Finalists face off at House of Blues on Sunday

As March Madness subsides and turns into April excitement, much like on the basketball court, four final competitors sit poised to claim a title. 

But it’s not the NCAA championship that will be decided this weekend, it’s this year’s Grand Strand’s Best Band contest that will see a winner crowned Sunday night at the House of Blues. 

“We’re really excited to play,” said Brandon Distel, vocalist for local metal group Conception of Being. “We’re just honored to actually get this far.”

Joining Conception of Being on stage at the HOB music hall will be fellow finalists Broken Strings, Peace Treaty and Bamboo Forest.

This is the third year for the contest, which was created by ListenUp Myrtle Beach as a way to get fans actively involved with supporting local music.

Past winners include The Mullets in 2011 and Little River-based group The RenoVation Band in 2012. 

Each group reached the live finals after an eight-week competition that asked fans to nominate their favorite acts. More than 4,000 nominations were collected for this year’s contest.

Voting was conducted online at listenupmb.com throughout the month of March with fans voting for their favorites in a “March Madness” style bracket. Nearly 25,000 votes were cast in head-to-head competition.

Starting with a field of 32 groups — 16 original and 16 cover bands — each finalist had to beat out three other groups in order to reach the Final Four. 

Cover band finalist Broken Strings, a group consisting of former students from Dino Capone’s School of Rock, led all groups in nominations. 

The rock/pop band moved through the competition with convincing victories over Colossal, Wahoo Creek Band and Peace Treaty on the way to the finals. 

Despite a defeat in the final round of voting, North Myrtle Beach-based rock band Peace Treaty also advanced to the  finals as an alternate after local duo Band on the Rum was not able to participate due to schedule conflicts.

Representing the many talented groups who perform original music around the area are two up-and-coming groups, Conception of Being and Bamboo Forest.

Conception of Being, a death metal band with members from Carolina Forest and Georgetown County, began the contest as one of the top vote-getters, earning a No. 2 seed. 

This young, five-piece group won a trio of hotly-contested matchups, taking down Wicked Gift, Mark Roberts Band and PaperWork to advance to the finals.

Bamboo Forest, a punk rock group from North Myrtle Beach, was the surprise of this year’s contest, coming from a No. 12 seed to deafeat The IZM, QP-N-Shamroc and One Bad Apple on the way to the finals. 

Sneaking into a No. 12 seed, the band’s members were  surprised to have been nominated and included in the contest, however once the voting began fan support was strong.

“We can't thank every single one of you enough for voting us into the finals for this competition,” the group wrote to its fans. “From all the support from our fans, friends, family, and fellow bands over this past year and a half especially has been incredible.”

All four groups will perform a set of 45-minutes of original and/or cover songs Sunday and be critiqued by a panel of judges on originality, musicianship, vocal talent, stage prescene and fan reaction.

The doors will open at 6 p.m. and admission to the show is free. Music will begin at 6:30 p.m. with Conception of Being followed by Broken Strings, Peace Treaty and Bamboo Forest respectively. 

All four finalists will recieve prizes  for their participation and honors will be given to the cover band and top original band. 

In addition, a grand prize will be awarded to the top overall band — this year’s “Grand Strand’s Best Band” — including $300 cash, $200 in gift certificates for musical equipment, a promo photo shoot, a feature article in ListenUp and a chance to open a future show at the House of Blues. 

All prizes were made possible by the sponsors for this year’s contest: House of Blues, The Trophy Place, Rancier Studios, Sound Systems Inc., 93.9 The Outlaw and Waccamaw Publishers. 

The Grand Strand’s Best Band 2013 final showdown will take place at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, April 7 (Doors at 6 p.m.) at the House of Blues, Barefoot Landing, North Myrtle Beach. Admission is free and tickets are available at the door. Call 272-3000 or visit hob.com/myrtlebeach for more details. 

Four bands to face-off in live Finals

After another great year of fan support and nearly 25,000 votes cast in this year's contest, we've narrowed a field of 32 talented local acts down to four finalists.

Now that the voting phase of the competition has ended, our four finalists — Broken Strings, Peace Treaty, Bamboo Forest and Conception of Being — will move on to a live final showdown at the House of Blues on April 7 for a chance at cash & prizes and the title of the title of "Grand Strand's Best Band." 

During the event, the bands will be judged by a panel of local musicians and professionals who will evaluate their musicianship, stage prescence, originality and crowd engagment/reaction.

Each finalist took their own path to the finals, with two bowling over the competition en route to a date at HOB, another group squeaking by some tough competition and our final act slipping in as an alternate after a pair of potential finalists had to defer due to scheduling conflicts.

