2008 Band Comp Heat 3

By Matt Dawson

Wollongong Unibar band comp heat 3 came and went and Boy George was the quality of this one high. In the words of one judge, ‘this heat could have easily been the final’ and with 6 top local bands strutting their stuff, no one wanted to make a bet on this one.

Starting the night were rockers End over End from the Southern Highlands. With a strong Bodyjar and Muse sound coming through, the Foo Fighters hoodie donned by the man on bass was a dead give away of their inspiration. These boys delivered a solid set with good strong songs and are definitely a band to watch out for in the future.

Next were Kiama pop punkers The Conspiracy Plan who after a recent major adjustment to the lineup, brought a strong Lagwagon meets early silverchair sound to the stage. With a fluffy, furry and spinning guitar at the front, the on stage antics of these boys was as energetic as they come and saw the boys figure strongly in the judges deliberations.

Third to take the stage was Bennie James and The Hesitant Few. Combining the sounds of frontman Ben Szota’s solo work with a full band line up, they developed a strong sound throughout a set that was reminiscent of Ben Lee and The White Stripes.

As the night wore on, the bands kept impressing with San June coming on 4th. With the simple line up of bass, guitar, vocals and laptop, the boys worked off the prearranged samples to deliver a great progressive set. With a sound half way between Air and Pnau, they certainly had members of the crowd warming to something different.

Second last were last year’s runners up The Green Room who brought a bus load of fans to the front of the stage. With over 50 punters bopping along to their indie tunes, they permeated sounds of bands they have shared the stage with such as British India and Thirsty Merc.

The final band for the night was Pilate who boasted a Zeppelin meets Gomez sound. With duelling guitar lines and strong bass coming through, they got a few up and dancing to the tunes to finish off the night.

After a long and very extensive process, the judges returned to announce runners-up as The Green Room who will go through to the repercharge round on 29th July. The winners were adjudged to be Bennie James and The Hesitant Few who head straight into the final on August 14 and the chance to head north for the state final in September. With quality such as this on the night, it seems the local Wollongong music scene is alive and kicking and the final in August is set to be one of the most hotly contested in years.