WEEK 1 – (MAY 25, 2008)
(Author’s Note: if this is your first visit to the UMC interactive blog you might want to read our INTRODUCTION first)
Welcome to the first week of Ultimate Music Challenge 2. There were five bands who played the debut: The Stilettos, Help!, Mercy House, Atomic Cowboys, and Loss of Control.
And the Winner is…
Help!
So Week One of UMC2 was a success. It was standing room only and the bands were, mostly, great. There was a lot of quality rocking going on up that stage, and I’m not just saying that to be polite.
The Stilettos opened the night with their brand of rawk-a-billy (that’s raw rock-a-billy with a ‘tude) and slammed a nearly flawless, technically excellent (tech-cellent?) set including two from the Stray Cats repertoire.
After that came a Beatles tribute group called Help! who were also outstanding, especially the gent who played the role of John Lennon. If you shut your eyes, you’d have thought John was in that room with us. He delivered many spinal shivers with his uncanny postural impersonation and musical mimicry. The rest of the band was solid too, with the exception of some vocal misses by the Paul McCartney character. Still, credit is due. Most people don’t realize how difficult it is to cover the Beatles. Their songs often sound simplistic and effortless, but that’s part of the genius because their music is actually intricate, complicated and loaded with nuance. Help! Did about as good a job at covering the moptops than any band I have ever heard. And, they played all the songs in their original keys, which really just made it feel like the freaking Beatles were up there (and part of the reason why “Paul” struggled with some of the high end vocals). But, again, it was that John Lennon guy who stole the show. I’ve still have lingering goosebumps from his performance. During the judge’s comments, I told him, “Dude, you are so good. You look and sound like the real John Lennon so much that my only advice is, if you ever get to New York, stay the hell-away from the Dakota building.”
It was a fairly crass comment. Luckily for me, most of the crowd didn’t get it.
After Help! came Mercy House who were obviously driven to win this competition. They bounded on the stage with a roar and just injected the room with a much needed dose of raw, sexrock energy, opening the show (if memory serves) with, “Are You Gonna go my Way,” and kicking major musical ass with Rod Stewart’s “Hot Legs,” though, as you can attest by this video of their performance that night, the singer missed a bit vocally.
Still, that’s a bitch of a song to sing and so the lead singer gets props for effort. Also, Mercy House by far had the loudest, most passionate audience response (103.5 decibels on the meter) probably because they had the biggest fan base, and, they were so much freaking fun. The only problem, and I got booed for saying as much, was that they were not as technically proficient as the previous two bands and probably why they got inched out.
In the 4th position was The Atomic Cowboys. They also played Rockabilly. Like the Stilettos before them, they played a techcellent set. And while they weren’t as lively as the Stilettos, they definitely had a superior song list, steering clear of the Stray Cats’ stuff, opting instead to drill deeper into the rockabilly catalog, including a great – though risky – cover of Olivia Newton John’s “If You Love Me Let Know,” (words and music by John Rostill). The risk paid off and they rawked it quite well. They got beat on energy though, and it’s too bad because I can guarantee, wherever these guys play, I bet they draw a crowd and have a blast.
The last band of the lot, Loss of Control, was a bust. They were a Roadhouse band with minimal skills in the bass, drum, guitar, vocals, choreography, and costume deparment. However, they rated very high in the, “Hey-We’re-On-Stage-Playing-Rock-and-Roll-So-Fuck-Off” category. I have to admit, I appreciated that. And really, they’d be just fine playing at Krakens, but no way could they thrive in a casino.
During their performance, the judges were kind of looking at each other, trying to figure out how to tell them they sucked without hurting their feelings too badly. After their set I said, “You know, if I were in a band, yours would be the kind of band I would play in: You have fun on stage, you play good old-fashioned rock and roll, and you probably drink more than you practice. That being said, I don’t see you moving to the next round.”
That wasn’t too harsh right? I kinda meant it too.
With the exception of Loss of Control, the voting was awfully close. Help! beat out The Stilettos by a mere half-point, and Mercy House followed them by only a couple/three points, followed very closely by Atomic Cowboys. Really, in my opinion, all four of those bands could’ve advanced. Alas, as Jason Mullen, the event organizer said, “Rules are rules.”
