Happy birthday to Sound Off! EMP's annual battle of the underage bands celebrates its 10th anniversary this winter. Over the past decade, several Sound Off! winners and finalists have found success in the music industry, and it's due in no small part to the launch pad that the contest has provided.
The latest success story is piano-heavy rock act the Lonely Forest, who won the competition in 2006 (they were called John Van Deusen and the Lonely Forest back then). Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla was so impressed by the band upon hearing their record We Sing the Body Electric! that he established a major- label imprint at Atlantic, called Trans, just so he could sign and work with the band. They recently released their Trans debut EP, and with any luck, a full-length will be out before the end of the year.
Electro-pop band Brite Futures are another group of Sound Off! alums still going strong. They were known as Natalie Portman's Shaved Head when they made the finals in 2007's competition; since then, they've toured with Lily Allen and CSS, they've been publicly adored over and over again by annoying (but influential) celeb-blogger Perez Hilton, and, in what might be their best career move yet, they made that name change this summer.
Of course, Sound Off! doesn't guarantee success, and a number of high-placing participants have evaporated into oblivion. (Gruff Mummies, what happened? You guys were AWESOME!) But the publicity, experience, and relationships gained in the contest certainly don't hurt a young band's chances.
So if you're in a band whose members are all 21 years old or younger as of March 5 and you'd like to have a shot at joining the ranks of Sound Off! success stories, get your application and demo submitted at www.empsfm.org/soundoff by Monday, November 8. That gives you just over a month to polish up your songs and get a decent recording together. Worth noting: Old Fire House, the Vera Project, and the L.A.B. all have recording studios that offer discounts to underage bands. 
Fri Sept 24: Black Breath, Get the Most, Heiress, Damages, Devotion, Lush Vegetation at Fusion Cafe (Downtown YMCA), 8 pm, $5.
Fri Sept 24: The Pharmacy, Basemint, the Shivas, Pony Time at Black Lodge, 9 pm.
Mon Sept 27: The Flaming Lips at Paramount, 8 pm, $40 adv/$43 DOS.
Wed Sept 29: Arcade Fire, Calexico at KeyArena, 7:30 pm, $40.
