Tiger Translate Battle Of The Bands – Brit-pop, Indie and Pop Hardcore

There has been lots of musical excitement going on around town lately; big acts keep coming one after another. But that doesn’t mean we should overlook the young powers-to-be. The ongoing event which is aiming to find the best out of the young bands, Tiger Translate Battle Of The Bands, just finished its third round and already some new talents have been discovered.

Maybe because of the venue’s distant location, Friday at Shuangjing’s Mako Live House was not very busy, but the bands that battled that night showed the highest standard among all the previous rounds so far. Dream Garden brought some really enjoyable Brit-pop tunes, though some of their songs sounded a bit too much like an unoriginal cover of Coldplay. Perhaps that was the reason they lost the battle to indie kids Locomotive Gentlemen.

Sunday night at Tango saw a much fuller house. Even though the lineup of the battlers was not as interesting as Friday’s, the opening band and headliner made up for it. Toyhead’s pop ska melodies kicked off the night with an amusing start. And though some people left before pop punk Reflector started, the headliner of the night still successfully got the audience to create a mosh pit. Pop hardcore band Strange July became the winner of Sunday night and happily received their prize of RMB 4999.

This weekend’s battle reminded me what local band Birdstriking just said in an interview lately, that every band was inspired by other bands when they first started, the really difficult part is to find themselves from all the influences, and some bands may never find that. It seems that, no matter who will win the battle eventually, these young rockers all have a lot to think about.

Photo: Ron Wu and Tiger Translate