Indeed.
See you next Sunday!
Edwin Decker
Judge #
http://www.edwindecker.com
May 28, 2008 at 5:16 am
I’m glad that audience response is only a small part of the judging criteria. In my opinion, it makes sense that the majority of a band’s fan base isn’t going to drive all the way out to Viejas to support you to play for 20 minutes when they have families, have to work the next morning, etc.
May 28, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Good feedback from the judges. I thought the pick of Help! was probably right. Unfortunately I missed the band after break – was stuffing my face. I thought the set was supposed to be 20 minutes max. Without actually timing the sets, it seemed to me like some of the bands played longer than that. Overall an enjoyable event – I’m looking forward to the upcoming performances – especially The King Bees (OK, that was a shameless plug).
May 28, 2008 at 6:21 pm
You’d be surprised TJ, when there’s 20k on the line, how many people will come out and support their favorite band. Especially family and friends. Still, I think the audience response factor is about right. I like the way it’s set up. I think Help earned the win also, but, as I said, it was very, very, very close. Very difficult to score. Usually, it doesn’t start getting that difficult to the semi-finals.
May 28, 2008 at 11:24 pm
TJ just sounds like he is looking for an excuse. I’m glad that guy isnt in my band! The fact is, everybody has the same chance to show thier stuff (same gear, same stage, same time frame, same sound system, same opportunity to promote, etc…) Let’s get on with it!
May 29, 2008 at 12:17 am
I think the judges are looking for tribute bands not cover bands. I didn’t know cover bands wear “costumes”. They should change the name of the contest to “battle of the Tribute Bands”.
May 29, 2008 at 12:35 am
Randy,
Not true! “Costumes” refers to general appearance i.e. do they look the part? Last year the winner was a tribute but 2nd and 3rd place went to straight up cover bands who played dance music. Generally performers wear costumes; whether that consists of jeans and a white t-shirt or leather chaps depends on what they want to convey to their audience.
May 29, 2008 at 2:28 am
Edwin,
First of all, Props to you for providing this Blog and sharing your thoughts on last Sunday’s event. Secondly, congratulations to HELP! and The Stiletto’s for finishing 1st & 2nd, they both deserved to win.
Now, if you all bear with me, I would like to provide some comments and suggestions.
I am the drummer in the band Mercy House (played the third slot) and we would like to thank Viejas, the Judges , the Sponsors and all of the people that showed up to support an event like this. We had a great time and are NOT upset or bitter about not advancing. Our goal was to go out “Guns a’ Blazin” and create a Rock n Roll concert experience, which I think we did. We only had about 15 total of our friends / supporters show up, and definitely had more than that on the dance floor and making noise (so we hit one of our marks). We were judged for not being as “technically proficient as the previous two bands” which I don’t have a problem with, because it wasn’t our best night as far as technical performances go, but to our defense, we did not play it safe either. We played four of the most intense songs that we could and when you are laying it all out there, you might get a voice to crack etc. The rules stated that you could not go over 20 minutes or you would be deducted points. We filmed this event and know that a few of the bands exceeded that time limit (which is why we played only four songs). I am not crying foul, but I think if it’s a rule then you should enforce it (a point here or there could have changed things).
As far as the name “Ultimate Cover Band Challenge” this event should change it’s name in the future to the “Ultimate Tribute Band Challenge” (I have nothing against tribute bands, in fact I enjoy watching them and respect the effort it takes to pull it off) since 40% of the vote is based on costumes etc. What I would like to know is, what’s a “Cover Band” suppose to look like. A good “Cover Band” to me, is one that plays a variety of music from many different artists and era’s. How do you dress for that?. I understand that a tribute band like HELP!, Cash’d Out, etc. is suppose to look like the band they are portraying. But we do original material as well as cover songs (over 40 songs on our list) that range from the Temptations & Elvis, to Aerosmith & Guns & Roses. Are we suppose to dress up like The Temptations and play “Sweet Child of Mine” (G&R)?. Or dress like Rod Steward in spandex and a glittery shirt and play “Are you Gonna Go My Way (Kravitz)? I know, I know….. rules are rules and we knew what we signed up for and believe me AGAIN, I am not complaining or crying foul, I just think maybe a Tribute Band contest would be more appropriate based on how much weight (40%) is put on the costume category. Based on that criteria, a band (no reference to any band that evening) could show up looking like they play on the same Baseball team with matching shoes, hats and bats and bring a bus load of friends, family (or the rest of their team) and not know how to play a lick and still max out on points for look and crowd noise (full 40% for costumes and full 20% for crowd). A band like ours would be lucky to get a into a tie with these guys (if we played it safe and were perfect musically) or even lose because the most we could get would be 40% for musicianship, 20% for crowd and zero for not looking like a “Cover Band” (Baseball Team, Best Men at a wedding, etc.)!
