The Del Mar Fair -- excuse me, the San Diego County Fair -- has an annual tradition for decades, and I've been lucky enough to host the Battle of the Bands for several of those years.
Each competition has been an incredible experience and turned me on to a bunch of new bands. Prizes have included cash, Taylor guitars, studio time and more.
The organizers took a break last year, but the battle is back in 2014, and I offered an idea for the competition based on this year's fair: The Fab Fair means that this year's hopefuls will be paying homage to the British Invasion of the 1960s. The fair has made it compulsory for bands to perform a song from the Beatles catalog during their set.
This year, prizes involve cash, a show at the Casbah, studio time, features on Listen SD and the Nardcast, with more to be added! The top prize is $3,000 in cash -- that's enough to put out a record, fix the tour van or record an album!
Local bands: I invite you to submit your music as requested and believe in your creations -- go HERE to enter. Challenge yourself and enter! Don't deny yourself the lessons learned from a competition like this. Even if you only do it once, it will make you a better band in the long run.
The deadline to submit is April 14, so get on it. The fair runs June 7 through July 6 -- holy moly! That's almost a month! Long Live Don Diego!
For full disclosure I must let you know I am a paid host and will more than likely be involved in the preliminary voting to pick the bands that compete, but not for the actual competition at the San Diego County Fair.
SoundDiego
Music. Community. Culture.
Important Dates:
Application deadline: April 14
Finalists announced: May 9
Final Battle of the Bands round: June 17
Fair runs from: June 7 through July 6
Prizes:
1st Place $3,000
2nd Place $2,000
3rd Place $1,000
Performance Date(s)
Tim Pyles, a longtime local who grew up in La Jolla, is the unofficial mayor of local music and hosts the Local 94/9 via FM94/9 every Sunday from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. He also books local acts at the Casbah, hosts the weekly Anti-Monday League, books/hosts the monthly Maryjane's Underground at the House of Blues and is an entertainment writer for Pacific San Diego Magazine. Check out his website thelocalpyle.com and and follow him on Twitter @thelocalpyle. You can reach him directly here pyleste@yahoo.com
