About Me
The Global Battle of the Bands is the world's biggest live talent competition for bands of all genres. We aim to find raw talent wherever it is and expose it to a wider audience! Winners of National Finals will be presented with a specially designed bronze "Best New Band" statuette and an all-expenses-paid trip to the World Final at the ASTORIA in London, England. The winning band in the World Final will be awarded a WORLD TOUR, $100,000 in cash and a special gold "Best New Band in the World" statuette.
For more information visit www.gbob.com
THE GLOBAL BATTLE OF THE BANDS
The worlds biggest live Championship of popular music
www.gbob.com
FIRST PRIZE: A WORLD TOUR AND $100, 000
The Global Battle of the Bands will search out and bring the best un-manufactured talent in the world to a wider audience.
Every year Local Qualifying Events and National finals are organised in countries around the world, with the eventual winners of these going forward to The Global Battle of the Bands World Final at Londons Astoria in December. The competition is open to all bands whether signed or unsigned. There is no pre-selection and no demos are required. All bands that register are guaranteed to play.
Dundee band The Rise raised their game to win the Scottish Final of the Global Battle of the Bands 2005. From a strong line-up that included many of Scotland's best new bands, the judges voted Figure 5 from Glasgow second, The Janes from Motherwell third and The Rites from Inverness fourth.
This years Scottish heats will be taking place across Scotland in September and October at the most prestigious venues including Glasgows Barrowland and Garage, Edinburghs Bongo Club and Cabaret Voltaire and others in Aberdeen and Falkirk. The final will take place at The Arches, Glasgow, in November.
Bands playing ANY type of music may enter
There are just two rules:
No cover songs and no pre-recorded music
HOW TO ENTER
The registration fee is £15 GBP per band member.
Once registered, bands will be given a password and private access to their own band area. In there they can add pictures, a biography, print out personalised flyers and submit MP3 to be considered for GBOB Radio
Flyers gain the public entrance for £5 of which the band keep £2.50.
The bands get £2.50 for every flyer handed in at the box office with their name on.some bands have walked away with a couple of hundred pounds for their troubles!!
So, bands can cover their registration fees and make some money for themselves by handing out flyers to their fans, to the gig-going public at other gigs, in pubs and bars around town or to friends and family.
i.e.- each member only needs to bring 6 people to cover their fee
THE STORY SO FAR
Winners of GBOB 2004 go on to sign major recording deal
As ever, it gives us great pleasure to see GBOB bands doing well. Spanish indie band Second , who won the very first Global Battle of the Bands World Final in 2004, have not only been signed by Spains biggest management company RLM but also bagged themselves a major recording contract with DRO Atlantic, part of the WEA/Warner Brothers group. Seconds vocalist and front-man, Jose Angel Fruitos, tells us: "We realise that this wouldnt have been possible without GBOB, so were very grateful to you. We have a lot of hard work to do now. We received other tempting proposals, but the one from DRO Atlantic was the most convincing. After speaking with Alfonso Perez [the director of DRO Atlantic], we didnt have any doubts. The label knows what it wants and it has credibility - something very important to us ".
RLM are one of the most powerful management companies in Spain and already represent many of the countrys biggest recording artists.
2005s Global Battle of the Bands winners were Irelands KOPEK
National final-winning bands from twenty-four countries around the world took part in The Global Battle of the Bands world Final in a packed out London Astoria on December 7. With their grunge rock vibe and a hatful of catchy songs and guitar hooks, three-piece powerhouse rockers from Dublin were the clear winners according to the panel of judges. It means that Kopek have won themselves a world tour and $100,000.
The judges on the night were legendary producer Steve Lillywhite (U2, Rolling Stones, Talking Heads etc); punk pioneer Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols; music journalist Rhodri Marsden (The Independent); singer/songwriter Kate Havnevik (Royksopp, Moby etc) and Mick Feldman, former head of A&R at Sony Europe who has now started his own record company, Fume
At the presentation, Judge Steve Lillywhite declared that there wasnt one single band on this stage tonight who didnt deserve to be there, but there is only one winner in GBOB. But thats not strictly true because Drive Like Maria from the Netherlands who came second despite technical problems and The Rise from Scotland who came third, will be flown out with Kopek to play Mexicos biggest annual festival in Mexico on April 5 2006.
2006 World Finals announced
Due to popular demand, the 2006 World Finals of the Global Battle of the Bands will once again take place at Londons Astoria. This time however, due to the number of countries involved, the event will take place over three days from December 10 to 12 and will feature two Finals and a Super Final.
In just three years, GBOB has grown enormously - from 16 countries in 2004 to 24 countries in 2005 and over 34 countries in 2006 - so the Finals needed to be expanded to accommodate all the National Final-winning bands involved. And with so many bands from all over the world hanging out together in London for four or five days it promises to be a fun and unforgettable experience for everyone involved.
The band that wins the World Finals will walk away with a world tour and $100,000.