With all that being said, It was a great time and would do it all again in a heart beat. Good Luck to all the bands and thanks for letting me sound off.
May 29, 2008 at 7:35 am
Hey Rich, let me first say how much I truly I enjoyed your band and how I totally agree with your points about going balls out and taking risks. When you guys leapt upon that stage, and started busting out those tunes, it was the most exciting moment of the night (for me).
Still, all we judges have to go on is what we hear that night so, unfortunately, those few technical glitches had to be factored in, especially on a night with so many good bands.
Your point that we should stick to 20 minute sets is a great one. I had not considered timing the bands which is totally important. I’m going to talk to the God-heads at the Dream Catcher and pass on your advice. Thanks for that.
As for your suggestion to change the name from, “Ultimate Cover Band Challenge,” to, “Ultimate Tribute Band Challenge,” I must respectfully disagree. First of all, you have some facts wrong: The name is not “Ultimate Cover Band Challenge,” it is Ultimate MUSIC Challenge.” And the category name is not just “Costumes” but “Costumes and Appearance,” which is an important distinction. Also, the “Costumes and Appearance” category does not count for 40% of the overall score (that WOULD be atrocious) it only counts for 10%. It is the parent category that it falls under, “SHOWMANSHIP”, which counts for 40%. SHOWMANSHIP has four subcategories: stage presence, charisma, overall style, and costumes – all counting for 10% each.
Point is, the judges don’t care if you are a tribute band or a cover band. All we’re looking for is a band who does, what it does, the best. If you are a Beatles’ cover band and you’re wearing similar suits like the Beatles used to wear, we’re going to give you points for that. If you are a generic cover band, that covers songs from Rod Stewart, to Lenny Kravitz and your band is wearing jeans and t-shirts, and your singer comes out with his shirt wide open (dude, I’m not gay, but those were smoking abs) we’re going to give you points for that too.
And if the Stilettos had come out in short, short dolphin shorts that hugged their nuts and low cut tank tops that showed the tops of their nipples – we’d have probably given them low scores.
Really, what it comes down to is, you need to the judges a little credit. Trust us that we are able to factor all these variables in. We’ve been in and around this business for decades. We know what’s up. Like in the case of your baseball team analogy. Give us a little credit for being able to see through a band like that. If this fictional band that looks like a baseball team, let’s call them the Colorado Rockers, really could not play a lick, and couldn’t sing for squat — well there is just no chance the judges would let them win.
Costumes/appearance is only a small part of the picture and there is just too many other categories to score low on for it to matter that much. As for the busload of fans and friends, hey – if they were able to get a busload of people to come all the way out to Viejas to witness a 20 minute set, well that should count for something. Draw is a factor, no?
All that being said, Rich, your comments were polite, and frank, and not at all sour grapes-ish. Your It was an honor and a pleasure to host your band.
Please, comment back and tell us where and when you’re upcoming gigs are, you know, your home bars. To extend the baseball metaphor to unbelievably ridiculous lengths, I’d like to see Mercy House play with a home field advantage.
Ed Decker
http://www.edwindecker.com
May 29, 2008 at 9:46 am
I had a great time and I want to thanks every one involved. And Thanks, Rich for agreeing with me. We played last ,and I guess we sucked, but we did have a ton of people there, we all wore black pants and ran around the stage. A couple of our member have played with major San Diego bands in the past and to say they suck is an insult to them. I admit I am just a hack but the others are skilled musicians and to say they have minimal skills is insulting.
