DISAPPOINTMENT turned to elation for Okehampton band Bionic Compromise at last Thursday?s first heat of the Battle of the Bands contest. At 9.30am last Friday, the band received a call from competition organiser Richard Appleby to say there had been an error in adding up the judges? final marks and they were in fact the winners of the heat ? the night before, there had been quite a shock around the Charter Hall when the results were announced and the group made up of Okehampton College students had not been placed in the top three. Richard said: ?Unfortunately, Bionic Compromise had been denied their moment of glory, but they will be going through to the final with two other bands. ?The standard was amazingly high. There were only four points separating the first four bands.? Now the five members of Bionic Compromise can look forward to playing their brand of energetic, progressive rock at the grand final in Simmons Park next month. Richard said: ?Their guitar player John Cordy was really great. They came on stage with white faces masks and boiler suits and played an Eminem tune which got everyone really excited.? The two joint runners-up, once the judge?s scores had been scrutinised, were Freedom Falls and Tommy G and the Banditz. Richard said Freedom Falls were a Launceston band with a drummer who drove the songs along and a singer with a lovely voice. ?Tommy G and the Banditz were wearing cowboy hats and played in bare feet,? said Richard. ?They were very unusual with a sort of country/blues sound. The songs were sung in a gravely deep voice, which reminded me of Captain Beefheart. ?I was amazed to find out afterwards this was one of their first gigs, because they sounded very accomplished with their bottle neck slide guitar and harmonica.? Richard said despite the mix-up, the event had still been ?absolutely amazing? and a ?roaring success?. ?There was a meeting taking place in the White Hart across the road and I am told they had to close all the windows because we were making so much noise,? Richard said. Perhaps the biggest cheer of the night came at the finale of local band The Roulettes? show. Richard said: ?I don?t recommend people try this at home, but one of the band lifted up his bass guitar above his head and on the back it had a sign which said ?Smash me?. He looked at the guitarist and threw the instrument across the stage and his bandmate duly obliged and whacked it in mid-air with his guitar.? The Okehampton band were playing their first gig and proved popular with the crowd. They played their own material, save for a version of one of the songs of Pete Doherty?s band Babyshambles. Other artists keeping the crowd entertained on a warm and sticky night in the hall were the acoustic singer songwriter Ben Broom, who got the show underway, and the youngest band of the night Entropy, all aged 14, who closed proceedings with a thunderous metal set. The Luscious Rickys came all the way from Somerset to take part. Their flamboyantly confident lead singer drew attention and the band finished fourth. ?It was beyond my wildest dreams for a first night,? Richard said. The second heat gets underway tonight (July 27) from 6.30pm in the Charter Hall. The bill features Gimme Hendlix, Rock Salmon, Felix, Borderline, Evolution, Your Third Wish and another act to be confirmed.