ListenUp would like to thank all the bands who participated in this year's event thus far as well as our sponsors House of Blues, Sound Systems Inc., 93.9 The Outlaw and Waccamaw Publishers. Stay tuned to the site over the next day or two and follow us on Facebook for more details on how to attend the finals and support your favorite local acts, as well as prizes to be given away for fans who voted in the competition.

Here's a look at the full bracket of the contest thus far, complete with vote totals and how each band advanced to the final four:

Thanks again for proving that MYRTLE BEACH MUSIC IS NOT DEAD! Here's to a great final showdown!

Grand Strand's Best Band 2013

Nominate your favorite bands for a chance to win cash and prizes beginning Feb. 4!

There's been plenty of changes with ListenUp this year and as we grow it seemed only right that our most popular event of the year, the annual cover band contest, should grow with us.

That's we're proud to announce that this year we're losing the "cover" and will host the first-ever Grand Strand's Best Band contest.

After two successful years of competition, a pair of worthy winners — The Mullets in 2011 and The Renovation Band in 2012 — and more than 25,000 votes cast, we're looking forward to an even bigger and better event in 2013.

Here's a look at some of what we're planning:

• Expanded field of 64 participants. This year's competition will include 32 of the area's best cover bands as well as 32 original acts for even more March Madness-style fun. 

• Open to all genres. Beginning this February, local music fans will have a chance to nominate their favorite groups from around the area, regardless of genre or musical style. The only requirement is that participants must be a group of two or more (...sorry solo acts!) 

• Live finale. While fan support is important, we know being a good band takes more than just rallying your friends and family to vote. That's why once again this year we're making bands prove it with head-to-head live events to determine a winner. After a great Final Showdown with Renovation Band and Sushi For Breakfast last year, we're hoping to expand the number of participants who get to show their live this year. All entrants must be able to perform at least 45 minutes of material.

• Great prizes for bands and fans. Thanks to support from our parent company, Waccamaw Publishers, and a growing list of sponsors which last year included Better Brands and The Bowery, we're putting together a great package of cash and prizes for the winning acts — and for the fans who support their favorite bands throughout the contest.

Congratulations RenoVation Band!

Myrtle Beach Music: The RenoVation Band is anounced as the winners of the Grand Strand's Best Cover Band for 2012. Click on photo to see full gallery from event.After more than 16,000 votes cast through five rounds of online voting and one great night of head-to-head competition, The RenoVation Band has been named the winner of the second annual Grand Strand's Best Cover Band Contest.

In addition to the honor of being named the area's best cover band, RenoVation will also recieve a $500 cash prize and will be featured in upcoming editions of the Myrtle Beach Herald, Carolina Forest Chronicle and Horry Independent after beating out Sushi For Breakfast in Sunday's live showdown at The Bowery bar in downtown Myrtle Beach.

RenoVation, a five-piece group which performs every Sunday as the praise band at RenoVation Church in Little River, was led by the husband-wife vocal team of Walt and Caroline Anderson,who wowed a packed house at The Bowery with renditions of everything from The Beatles to Michael Jackson to Johnny Cash.

Rounding out the band's lineup were Jon Wilson (Keyboards), Steven Rinaldi (Drums) and Erik Bulakowski (Bass) who complimented the lively duo up front.

In addition to energetic covers of tunes such as "Joy To The World" by Three Dog Night, Adele's "Rolling In The Deep" and The Raconteurs "Many Shades of Black," the group also stayed true to its roots with a pair of praise tunes in an otherwise secular set.

Noted as perhaps the first-ever worship songs performed in the long-running history of The Bowery stage, the crowd of both RenoVation and Sushi supporters — as well as a number of drop-in visitors and fans — took the tunes in stride as they showed great enthusiasm throughout the performance. 

Frontman Anderson even took a short moment to deliver a message of God's love for sinners and saints alike and made at least a few jokes throughout the night of the irony behind performing in church for Easter Sunday in the morning and at a bar that night.

Going on before RenoVation, Sushi For Breakfast also delivered an high-energy performance, setting the stage for what would be an exciting night of music. 

The six-piece act consisting of Michael Sertz (Guitar/Lead Vocals), Benny Tomko (Keyboard/Vocals), Pete Briggs (Lead Guitar), "NiZ Zle" Briggs (Bass), Derek Stone (Drummer/Vocals) and Craig Casey (Horns), showed their versitilty from the start with a setlist that covered everything from Elton John to Eminem.

