Blog: 20 years after Radio Free Hawaii’s battle of the bands, and I’m still tickled

I’ve been fundamentally opposed to the concept of a “battle of the bands” for a very long time. I believe they offer false hope and create animosity between bands that should be allies within their musical communities. The music industry is already hyper-competitive, and pitting bands against one another in an attempt to fill seats is greedy, at best. I’m certainly not aware of any local battle of the bands being a stepping stone for winners, but I could just be cynical.

I could also be jaded, and I can trace that back to my first experience with a battle of the bands. It was sponsored by Radio Free Hawaii during a time in Honolulu that saw local bands enjoy a wealth of performance venues, eager fans, and uncommon exposure. In retrospect, Radio Free’s motives for putting on the battle were pure. At the time, it was the only radio station that played music by independent local musicians.

My band at the time was good. We played original ska music at places like Anna Bannana’s, My Favorite Eggplant, and a host of other venues that have since disappeared. We were sure we had a shot at winning. Our friends and fans packed into what was then Moose McGillycuddy’s in Pucks Alley to vote us into what we were sure would become rock and roll superstardom.

It was a heady feeling to be on the verge of winning cash and recording time. It was devastating to be told by a friend who played with Dread Ashanti that he saw a guy from Radio Free, Hawaii’s champion of the underdog indie band, stuffing the ballot box with bogus ballots for his friend’s band. I think his handle was “Deputy Dan,” and the irony still tickles me almost 20 years later. We ended up losing by a handful of votes to “Monkey,” I think. I swore I’d never go through that again.

My band went on to tour nationally in the trenches of independent music for years, selling somewhere around 20,000 records, basically out of the back of a van. “Monkey” did not.

So it was with some sheepishness that I entered the band I’m in now into a battle of the bands sponsored by the Strangford Lough Brewing Company in Northern Ireland. The prize is a trip to Las Vegas to play at McFadden’s in the Rio Casino. I reasoned that because it is an international competition held exclusively online, we’d be spared the indignity of watching someone else celebrate winning. Also, it would increase the chances of our one day playing music in Ireland.

It turns out that through Facebook and other resources, we were able to secure a spot in the final with four other bands. And our video of our performance at the 2010 Murphy’s St. Patrick’s Day Block Party speaks for itself. But two of the other bands feature attractive Irish women. We’ve got our own very talented and attractive woman in our band, but there is certainly a part of me that’s thinking, 20 years after my first battle of the bands, “Here we go again.”