS to use Yamaha! What the f*ck? A very impractical rule in my opinion.
The bands that I was really excited about included:
- Knightwings
- Oshiego
- No Strings Attached
- Black
SonOfA
The whole event kicked off with SonOfA, who played a nice repertoire of electronic music and was a really good opener to the finals.
Self-Destruct
The first competing band to rock the stage! The cooler of the bands that night focusing more on the music than anything else. Really groovy stuff!
Knightwings
Next up was Knightwings, which boasted an extremely flamboyant lead guitarist! This was matched by the insane vocal range of their frontman (think Iron Maiden and Helloween). I wished I had that ability =D
Epicnosis
Epicnosis was definitely one of the most technically gifted bands of the night with their bassist being awarded the best bassist award. He won the award despite some apparent technical issues at the start, incredible! A head-banging rocker chick on the keyboards, 2 very talented guitarists, and a solid drummer to keep the band together. Their music was very creative along the likes of Dream Theater but the transitions between the rage and the calm was a bit too abrupt for me. Nevertheless, a very talented band!
Then came Pop band, Catalogue:V. The lead guitarist was having some serious issues with his guitar so much so that they had to stop the song almost a minute into it. Running around with the stage crew to resolve the issue, it was finally resolved with a change of the guitar. Despite having to stop the song, the drummer continued the beat and the frontman held the stage really well continuing talking to the crowd and entertaining us. That probably gave him an edge for the best vocalist award! After a pretty long wait, the band finally kicked off with a performance worth applauding. The highlight of the performance was when the drummer put a black cloth over his head and played the drums blindfolded for the final third of the song!
Oshiego
Ironically, the next band that came on was nowhere near Pop. Oshiego, disciples of Death Metal!!! Brutal as hell, I couldn't help but bang my head and look like a retard amongst family shoppers from Vivo City. The music was so tight I was utterly bowled over. But of course you can imagine how inappropriate it was for them to be holding Yamaha Axes. Definitely one of my picks for the night for the ticket to Yokohama.
No Strings Attached
Another band that impressed me a lot during the heats, No Strings Attached, lived up to their performance in the heats and took it up a notch with a lead guitarist I believe wasn't present at the heats. Incredible shredding and deservedly the best guitarist. In fact the best drummer went to them as well!
Kingpin
Kingpin, the other softer band of the night changed their setup a bit from the heats but still sounded great with a conscious attempt to insert a crowd interaction element in the middle of their song. For me that wasn't very effective but the judges probably liked it. The band also had the best keyboardist of the night!
ILL SOUND CHRONIK
The most effortfully dressed band of the competition, ILL SOUND CHRONIK! Felt the costumes weren't a very good match as it looked more a disco outfit than a hiphop look, which might have suit them better. Largely vocals-focused with 2 vocalists and executed fantastically.
KATALYZ
KATALYZ was one of the bands I failed to catch live during the heats and I'm glad i didn't miss them on the finals. The sound of percussions was particularly impressive.
Black
Finally, the last band of the night, Black. These guys looked so cool, painting their faces and spraying their hair silver, coupled with the trademark all-black outfit. Granted they do sound a lot like Disturbed at certain points but their music has much of their own elements to it as well. I LOVE IT! Champions of the night and representing Singapore at Yokohama in the Grand Finals! Good Luck to you guys!
Sixology
And not to forget last year's champions, Sixology, who put on a fantastic display as well! The energy and the interaction with the crowd was top-notch! Well they're from NUS so they must be good =)
And so the results are as follows:
Grand Prix Award: Black
Distinguished Award: Kingpin
Encouragement Award: ILL SOUND CHRONIK
Best Guitarist: No Strings Attached
Best Bassist: Epicnosis
Best Vocalist: Catalogue:V
Best Keyboardist: Kingpin
Best Drummer: No Strings Attached
An amazing event throughout!
ALL THE BEST BLACK!
Final thoughts of the competition still: How do they judge bands across different genres?? -.-a
For the rest of the videos (of Sixology), click here.
For the rest of the photos, click here.
All photos are courtesy of Flash.Stop (Photography)
RockOn!
