Max Hopkins - A Thousand Sins

Battle of the Bands was great!

We all had an awesome time watching other bands and obviously performing ourselves. We enjoyed playing through a proper set up again (after being drummerless and gigless for months). It was a real chance to see other bands of our age, and to see how we rate among them. We are now frantically searching for other opportunities to gig in our area, and are suggesting a similar event at our school (Comberton Village College).

Max Hopkins (A Thousand Sins)

Debbie - Band liaison

For me it started months ago. Planning, meetings, decisions and more. Suddenly it was a week away and I began to panic as all the lighting hadn't arrived in the post from buying on the internet (when some arrived I realised it didn't include bulbs!!), I hadn't found T-shirts cheap enough for the budget I was on.

Then it was Friday evening, the Community Centre was being used by the community for fireworks night, (how inconsiderate of them), so we had to wait 'til gone 8 before we could get in and start building the stage. Wish I had a video camera with me then. I won't mention the name of the guy who was in charge of the stage as he knew how to put it together!? After attempting to put the beams and platform together about 4 times it finally slotted into place. A few nails and screws later and phase one was complete.

Meanwhile a couple of band members, already signed to the label, had been conned into coming down to help and were busy up the 5 metre ladder nail gunning the thick material to the back wall for sound insulation.

By about 10.30pm and a few beers later we decided to call it a night to be ready for the big day!

7:30am sitting in bed with a cup of tea mustering up the strength to get out of bed knowing that once up it was gonna be none stop for about 17 hours. Knock on the door and realising that Will was more keen, Wayne shouted out the window and ran downstairs. After an unexpected hour, those of you that know what I'm talking about, involving head, concrete and a call to the emergency services, we finally made it to the hall with cars loaded.

I snuck off to Biggleswade to buy crates of beer and to pick up the bouquet of flowers that were later to be presented to those most deserving whilst leaving Phil, Wayne and Chris laying out reel after reel of cables and leads. On my return I found Wayne up in the rafters putting up lights with Kitch lobbing cables into the air to attach them, Phil playing with his precious toy (desk covered in knobs obviously), Chris setting up the Record label desk complete with CD's volume 1 and Dean, Ashley and Bridget running around doing whatever needed doing. Pauline then turned up with 2 big cars full of the snacks and drinks which everyone pitched in to unload, then Dean got on with arranging the bar whilst Pauline and Kate got on in the kitchen. A waft of warm baked pastries alerted me to the fact that Rob had turned up with some yummy goodies which mingled well with Bridgets home made soup and Paulines chilli. At least we wouldn't go hungry.

Tables were layed out, chairs put in place cables, leads and extensions were all where they should be. 10 rolls of tape later and Jen dished out her home made chocolate muffins (I really need the reciepe for them please Jen). Warning signs were stuck up wrist bands at the ready and we changed into our superb T-shirts expertly embroidered with 'crew' on the back by local sewing superstar Nessa. After trying to find pyrotechnics to launch the Gamlingay records in the break but failing miserably I was really chuffed with my pal Lynne for making a great huge balloon filled with smaller ones which she darted over from Langford with just in time. Would have been really effective if some plonker hadn't gone and flicked something at it at the wrong time!!

Chris informs me he is going home to quickly get changed and will be with me soon to help sign in the bands as they arrive. Thanks Chris. 2 minutes after you leave and 5 bands all turn up at once. Bridget kindly stepped in to help whilst Carl done the gruesome job of having to check their gear for... well gear! Didn't fancy cleaning up the sick like last year.

I spent the next 9 hours mainly stuck down the corridor liasing with the bands, making sure they had everything they needed and were ready to go on in time. I only panicked slightly when one band that were due on any minute informed me that the bass player had just broke a string! A big thankyou to the guy who lent his bass, don't know which band you were from now but you were a life saver thanks. Then I had to run around finding someone with a guitar tuner, and then find the snare drum that had been removed from the stage but not put back. Yes also the inevitable happened and I lost an entire band that were due on next. I ran round the hall, shouted in the loo, looked in the changing room and checked out the bar but could not find them. I was pulling my hair out when they just suddenly appeared! Phew panic over.

I got to hear the bands playing from out back and listened the soft tones of JJ the compare who I thought done an ace job.

In my opinion all the bands were great. There is a lot of talent out there playing a variety of music. Some seemed more nervous than others and for one or two of them I think it was their first competition. Well done to you all. I would like to finish off by saying that all the band members were really nice with me and didn't give me any grief or show any attitude with me and for that I thank you all.

Of course it didn't really end there. Presentations and announcements of winning bands, well done guys, and then the awesome task of cleaning up. 2am to bed to be up again and back down the centre for 9am for another 4 hours of cleaning and dismantling of the stage. Beer anyone?

Deb x

Jon - Jamlinjays

Saturday was real good, such a good atmosphere all night and all the bands gave great performances and standards to live up to. Being the last band on it went really quick. The younger bands were as equally as impressive if not more, we've got to watch our backs in the future, there's great talent that surrounds us. We are completely overwelmed to win, haven't been able to stop smiling. We had great support from the bands playing that night and all this has opened a few doors for us to continue spreading our sounds, thanks to everyone involved organising and setting up and everyone who cared to come and listen, thanks, and again to the bands for great competition.

Peace and Funk people.

The Jamlinjays.

Tom Newman - Kate is the decoy

In a nutshell, I thought the event couldn’t have been better from a performers perspective. I attended the event throughout the whole day and thought it was simply brilliant. As a band, I was sure we had nothing to worry about as Phil came well equipped with all the standard live sound gear such as DI box’s, microphones and all the XLR leads you could ever possibly need! A backline was even supplied for us including drum kit, bass amp and even a guitar amp should we have wanted it, so really all we needed was our guitars and a few drum bits! Everything had already been sound checked before the event took off, so we knew it was going to be sounding top notch. And if that wasn’t enough we even got some friendly help from Wayne while line checking before our performance. Basically, we were really well looked after. Bravo!'

Jim Burton - Nyx

The Battle of the Bands at Gamlingay had a fantastic atmosphere, with tons of talented bands taking part. Although we were technically pitted against one another, it was a friendly competition and I think all the acts really enjoyed watching each other perform. The Jamlinjays' victory was well-deserved - they put on a top show and fair play to them. We'd naturally have loved it if we'd won, but it was great just being up there and getting such a positive reaction from the crowd. We're hoping to get some more gigs in the area soon and would love it if people came back to see us again at some point in the future. Check us out at www.myspace.com/nyxuk.

To follow come back soon