RP Band Competition: The Path to IGNITE!

By Udaiya Shakti

On 15th August 2013, the RP Band Competition Finals was held at South Agora. This event was seen as an opportunity to many bands for them to showcase their talents as the winner of the competition will be given the honour of performing at IGNITE! Music Festival with the likes of Tiramisu, The Sam Willows, The Vacant Affair and many other great bands. The 5 finalists were Coastlines, Frission Wonder, Tell Lie Vision, Cheers to the Past and Temple Shift.

Music lovers, fans and friends coming down to South Agora to support their favourite bands in action.

Prior to this event, these 5 finalists had to battle their way through other bands as well. They were first judged by their audition’s video and those who were successful, were invited to perform in the first ever open live audition which was held on the 5th of August at the TRCC LAB.

Judging them were Zaini Mohamad Tahir, TRCC’s Assistant Director and Kenny Lim, TRCC’s Executive of Venue Management and IGNITE 2013’s producer. When asked about their judging criteria, they said that they were looking for bands that have a perfect balance of both substance and style.

“I’m looking for bands that have very good musicianship. This means that they excel not only in terms of their sound, but also their pitching, their rhythm, all the little parts and the technicalities. The second part is their audience engagement. This concerns their delivery and how they sell their band to the audience and the judges, their energy on stage and the dynamics within the band, so on and so forth,” said Zaini.

With these criteria, they chose these 5 finalists to be featured for the Finals. One band, Coastlines were particular excited as this was their first time performing on stage. This band was formed towards the end of 2012 and consists of members with interest and passion for pop punk music.

“I feel great as it shows that we are somewhere. We are just not a mediocre band. We have the potential to showcase our musicianship and gain support from people,” said Niki Iskandar, the drummer for Coastlines.

The Finals got underway with Temple Shift setting the bar with a rocking performance followed by Coastlines, Frisson Wonder, Tell Lie Vision and Cheers to the Past ending the event off on a high note. As all the bands performed well, the judges had a hard time deciding the winner. After much deliberation, they had the results.

The winner was none other than the fan’s favourite, Tell Lie Vision which eventually got the golden ticket to perform on the IGNITE! Stage. They were stoked that they won the competition and glad that their efforts in their preparation paid off.

Members of Tell Lie Vision happily taking photos after knowing that they won the competition and will be performing at IGNITE! Music Festival.

To prepare their upcoming performance for IGNITE!, they said that they just have to jam more.

“We jam until we make sure that we play together and have the harmony in our sound,” said Muhammad Hasif Bin Jasman, the vocalist for Tell Lie Vision.

Catch their performance at Day Two of IGNITE! Music Festival on the 24th of August, as they will set to do some damage on stage.