Audience, Nightclub Were Big Winners in Battle of the Bands

An old notion--that competition is healthy--certainly applies to local rock bands. A “Finals Showcase” earlier this week at Bogart’s in Long Beach featured six bands from Orange County and Long Beach contending for a chance to perform at a music festival in Toronto.

It produced nothing but good-to-excellent performances, highlighted by an outstanding set from Ann De Jarnett. National Peoples Gang and Chain Gang also were first-rate.

But even more impressive than the performances, in the eyes of Bogart booking agent David Swinson, was the size of the audience.

“It was the biggest crowd we’ve ever had. We had a line of more than 100 people we couldn’t let in,” Swinson said. That confounded expectations: Swinson had given each band an unlimited guest list for free admissions, thinking that the event might draw only 100 paying customers. Instead, besides the guests, 250 paying customers (at $3 each) made it inside the 350-capacity club over the course of the four-hour program.

Swinson attributes the big turnout to the added excitement of seeing bands compete--and, knowing a good thing when he sees it, he is now planning to run band contests at Bogart’s regularly.

He has outlined plans for a night of competition every other month, starting in October.

Last Sunday night’s “International Festival of Independent Music” contest will be decided by public balloting that ends Sept. 16 (ballots are available at Bogart’s and in the current edition of the Pacific News & Review, a local alternative paper).

But Swinson plans to have a panel of judges (probably music writers and record shop operators) decide the outcome of future contests as soon as the final band of the night finishes playing.

The contests will be winner-take-all affairs, with the victor keeping the evening’s door proceeds and earning a coveted slot opening for a national headliner at Bogart’s.

But the real point won’t be prizes, Swinson said. It will be exposure for talented local bands that otherwise might be overlooked.

Swinson said he plans to spread the word of his contests among Los Angeles-based music agents and record ‘It’d be nice to see some of these struggling bands make it. I’m going to start off with Orange County and Long Beach (bands), and if I get interest in L.A., I’ll go there’ for talent.

David Swinson,Bogart’s booking agent

company talent scouts, in hopes of getting them out regularly to see local talent.

And, on a more grass-roots level, Swinson thinks the contests will bring out bands he and other local club promoters ordinarily might not get to see. If they are impressed, it could lead to bookings for acts that otherwise would have remained holed up in their practice rooms or home studios.

“It’d be nice to see some of these struggling bands make it,” Swinson said. “I’m going to start off with Orange County and Long Beach (bands), and if I get interest in L.A., I’ll go there” for talent.

To enter, Swinson said, bands should have a recording that they have put out for sale, or at least a quality demo tape, and should send it to Swinson at Bogart’s, 6288 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach, Calif. 90803.