The sound guys and the entertainment director came to our after party and rocked out with us the rest of the night at the Alpine Inn. To me that’s what it’s all about. Thanks again for the opportunity. …And we have added a female keyboard player and we are practicing and drinking less:)
May 29, 2008 at 10:02 am
Randy, I’m sorry, you’re right. That WAS insulting. And I apologize. And you know what, in hindsight, I secretly liked you guys. I wasn’t being utterly full of crap when I said that if I was a musician I’d want to be in a band like yours. I love fun, sloppy rock and roll. seriously. I guess the totality of it is, you’re not right for the venue. For a 1 year residency at Viejas? It’s too slick for you – you know what I mean?
Oh, and for what it’s worth, I gave you a good score on “costume and appearance,” because you looked the part. Really, it doesn’t take much. Just do no harm is my approach to the costume category.
May 29, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Thanks for the reply Edwin. I agree with you, we just wanted the exposure and the fun night to play on the Viejas stage. We have played a 2 day block party at the Flamingo in Vegas and 2 other local casinos and they all loved us. But you are right. We are not a background type of band for entertaining players while they gamble. we are more of a party band. Thanks again for the opportunity we had a great time.
May 29, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Edwin,
This may be called “…The Ultimate Music Challenge…” but it is also advertised as “…a Cover Band Contest…” (look carefully at the web site!)
I agree the bands were mostly very very good, but I totally agree with the difference there is between a COVER BAND and a TRIBUTE BAND! I would even go one more step to say it is very difficult to compare the different genres of music. Personally the best one of the night for a COVER BAND was Mercy House. And this coming from a C & W fan!! But I like all types of music from Jazz (hi Jaime!) to C&W to Rock to even some Rap if it’s good.
However, thanks for an entertaining night and I look forward to next Sunday!
May 30, 2008 at 12:50 am
The only tribute band last Sunday was HELP. All of the other bands were cover bands with the Stilletos and Atomic Cowboys having a more narrow focus on their genre. The top four bands were excellent and as Edwin stated the judging was close.
Colleen, in my opinion Mercy House was the best at delivering a high energy, get-to-your-feet show. It should be noted that Loss of Control was not last place in that area, however Mercy House was fourth place when it came to the musical performance, except for the drummer… Number one all night! They are a fine band but the others inched them out musically.
May 30, 2008 at 1:36 am
HEY! I’m forming a tribute band of a tribute band and I’m gonna call it Crapola!
May 30, 2008 at 2:12 am
Oh Colleen, what do I have to do to convince you?
Of course I know the website says, “cover band contest.” The correction I was making was to the title of the event, which is “Ultimate Music Challeng.”
Regardless, “Cover band contest” INCLUDES tribute bands. Tribute bands are cover bands who focus on one group.
And yes, it’s not easy comparing and grading different genres, but that is our task – and I welcome it! So let me repeat…
TRIBUTE BANDS HAVE NO ADVANTAGE OVER GENERIC COVER BANDS.
End of story.
May 30, 2008 at 3:02 am
Edwin,
Thanks for explaining the “Costume” category. That one seems to draw the most confusion. If we had any regrets in regards to our performance on Sunday (Mercy House), it was that if we had known that the “20 minute” Rule was NOT being enforced, we would have ripped out a couple more songs. It may not have changed the outcome, but it would have been a blast, and kept the much needed energy going.
Thanks again to all of the people involved and those who showed their support for our band! We look forward to rockin’ out again for all of you sometime soon. (Ed, we would love to have check us out on our “Home Turf”, I will keep you informed.)
Blessings.
May 30, 2008 at 6:20 am
Thank you Ed, Viejas and all who made this event happen.
Everybodies is all up in the koolaid over this time thing, (you know the whole 20 minutes deal). I spoke with the stage manager that evening and he was wearing this thing called a “watch”, (I know, I know, it’s crazy right?). He assured me that each band was being timed down to the second, (although, I’m not so sure his watch was digital), He also told me if there were technical issues that bands were having beyond their controll that time would be deducted from there overall performance. This made was so it didn’t penalize a band if the drums fell apart (like The Stilettos) and I agreed this seemed to be pretty fair. I’m wondering if there actually is video footage to the contrary. Hmmmmm? Did we really did land on the moon? When do fish sleep?
