The Band Experiments kicks off in Hamilton

Hamilton’s York Street Band Experiments kick off this Friday with the first of four heats to be held at Victoria Street’s Flow Bar.

The first line-up will see local acts Penelope The, Afterthought, Ni-n-jah, Ghosts of Electricity and Pinecone Lightningcompete for a chance to make it to the final.

The Band Experiments were taken over by the Hamilton Live Music Trust in 2009 and project coordinator Nick Johnston says the event gives local bands the opportunity for nationwide exposure.

“I think Hamilton’s always had a lot of good bands, it’s just a matter of trying to promote them and give them a platform to get their name out there.”

With a prize package that includes 12 hours of recording at Auckland’s York Street Recording Studio, and a music video produced by Chasing Time Productions, the winners of Band Experiments are set up to enter the music industry.

“If the band is motivated, winning Band Experiments gives them a major platform to take them to a semi-professional or professional level.”

Previous contenders who went on to both national and international success include Cornerstone Roots, Knights of the Dub Table, Katchafire, Sora Shima and Dick Dynamite and the Doppelgangers.

Johnston says a drop in audience awareness in recent years has seen many local bands struggle to get numbers for live performances

“In the nineties there used to be gigs in Hamilton where you could get hundreds, or even thousands of people to see local acts.  The Live Music Trust is trying to get back some of that progress with events like the Band Experiments.”

He says the loss of Waikato University radio station Contact FM’s ability to broadcast across Hamilton has had a profound effect on the local music industry.

“Contact FM does not have a good frequency, so there’s no local radio content that can broadcast across the whole city – which means it’s very difficult for local bands to get any airplay.  That’s why I think in a number of ways Hamilton has missed out on a lot of opportunities.”

From this struggle, Johnston says Hamilton has developed a very unique and close-knit music scene.

“In bigger cities like Auckland, each sub-genre is big enough to sustain their own little sub-cultures, so a lot of those bands have quite similar sounds.  Whereas in Hamilton – maybe out of survival – you have line-ups with bands that in bigger cities would never necessarily associate with each other.  I think that’s really good, it gives positive influences and open-minded attitudes to other types of music.”

Doors open at Flow Bar at 8pm Friday and tickets are $5.

For more information check out http://www.facebook.com/bandexperiments