Hi, guitarist of KKJ here. Here's what I posted on our blog just recently:
When we got through the semis, we were immediately hit with the reality of how tough the finals were going to be. Here were 4 other bands that totally floored us during the audition and semi rounds. We were surprised to have gotten through the semis at all heh. Personally I thought Monster Phunk (or Funk? Sorry Fadz) was totally incredibly awesome.
The weeks following the semis were all about planning, discussions, strategising, and talking to a whole lot of people in and out of the industry. We more or less came up with the following.
1. If we played anything funky, there was no way to outdo Soul Excess and Madhatter
2. If we played anything heavy, we would be slaughtered by Aurigami and Page.
Our only hope was to pull out our most basic, most poppish song and pray that the judges see marketing potential in that, or don't like heavy stuff, or... or whatever... It was a gamble, and we were frightened by it, but we knew it had to be done.
The 4 bands had great coordinated instrument parts and talented musicians. So what did we do? We decided not to try and compete in any of those areas at all. Instead of working out complicated parts... We went shopping. We actually walked around in the clothes we were shopping for to make sure we had a cohesive band look. We must have talked to like more than 20 people in and out of the music industry to get their opinions on what we should do for the competition. And have debated amongst ourselves more we should have.
I guess it paid off. We've made new friends, and I guess new enemies, such is the reality of these matters.
On a personal note,
Soul Excess had their crazy band coordinated breaks again, I was grinning from ear to ear when I heard them. Awesome stuff.
Madhatter was SOOOooooo disco rock. These guys can totally control a club.
Page was suuper entertaining. I totally loved the lead guitarist's getup, especially when he walked up to do the solo. Perfect.
Aurigami made all our jaws drop during the soundcheck. That girl has mad vocal skills. Pity we couldn't properly catch them during the actual set, could only watch in nervous anticipation of our turn from the side.
Here's to any new band thinking of joining a competition or such. Don't be discouraged when you hear how good other bands are. It's not always about skills. Music is music. Everyone has different musical tastes. And if you work hard enough, plan hard enough, and want it hard enough, you just might get it.
To answer some of your questions, these are as far as my knowledge extends:
1. Snakeweed's sponsorship is 3 songs to be recorded at the studio. We are not informed how much of the prize that makes up.
We were actually more worried about a disadvantage than an advantage. We were already paying customers at Snakeweed. Had any of the other 4 bands won, Snakeweed would have gotten new customers. Instead now, they're still stuck with us.
2. $50k cash and prizes, as far as we know now, consists of $5k cash, $2.5k vouchers, and the recording time at Snakeweed. We're still scratching our heads over what makes up the rest of the $50k. Maybe they'll email us soon.
Just thought you guys might like to know who were judging too:
(I think these are right, didn't really catch all the info)
1. Leonard Soosay
2. Eunice Olsen
3. An artist manager from Music and Movement
4. Safra GM
5. Some government MP
Not exactly a mix of music experts eh? We were very lucky, and had it been any other competition like Yamaha Asian Beat, we might not even make it past the audition rounds. But that's life eh, luck plays a part too. Win some, lose some.