Yuda
Unfortunately, there was a mishap for the Live4MusiC team on the night. We LOST our SD card!!! =(
Yeah that means we lost most of our footages that night. Our apologies to the bands on the night. But if we looked at things optimistically, we can count ourselves lucky for having the footage of the champions of the night, BLACK, and former champions, Sixology! I'll just attach the videos of the finalists during heats day on this article in case some of you guys forgot how they sounded like =)
Something that really bemused me about the competition was the fact that every band member HAS to use Yamaha! What the f*ck? A very impractical rule in my opinion.
The bands that I was really excited about included:
- Knightwings
- Oshiego
- No Strings Attached
- Black
SonOfA
The whole event kicked off with SonOfA, who played a nice repertoire of electronic music and was a really good opener to the finals.
Self-Destruct
The first competing band to rock the stage! The cooler of the bands that night focusing more on the music than anything else. Really groovy stuff!
Knightwings
Next up was Knightwings, which boasted an extremely flamboyant lead guitarist! This was matched by the insane vocal range of their frontman (think Iron Maiden and Helloween). I wished I had that ability =D
Epicnosis
Epicnosis was definitely one of the most technically gifted bands of the night with their bassist being awarded the best bassist award. He won the award despite some apparent technical issues at the start, incredible! A head-banging rocker chick on the keyboards, 2 very talented guitarists, and a solid drummer to keep the band together. Their music was very creative along the likes of Dream Theater but the transitions between the rage and the calm was a bit too abrupt for me. Nevertheless, a very talented band!
Then came Pop band, Catalogue:V. The lead guitarist was having some serious issues with his guitar so much so that they had to stop the song almost a minute into it. Running around with the stage crew to resolve the issue, it was finally resolved with a change of the guitar. Despite having to stop the song, the drummer continued the beat and the frontman held the stage really well continuing talking to the crowd and entertaining us. That probably gave him an edge for the best vocalist award! After a pretty long wait, the band finally kicked off with a performance worth applauding. The highlight of the performance was when the drummer put a black cloth over his head and played the drums blindfolded for the final third of the song!
Oshiego
Ironically, the next band that came on was nowhere near Pop. Oshiego, disciples of Death Metal!!! Brutal as hell, I couldn't help but bang my head and look like a retard amongst family shoppers from Vivo City. The music was so tight I was utterly bowled over. But of course you can imagine how inappropriate it was for them to be holding Yamaha Axes. Definitely one of my picks for the night for the ticket to Yokohama.
No Strings Attached
Another band that impressed me a lot during the heats, No Strings Attached, lived up to their performance in the heats and took it up a notch with a lead guitarist I believe wasn't present at the heats. Incredible shredding and deservedly the best guitarist. In fact the best drummer went to them as well!
Kingpin
Kingpin, the other softer band of the night changed their setup a bit from the heats but still sounded great with a conscious attempt to insert a crowd interaction element in the middle of their song. For me that wasn't very effective but the judges probably liked it. The band also had the best keyboardist of the night!
ILL SOUND CHRONIK
The most effortfully dressed band of the competition, ILL SOUND CHRONIK! Felt the costumes weren't a very good match as it looked more a disco outfit than a hiphop look, which might have suit them better. Largely vocals-focused with 2 vocalists and executed fantastically.
KATALYZ
KATALYZ was one of the bands I failed to catch live during the heats and I'm glad i didn't miss them on the finals. The sound of percussions was particularly impressive.
Black
Finally, the last band of the night, Black. These guys looked so cool, painting their faces and spraying their hair silver, coupled with the trademark all-black outfit. Granted they do sound a lot like Disturbed at certain points but their music has much of their own elements to it as well. I LOVE IT! Champions of the night and representing Singapore at Yokohama in the Grand Finals! Good Luck to you guys!
Sixology
And not to forget last year's champions, Sixology, who put on a fantastic display as well! The energy and the interaction with the crowd was top-notch! Well they're from NUS so they must be good =)
And so the results are as follows:
Grand Prix Award: Black
Distinguished Award: Kingpin
Encouragement Award: ILL SOUND CHRONIK
Best Guitarist: No Strings Attached
Best Bassist: Epicnosis
Best Vocalist: Catalogue:V
Best Keyboardist: Kingpin
Best Drummer: No Strings Attached
An amazing event throughout!
ALL THE BEST BLACK!
Final thoughts of the competition still: How do they judge bands across different genres?? -.-a
For the rest of the videos (of Sixology), click here.
For the rest of the photos, click here.
All photos are courtesy of Flash.Stop (Photography)
RockOn!
Yuda
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