Rest Win LMS Competition

28th Mar 2003

UCC Battle of the Bands 2003 Final
The number of acts producing and playing original music in Cork is growing steadily. One of the biggest band competitions ever held in Cork concluded at the Old Bar in UCC orgainsed by the Live Music Society who have sent us this review by Olan Keating....

After four weeks of intense and hard-fought heats, the final of the UCC Live Music Society Battle of the Bands brought proceedings to a triumphant close. Having already won their respective heats, each of the five finalists once more had to prove their worth in front of a panel of discerning and hard-to-impress judges, the likes of which would make Simon Cowell et al seem benevolent by comparison.

First on the bill were those lovable scamps from Queen Kong. Comprising of two vocalists, a drum machine. It's safe to say these guys aren't your traditional college rock fare and depending on your point of view, this may or may not be a good thing. Certainly they are visually arresting. Mad, bad but not half as dangerous to know as they'd like you to believe, Queen Kong could well be Cork's answer to Slipknot.

Next up were Deadline who only seemed to be half the band who won their heat so convincingly two weeks previously. Perhaps it was just their performance on the night but Deadline came across as slightly derivative. To their credit, they were musically very proficient with decent tunes to boot.

Thankfully overall winners Rest turned in yet another masterful performance. Anyone who witnessed them win their first heat had probably already pegged them as winners, and Rest did not disappoint the second time around. Reminiscent at times of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Isis, Cave In or even Neurosis, Rest create sweeping instrumental soundscapes, blending equal parts light and shade in a seamless fashion. It's hard to do them enough justice here, so just see them for yourself if you haven't done so already.

A random draw allocated the running order for each of the bands, so it was just the (bad) luck of the draw that another instrumental band had to perform in the wake of Rest, hardly an enviable task. In all fairness, any band would find it difficult to upstage Rest, and whilst Weevil weren't as impressive as their predecessors, they coped admirably nonetheless. Much looser and less ambitious in their scope than Rest, Weevil did enough to secure second place. Finally, it was Presuming Ed's turn to take to the stage, ending the evening with a lively and engaging performance. The lads do a nice line in likeable indie rock, and even manage to get away with including a cover version (Suspicious Minds) in their set.

As I mentioned, Rest emerged victorious, earning themselves recording time in Secret Garden Recording studios and, most importantly, the adulation of millions. Well, not quite… Anyway, the Live Music Society can congratulate themselves on a job well done, the quality of music and phenomenal attendance bearing witness to this. By the way, Queen Kong finished in third place. Well done lads, I'm not always right.

You can contact UCC Live Music Society at livemusoc@yahoo.co.uk
See winner's rest website atrestmusic.topcities.comor listen to their music at mp3.com/restmusic

Editor's note: Olan Keating is not connected with PeoplesRepublicOfCork.com in any way. PRC do not