With a sound that quickly morphed from rock to pop to hip-hop and back, Sushi delivered Top 40 hits such as Gym Class Heroes "Stereo Hearts" and current Billboard No. 1 track "We Are Young" by Fun. In addition, a mash-up of Eminem's "Lose Yourself" and Tool's "Sober" turned heads with the crowd and judges alike and showed "a little bit of what we're all about" according to frontman Sertz.

Final Cover Band Contest Bracket (click to view larger)The band also played to a strong contingent of loyal fans — many the same fans who helped Sushi edge out RenoVation in the contest's final online vote — with both Sertz and Casey taking turns playing through the crowd, circling the Bowery's large loop of wooden tables.  

After both bands had performed, judges took no time to cast their votes, scoring in five areas including musicianship, vocal talent, song selection, stage prescence and fan reaction. Once scores were totaled from all four judges and the online vote, the RenoVation Band grabbed top honors with a score of 208 to Sushi's 188 points.

Both bands were awarded trophies for their participation courtesy of Budweisier and Better Brands and in a show of good sportsmanship the runners-up Sushi performed a rendition of Sublime's "What I Got" with Walt Anderson joining on vocals before handing the stage back the winning band with RenoVation performing another half dozen songs to close out the night.

Next up for RenoVation — in addition to the weekly church gig — are a string of upcoming shows at Patio's Tiki Bar & Grill in Little River beginning April 28, while Sushi For Breakfast will perform at Wet Willie's at Broadyway at the Beach on Friday and Sunday at The Boathouse with Crowded Streets (Dave Matthews Tribute Band).

Stay tuned to ListenUp for upcoming profiles of both bands or check out RenoVation or Sushi on Fcaebook to learn more about either of the two finalists.

Results

Here's a look at the voting results for the final showdown between Sushi For Breakfast & The RenoVation Band:

Online Vote

• Sushi For Breakfast: 57% (585 votes)
• Renovation Band: 42% (426 votes)

Judge #1

• Sushi For Breakfast: 38 "Lots of energy," "Lead singer needs to breathe!"
• The Renovation Band: 46 "Strong vocal performance"

Judge #2

• Sushi For Breakfast: 36 "Good energy, good appeal from fans!" "Musicianship could use more time to make things more dynamic, but what they lacked in musicianship, they made up in energy," "lead vocals were good, but piano man and singer should pick more tunes that harmonize."
• The Renovation Band: 42 "Takes faith to come into a bar and perform covers without sacrificing beliefs. Keep preaching, your passion shows!" "Pro level players with some real chops," band seemed relaxed and took charge of room."

Judge #3

• Sushi For Breakfast: 28
• The Renovation Band: 36 

Judge #4

• Sushi For Breakfast: 29 "Likable, but not much range, no high end," "Good perfomance by Brass player" 
• The Renovation Band: 42 "Church produces good musicians," "Lots of old and new tunes with the classics"

The Final Showdown

Well, here we are. After a month-long vote and more than 15,000 ballots cast by the fans, we've reached the Final Showdown of this year's Grand Strand's Best Cover Band Contest. 

It's been an awesome experience for us here at ListenUp and as we've tried to do along the way, we want to make sure and give big thanks to all the bands who've participated and the fans who helped make March our biggest month ever!

And now with our two finalists in place, all that remains is to make the final determination of this year's winner, which will be crowned this Sunday, April 8 at The Final Showdown at The Bowery beginning at 7 p.m. Here, each band will peform their best stuff live for a panel of judges and fans — who will still be able to vote online throughout the show — and in the end one will recieve $500 cash, an awesome trophy from Budweiser and the title of "Grand Strand's Best Cover Band." Check out all the details and RSVP on Facebook today!

• How to vote: To vote, simply click at least one poll below. You can vote in each matchup once per day, so make sure to come back an vote often and share this page with your friends and fellow music fans below! This week's online vote will count for 20% of the final tally on Sunday, with judges scores making up the other 80%. Voting will cut off 10 minutes after the final band has performed at The Bowery on Sunday, April 8 (roughly 10 p.m.) and the winner will be announced live that night and posted online Monday, April 9.

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FINALS

The RenoVation Band (1) vs. Sushi For Breakfast (6)

• Our take: What else can we say about these two groups? For the most part they've steamrolled all competition in their paths and been on a collision course for each other since about Round 2 of this contest. While its obvious both have strong fan support in this "popularity contest" format, these relatively new-on-the-scene groups will need to prove they can really play and get a crowd going performance-wise if they plan to take home the ultimate prize. We're not sure who will win either, but one thing's for sure ... it will be a blast to find out Sunday night!

IE Users: Direct link to vote