Sarah

With bands rehearsing head-banging in sync and ironing out stage antics in a quiet corner of Toronto’s Reverb and Holy Joes; fans got a taste of what is to come in Toronto’s Indie market at the Supernova.com “Battle of the Bands” this past weekend. The world renowned 2 room venue in the heart of Toronto’s thriving music scene played host to a battle consisting of whopping 22 band set list. The seasoned show managers and the team of show runners and interns ensured that the event ran efficiently and without incident with emphasis ensuring a fair and entertaining contest from the 6pm start time right on through the final act. Leading off the night was solid indie rock quartet ‘The Travelers’. Our eventual 3rd place finishers made good use of their time belting out solid guitar solos and exceptionally well written original material. Holding metal and hard rock close to heart were bands ‘Entropy’, ‘Serpent Spawn’, ‘Munik’ and ‘Lucifuge’ all supernova veterans at the top of the metal game; each pumped out variations of metal and hard rock with authority. However, the second place finisher ‘Fear of Romance’ trumped the competition with a performance on a whole other level earning them selves 8 hours of recording time at the legendary Machine Head studios. With such a large play bill including young talent like ‘All In’, ‘End of Playback’, ‘OPD’ (who enjoyed a great crowd response) and ‘Boomslang’ the decision to crown a winner became increasingly more difficult as the event heated up as the prospective winners list kept growing with covers and originals from bands like ‘Peripheral’ and ‘Plan Bee’ in the mix. In front of a crowd reaching nearly 400, each band got a chance to showcase their sound and practice their stage acts employing banners, t-shirts and demos to further their brand among the masses. ‘Loyalist’ and ‘On the Verge’ sported their own gear on stage in an effort to solidify some potential sales and made their presence felt despite a late set time. The Holy Joe’s stage played host to soloist Jeff Baker and a score of others including ‘Pinto Publico’ our top finisher, eventually taking 1st Place overall with an exceptionally tight set and intense original material. Over the course of the night bands played to an enthusiastic and receptive crowd of devoted fans who enjoyed a variety of genres and styles. Though there are simply too many bands to mention, the night was without any doubt a testament to the thriving Toronto/GTA music scene and a solid indicator that there is no shortage of talent coming out of the Supernova Entertainment Group’s network of nearly 77,000 music enthusiasts. -FW Visit ‘shows’ section for upcoming dates and support your favorite band.