A few weeks ago Jude started having ‘band practice’. He mainly plays guitar, but in the band, he plays bass. We bought him a nice bass last summer and he plays it a bit. He was entering ‘The Battle of the Bands’ at school with some friends; Marina, Jude, Chris and Sean. They named themselves ‘Marina and Some Guys.” Well, yesterday I find out the actual battle was that night. K and I went early and got really good seats although the auditorium wasn’t totally full. A bunch of Jude’s friends were there and came and sat by us.
They were the first to play. They had one original song, ‘Bandwagon’, and then did a cover of ‘Seven Nation Army’ by The White Stripes. Anyone who has heard that song knows its very bass driven. Jude was a bit nervous. I’d never heard them but we walked in while they were practicing and they sounded okay. The guitarist and the lead singer were very showy and Marina had a good voice. The drummer and guitarist were very talented. Jude sounded good. I was a bit worried because he plays regular guitar all the time and said he didn’t know the songs well.
Anyway, they were first and they just rocked it. You know how inexperienced bands play a song and someone’s tempo is off, or one instrument is way louder than the rest, or you can’t really tell what the melody is? None of that! They really had it together. I mean, you can tell they hadn’t been playing forever, but they just sounded great, and Jude didn’t miss a beat. Even on Seven Nation, he really kept that baseline pumping. Loved it.
Seemed like the favorites were this other band ‘adammade’. They’ve been together 5 years, already performed all over the place, etc. But the singer was just over the top, not that great of a voice, and they couldn’t seem to get it together. Their original song was good, but very generic to me. Then they butchered Kelly Clarkson ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’. Butchered. The other bands were all surprisingly good, very fun and their original songs usually beat out the cover, which I thought was great. There was one angsty song about the Principal being the ‘Warden’ and how he should free the hard working students. Uhm, dude if you’re whining about high school, you are in trouble. I couldn’t help but smile.
So the voting was 50% the judges and 50% the audience. Our tickets had each bands name on them and you turned them in at the end. Then we waited. They had a really talented guy playing during the break, by the way. That was nice. So they announce 2nd place and it was adammade. Whoa! Either Jude was in or Jude was out. Guess what? He was in! Whaooo!
I just couldn’t stop laughing. It was so great that he’d put all this work in and they’d done so well.
They won $100 and some recording time. He’s playing next week at Regionals. Can’t wait.
By the way, Marina’s father is a professor, and works half the time in Japan and half the time in Utah. So this summer, they are all trekking to Japan, where they have a house and have spent much of Marina’s life. They’ve invited Jude for a few weeks. I am so excited. When we went the first time, he was younger and didn’t understand as much of it as I’d like. And he didn’t like sushi. If this works out, it will be such a great experience for him!