And now, a closer look at the four bands competing on Saturday,
February 9, in the first round of the Sound Off! semifinals:
The Batteries from Carnation, Washington, are
crazy—postapocalyptic carnival music with surf-style keyboards
and vocals that sound like they’re being sung by a creepy scientist who
breeds chemically enhanced species in his dungeon. There’s an obvious
connection to Schoolyard Heroes to be made, but that could just be
coming from their mutual appreciation for classic sci-fi and horror
flicks (the description on their MySpace page: “Sounds like if Lon
Chaney, Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Peter Graves, and Vincent Price all
had a party on the Forbidden Planet”).
The Dead Are Judged from Marysville, Washington, are a
higher concentration of evil, a nasty combination of hardcore and metal
with face-melting riffs, booming drumming, and throat-shredding vocals
that sound like they come from some hairless, red-eyed, little creature
that lives in a damp cave. The band are trying to scare the shit out of
you. Fans include KMFDM’S Jules Hodgson.
On the other side of the spectrum is New Faces from Port
Townsend, Washington, who, with singer Nico’s baritone vocals,
sound like a new-wave Calvin Johnson project. They’re just as danceable
as acts like Franz Ferdinand and, appropriately enough, they’ve already
been booked for an upcoming installment of Club Pop at Chop Suey (March
13).
Lastly, Southgate from Pendleton, Oregon, head back to
the darker side, drawing inspiration from Lamb of God and Children of
Bodom. But their sound is more otherworldly than metal-mates the Dead
Are Judged. There’s an incredible bagpipe intro on the song “My Gift,”
and the opening scream in “Universal Conspiracy” made my stomach drop.
It sounds like dying.
The grand-prize winner gets a performance at Bumbershoot 2008, an
on-air, in-studio performance on KEXP’s local show Audioasis,
$600 worth of studio time at Soundhouse Studios, and gear from Gibson.
The second-place winner gets some great stuff, too—a performance
at Folklife, an on-air performance on 107.7 The End’s local show The
Young and the Restless, and studio time at Orbit Audio. Good luck
to all (and confidential to Southgate: No sacrificial rituals onstage).
