Eight emerging bands performed live at the Valkyrie Nightclub stage on Aug. 8 turning the venue into an underground concert hall for the final showdown of the first band search organized by Greenwich.
Billed #UltimateBandkada showdown, the search began in March, when Greenwich called for on-the-ground and online auditions in their search for young musicians that would walk home with a 1-year music contract with Viva Records, P100,000 cash, and a management contract with Viva Artist Agency.
SYVA, Sweet December, Papapeta, Offlane Pitch, Hiyas, Invisible Drums, B-Boys, and Adonai battled it out by performing just one song during the finals. The bands had to tweak the song, based on their chosen genre, and make it their own. In the end, crowd favorite B-Boys was declared winner bringing the audiences to their feet while sending the band a rousing applause. The trio is composed of Ernest ‘EJ’ Lebrilla (vocals), Jay Aballe (percussion), and Joel Diche (guitar) .
B-Boys, which was heavily influenced by Maroon 5, Jason Mraz, and Sam Smith, came from different bands and it was luck that got them all together to form a band of their own.
“We’ve known each other for a long time but we’ve only been playing together for three months,” says EJ.
During the competition, each band worked on a the music of an original Greenwich song written by singer and songwriter Thyro Alfaro. This song best embodies the Greenwich brand and made more flavorful with the mash up of at least two of the following genres: Pop, Rock, EDM and Hip-Hop.
Thyro Alfaro, Yumi Lacsamana, and Jeric Medina, who performed their Philpop 2015’s winning song “Triangulo” complemented the bands’ performances with their short intermission numbers. Kapuso singer Mark Bautista, who also sat as one of the judges, treated the crowd to a live performance.
Special award was given to Papapeta for winning the online poll. The band also bagged the P40 thousand-cash prize and the third place trophy. Offlane Pitch took home P60 thousand for winning second place.
Mark Bautista
The emotion-filled night was capped off with a rousing performance by Climax, and closing to some chill beats by DJ DCFER.
The audition, which started in March, called for musicians to create mashups of the most popular genres today, for an ultimate sound that everyone can get down to. Eight bands stood out against the rest and were invited to join in a 10-week Bandkada session under the mentorship of producer and EDM artist Kio Priest, singer-songwriter Pow Chavez, founders of Musikaramay and rock band, Climax, and Viva Records’ top honchos, Executive Vice President MG Mozo and A&R Manager Civ Fontanilla.