China Music Radar was on hand as The Global Battle of the Bands (GBOTB) Beijing Regional Final finished up on a recent Sunday evening at Yugong Yishan in Beijing. This was the culmination of four preliminary heats. Six bands – Rustic, Maggie Who, Out of Control, Metoo, Paier 派儿乐队 and Boy Number 6 competed for the top prize, with punk band Rustic, led by frontman “Lucifer,” emerging as the winner – Judges included local music industry luminaries Meng Jinhui from Modern Sky Records, Jon Campbell of promotion company YGTWO and Mark Klingspon, President of Gibson China among others.
Check the video of Rustic below:
Rustic at the Global Battle of the Bands Beijing Regional Final
They will travel to Hong Kong on November 7 to compete against qualifiers from the other participating China cities -Shenzhen, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Macau for the China National Final. The winner will be flown to London to perform in the Global final and the chance to win “a band development package worth over $100,000 USD and a special gold “Best New Band in the World” statuette. The package includes 1 week in a top London recording studio with a producer, a 10 date United Kingdom tour and 10,000 USD in cash.
For a bit of background, GBOB is an international Battle of the Bands competition, where bands from many different countries compete in original live music performance. It was held for the first time in 2004.There are only two overall rules for the competing bands: No cover songs and no pre-recorded songs.
Previous winners have been Spanish indie band Second in 2004, Irish band Kopek in 2005, US Alternative/Hip Hop band Heavy Mojo in 2006, the Faroese Boys In A Band in 2007 and Brighton, England’s Floors and Walls in 2008.
We here at the Radar have been asking ourselves the question as to whether these types of competitions are actually of any long-term benefit to the bands which participate. For a young Chinese band it does present a much-coveted trip and chance to play outside their home country, a rare treat for the majority of Chinese bands. Perhaps for that alone, it is helpful. But the ongoing relevance of the competition seems to stop there.