Winners Announced for Madison BandSwap 2014
Since the announcement that Madison would participate in the 2014 BandSwap program sponsored by SpokesBuzz in Ft. Collins, some thirty-plus bands and performers submitted for consideration. Seven cities were chosen to participate in BandSwap along with host city Ft. Collins who send a representative musical artist to each of seven cities for an educational and performance event. In return, each host city chooses a representative band who will travel to Ft. Collins for their annual BandSwap festival.
Last year Madison participated in BandSwap for the first time, sending popular alt-rock group Sexy Ester to the Rockies. The really big news about this year’s BandSwap participation is twofold: The event has been expanded to include five bands who will perform and earn lots of goodies and the city of Madison has generously funded the entire event with $10,000. The latter point is particularly encouraging as the city seemingly is finally putting its money where its mouth is in supporting music outside the traditional avenues it’s supported in the past. The city has given a much larger sum – $50,000 – to fund Make Music Madison in its first two years. That event is community driven, however, and does not address issues facing working musicians in the city. The support for BandSwap is a hopeful indicator of things to come as Madison is poised for significant developmental and artistic growth.
After reviewing the applicants, the Madison Arts Commission recommended the following acts be chosen to represent Madison:
Lords of the Trident was chosen as the Bandswap winner. They will perform at the Frequency on September 20th with the Ft. Collins band Stella Luce who play a quirky blend of indie-rock, ethnic string music, and electronic experimentation that incorporates cello with jazzy break-beats. Lords of the Trident are fast becoming one of Madison’s most popular acts. They play Judas-Priest-inspired metal extremely well but they add in humor and audience participation, resulting in one of the most entertaining local-act experiences you can have. Sexy Ester will open the show as last year’s representative. Lords of the Trident will also travel to Ft. Collins to participate in the BandSwap festival as the Madison representative. Each band member receives a travel stipend to do so.
Four other artists will perform in a joint CD-release party earlier in the day in the cul-de-sac on Mifflin Street between the library and the Capitol Square. Prior to that there will be an educational presentation which will be open to the public. The four performers are:
Madison Media Institute and the Madison Area Music Association are also heavily involved. MMI will provide each of the five bands with 1,000 CD pressings and will coordinate a video production for each band. The first 25 registrants received a free 2015 MAMA membership with Broadjam and one of the five bands chosen will receive a performance slot at the MAMA Awards next summer. The daytime performance event on September 20, which starts at 1 pm, will also serve as the kickoff to registration for the 2015 MAMA Awards. Musicians of all kinds will be encouraged to sign up while partaking in the Bandswap festivities.
One Comment