Mercy House you guys ROCKED the eph out! I especially LOVED your lead singers super east county, shitty, DAGO tattoo! ( RIGHT ON BROTHER) and would of loved to see you guys kill a 45 minute set. YOU WERE AWESOME!
Good luck to next weeks contestants! If you want to say hi I’ll be there this Sunday (the guy in whos apartment smells of rich mahogany) I’m kind of a big deal.
May 30, 2008 at 6:38 am
Hey Edwin-
I was the host for the UMC last year…good to see your back this year…just curious if you know where the host came from this year??…thx, Corey
May 30, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Corey,
JACK FM sponsored UMC again and provided a host. How have you been? Are you still with JACK?
May 30, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Hey Corey, what’s up with you?! We miss you man. The thing has already started off with a bang. Come on down next Sunday and let me buy you a drink. So how’s it going at Jack FM?
May 30, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Well Edwin, I think you have the wrong approach.
This is listed as a cover band contest by advertising and the website.
Acover band has the ability to play whatever is thrown at them. I know, because I worked in a cover band years ago when I was a professional musician. I worked the Dr Dean hypnotist show at the gaslight room for ten years. We played everything from Rolling Stones to Swan Lake and everything in the middle.
If your tribute bands are going to appear in a cover band contest, then they should play like a cover band not limited to their thing.
I agree with Colleen….she is also mmy wife. I met her while playing the Dean show. Sometimes the cover band guy gets the girl.
I agree with her not beause we are married, but becuse she is right. Tribute bands should represent cover bands in this contest.
Cashed Out was anythinng but a cover band….they played the Cash songbook.
Let’s make this a level playing field!
May 30, 2008 at 8:54 pm
I have to admit, I laughed at this review, so great work Edwin. Not only was this informative, but it was entertaining too.
A few things:
To the people…unless you’re a musician, you don’t know how tough the deal is. AC/DC had it right in “It’s a Long Way to the Top”. Listen closely, being in a rock band certainly isn’t just Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll! To do the job well it takes a real commitment, I’ve often said that you have to treat it like a second FULL TIME job.
To the bands…great work…because of all of the reasons I just mentioned, you deserve a pat on the back, if nothing else.
To “Help!”…congrats on advancing. I am not a serious Beatles fan, but truth be told I do see the genius in the music. I’m sure that Edwin’s comments are accurate, and if they are, you earned every bit of the technical points.
To “Loss of Control”…I played with a version of this band about 5 years ago, and Edwin’s dead on. Their lead singer and I worked together, as did their current guitarist Randy, but in that incarnation the band found it’s roots as a band that played a dive bar every weekend in Oceanside. (Names omitted to protect the innocent and avoid legal action.) Randy is right when he says they aren’t the most technical band, and props for him for being able to come out and admit it – let’s face it, we played for a pitcher of free beer. I left the project for this very reason, I wanted more than just my friends telling me how great I was after a few drinks, but Jason never intended the band to be the next great technical project, like “Yes”, or “Kings X”. Instead it was his vision to bring FUN back to the band and bar scene. He might have done this, but that doesn’t make them the choice for Dreamcatcher.
Looking forward to great bands in the room in coming weeks.
East County favorite 6-One-9 should really tear the roof off the joint.
June 2, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Really, John? You think a band that’s well-known in the Santee area clubs can probably get their fans to drive the short distance to Viejas, as opposed to a band from the north county area? Please keep it real…regardless, the scoring seems to be more about the band’s performance and not so much about the audience participation, which is fair.
June 2, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Comment on Round 2:
Wow, judges…I’m at a loss for words here…I had never heard any of these bands play before, so I was very objective. I had to look up the judging criteria today, to see what’s being looked at. Let’s keep it real…Pop Rocks won that hands-down guys. It seemed like such a let-down. The former accusations of you guys favoring the presentations of tribute bands is starting to become a legitimate suspicion. Alice & The Coopers were good for what they did, but it was obvious that they still were not as tight as they could have been and the vocals need work (although Alice was no great lead singer in the first place). Basically they were sloppy, and I could probably find them playing in Second Wind or other East county bars (similar to Loss of Control) where less quality is accepted. Playing for a full year at Viejas? I don’t know what you guys were thinking.
