The Fray's Isaac Slade and One Republic's Ryan Tedder alongside a top A&R representative from Sony Music, Mike Flynn joined forces with 1 Liquid House to give back to the Denver community on Sunday, August 1, 2010. The draw that united the three was a local band competition sponsored by 1 Liquid House. The non-profit organization is devoted to providing an artistic forum for teens of Colorado to thrive and develop in and each year they sponsor an event called Spare Parts incorporating a Battle of Bands, among other things. Isaac Slade is not only the spokesman for the organization but is also actively involved in the preliminary selection of bands as well as judges.
This year the Spare Parts Battle of the Bands was hosted by the Ogden Theater where the three music industry leaders convened to watch and judge the top five bands. Both the location and the judges held an important piece of history for Isaac and The Fray. He shared with me the night before the titan clash of music was to take place that, "Actually the first big venue I played was the Ogden for a Tsunami benefit and the biggest show we had played up to that point was maybe 250-300 people. Going from that to 1,400-1,500 was a shock, so ironically the Ogden is kind of a loaded venue for me." And as obvious as the qualifications are for Tedder and Slade to judge the competition a lesser known fact is that Mike Flynn has also spent his time immersed in the Denver music scene. Isaac elaborated, "I think one of our first big breaks was playing a show for this guy, Mike Flynn who worked at the label and is one of the judges tomorrow. He came to the Fox Theater in Boulder and saw us play and said he liked it. He took us out to Village Inn and said he wanted to fly us out to New York." Continuing, "That was the first big thing for The Fray. Up until then it had been all conjecture." And so the hopes of young talent rested in the discerning ears and eyes of the three proven and successful veterans.
With the stage set and the atmosphere vibrant the first of five bands began the battle which would showcase an eclectic range of styles and talent. Viretta was the first to show their teeth, quite literally with an edgy punk rock style that the judges agreed was perhaps the most polished and tight sound of the evening. Up next was the six member Caribbean flavored Acoustic/Hip Hop band called The Groove. Their three song set included a freestyle solo by their resident MC and was packed with energy and originality. Sandwiched in the middle was a quirky band called Courtesy Bandits. And from the first chord combination played the crowd was hooked. With the duoing talents of a male lead guitarist/vocalist and sparkling female vocalist they brought a very magnetic chemistry to the stage and left everyone wanting more. Following that was Broken Laces, the band with a corner on commercial appeal for the evening and a very crisp and clean presentation. They rocked the Ogden for three songs showing maturity and poise and boasting a hefty fan following as signs were waved during their entire set. Finally a rogue foursome called Youth In Conflict intrigued the audience with a sound that was raw, versatile and contained melodies that Ryan Tedder called, "Instinctive." Most notably the group had only been together for two weeks and showed the promise and potential of a band that could take it much farther with time.
When it all played out, Isaac, Ryan and Mike named Courtesy Bandits the victors, awarding them $1,000 cash and studio time with The Fray's engineer and Isaac himself. The runner up respectively was Broken Laces and in third was the impressive and curious Youth In Conflict. I asked the judges what it was that made the final decision and Flynn said they were looking for, "Originality and songwriting potential because anyone can get on stage and emulate what they see on t.v. or hear on the radio." Overall it was a very fun and rewarding evening for all, including the judges who agreed, Tedder saying, "It's fun and I like pretending to be Simon Cowell for a night," pausing before specifying, "Actually I'll be Paula Abdul."
Comments