The Pop Rocks band had great musicianship, vocals and presentation-OVERALL. The clear winner for that round.
The rest of the bands-the critiques were accurate-you all know where you stand.
June 2, 2008 at 10:58 pm
oh for crying out loud Tom, nobody is objective. you have your opinions and I have mine. I liked Pop Rox very much. I liked Alice slightly more. Neither were anything close to perfect musically. They both had all kinds of pitch problems and whatnot. But I preferred Alice, and so did the other judges and so did the crowd, by the way, who cheered the loudest for Alice and The Cooper Gang. Pop Rox was a close second though.
June 2, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Olin, a cover band is many things. Sure, it can be a band who can play whatever is thrown at them. It can also be a band who has played the same 4 Lynyrd Skynyrd songs for the last 14 years. Very simply, a cover band is one who performs (or “covers”) the music of another band.
That makes a tribute band a cover band.
Maybe you should look at it this way. All tribute bands are cover bands but not all cover bands are tribute bands.
June 3, 2008 at 9:08 am
Maybe so, Edwin. I’m trying not to give my musical taste/opinion here. I didn’t know any of them, and I didn’t care what genre of music they were playing, I looked at them OVERALL, and Pop Rocks just had a tighter band. The others were not quite ready to put their bands in a competition like this yet. I still can’t see a whole year of the Alice show at Viejas, at least I hope not…I’m looking forward to other opinions from anyone who was also there that night. If I didn’t know better, I’d say the judges were all owners of bars in East county(lol). The other 2 judges were like listening to Paula Abdul, sugar-coating the mistakes and telling them how beautiful they are-I was happy to at least hear you keep it real…
June 3, 2008 at 5:45 pm
I completely agree with Tom on the soft judging point, lets make some poeple cry up there. HaHaHa. I’m only kidding you guys were great!
And by the way, 60% of the time, it works everytime.
June 3, 2008 at 6:24 pm
and even then, there’s a 50 percent chance of it not working
June 4, 2008 at 7:00 am
I’d like to agree with Ron. A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.
I’d also like to add: No poor bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making other bastards die for their country.
June 23, 2008 at 7:08 am
I am posting a comment late cuz I just figured out there was a blog. The bands were really great that night, help definitely was the best musically. The judges were really harsh though. I LOVED MERCY HOUSE and I loved their lead singer, he was a true performer and musician. He hardly struggled (give me a break)… Does anyone know what makes a good performance, look at steven tyler, madonna, Michael Jackson, britney spears…. these guys are idols. Now who is a great singer and musically perfect… hmmm Clay Aiken??? Is he considered an icon? Steven Tyler, Madonna, Michael Jackson and Britney Spears… the biggest icons ever… all are INCREDIBLE performers… not incredible singers…they are okay singers. Lets face reality people what do people really want to see a good band or a good performance? I LOVED MERCY house and so did the crowd…. which says A LOT about a band. I really believe as the best cover band (since it is battle of the cover bands)…. they should have won…. if they were judging it as a good cover band contest. HELP was amazing musically WOW…. but boring boring boring to watch. But it is hard to play guitar and move around a lot so it is definitely understandible…. I just cant believe mercy house was in 4th place…. yikes judges good thing you arent signing musicians to a record label or else your label would be filing bankrupcy
July 9, 2008 at 3:22 am
Honestly, this contest is dumb. You immediatly admitted to judging APPLES TO ORANGES. Hello??? Any real JUDGES in the house???
Isn’t that kinda like on hmmmm “Americas Got Talent”…you see an AWESOME hip hop dance group and decide “NO, they need a CHEERLEADER” in the mix……………….YeAH…not SO MUCH!!!
Ugh…. just another reason why I am disappointed in the SD music scene….. Its bullshit political conservative CRAP………yall are WAY behind the times!!!! PLEASE….download your stupid BLUEGRASS at home….and let us CONSUMERS be entertained!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
im Out…………………..