Bandquest

What’s it all about then?

Quadruple Battle of The Bands-esque competition up to 120 PRIZES, worth over £10K, 4 Finals with at least every finalist winning a prize, opportunity to be part of a brand new triple CD compilation, full colour programme featuring all bands and supporters, studio time, festival slots, local discounts, deals and more!

17 Weeks, 47 Gigs, £10K Worth of Prizes - Are You In?

We’re looking for 108 bands to take part in the Quest to push the leading local bands on to a national level, where they’ll stand to win a share in £10,000 worth of prizes including £1000 cash, slots at Bexley and Bloodstock Festivals and a 1000 CD replication deal. We’re trying to amass 120 prizes so that each and every band walks away rewarded for taking part. With the Quest running across 3 regions and 4 venues these events will be the most highly focused in terms of promotion and coverage anywhere within these regions from February to May. Join the Quest to help Unified Sounds find the greatest bands in the local scene and attempt to elevate them far beyond any current expectation.

With a team willing once again to give you their all and support unseen within the local area that the platform is being run, you’ll clearly be given a massive leg-up. This platform is delivered with absolute focus from people that all care about music and the direction that it can take peoples lives.

The platform consists of (but not limited to) the following:

a) A competition designed to bring out the best in every band in every sense across ALL genres. 36 Heats, Various Semi-Finals and 4 Finals! Heats will be £2.50 entry based on either adv tix, flyers and students, 50p per entry cheaper than last year for punters.
b) A triple CD Compilation received by industry and highlighted throughout media and professionally constructed to deliver maximum coverage featuring up to 60 acts.
c) A printed programme designed to cover every element of the local music scene for all those involved and give visual presence and distributed everywhere.
d) An offer of increased rewards for ALL musicians, including reduced studio costs, a FREE loyalty card in itself offering freebies and free drinks, 15% off @ Dingo Jacks music Store, 10% off at elephant music, 5 session for £100 @ Jigga Jam, and many more.

Supports of this project already include:

Bloodstock Metal Festival, Bexley Festival, R.E.M., Dingo Jacks, Elephant Music, Media Sourcing, Jigga Jam Studios, Banana Road Studios, Orange n Blue Studios, Dartford Borough Council, The Drayman, Red Lion, OHM Bar, Roadrunners Records UK, oRenet Services, Whatevernext Records, Celeb Time Promotions, Seventh Sun, Holloweb - Professional Web Design, Defzone, Roadrunner, Darkstore, Whatever Next Records, Strange Loop Studios, Earache Records, Kerrang, Terrorizor.com.

We have literally hundreds of avenues still to explore and your recommendations too!

To make this a total success we will be working with various media and creating support at every level. We feel that it was important that the entire experience was worth taking part in.

A selection of prizes already committed are as follows;

1 Rehearsal Time 8 (Worth £200.00)
2 Rehearsal Time 8 (Worth £200.00)
3 Vouchers +15% disc 4 (Worth £200.00)
4 Studio Days 4 (Worth £600.00)
5 Web Design 3 (Worth £600.00)
6 2 Slots at Bloodstock 2 (Worth £2400.00)
7 2 Bex Fest Slots 2 (Worth £TBC)
8 Rehearsal Time 1 (Worth £100.00)
9 Engineer Free for the Night 1 (Worth £100.00)
10 Rehearsal Time 1 (Worth £100.00)
11 £100 Voucher for CD Run 1 (Worth £100.00)
12 Replication 1 (Worth £800.00)
13 Studio Day 1 (Worth £220.00)
14 DVD's n Goodies 1 (Worth £300.00)
15 Cash 1 (Worth £150.00)
16 Cash 1 (Worth £150.00)
17 Stall Voucher 1 (Worth £150.00)
18 Cash 1 (Worth £200.00)
19 CD Pack of albums 1 (Worth £300.00)
20 Cash 1 (Worth £1000.00)
21 Tattoo Voucher 1 (Worth £100.00)
22 Studio Day 1 (Worth £100.00)
23 Earache 1 (Worth £300.00)
24 Kerrang Subscription 1 (Worth £150.00)
25 Reading Festival 1 (Worth £165.00)
26 Bloodstock Ticket 1 (Worth £100.00)
27 Terrorizor Subscription x4 1 (Worth £200.00)

Total prizes to date 51 - Worth £9000.00!!!

Last year at this time we had £5000 worth of prizes and this year we still have 3 weeks until the first event and have £9000 worth already!

So how do you get involved?

First things first, all band members need to be over 16 and with I.D. Secondly all bands must be willing to work on the basis provided as the format needs to be consistent and continuity must be kept throughout. It’s important that to make this the success it can be to consider this as a start to the future of Band Presentation Platforms from Unified Sounds, with plans for 2010 already being discussed!

If you feel your band is ready for the challenge of getting noticed in 2009 then look at the section below.

How to enter your band...

1. If you are ready, complete this form with all details: http://eventmatrix.co.uk/features/events/2009/bandquest/
2. Check the schedule to see if you can make a date in the area deemed closest for your band, including the Semi-Finals/Ranking Days and the Finals.
3. We request a deposit, fully returnable, of £10 for each member of your act (e.g., £10 for a soloist, £50 for a five piece band). We’re asking a deposit from each member as opposed to per act to encourage more duos and soloists to enter. We felt this was the simplest and fairest way of doing that. The deposit will be refunded after 31st May, if Terms (below) have been adhered to.

Further details...

The deposit is a safeguard to make the platform run smoothly and to ensure bands don’t misrepresent the platform. So, the terms on which the deposit is repayable.
a. That the band does not pull out of the competition at any stage.
b. That the band or any members of that band do not bring the project and organisers and any party linked to the project into disrepute. No negative campaigns or inflammatory comments neither about the project nor to any entity and not limited to the businesses, bands and individuals involved shall be made by the band nor any other member of it.
c. That no equipment or property belonging to the neither venues nor organisers shall be damaged or stolen during the course of the project.
d. The band agrees not to play a gig locally one week either side of the heat date they have picked.
e. Should the band proceed with a track on the CD, a £5 deduction will be taken from the deposit per member as security for the track being placed on the CD. With a small per track fee of between £1-£20 for the track position* (per band) *Free if you record at Jigga Jam on the £99 per day deal.
Payments should either and preferably be sent via Paypal.com (link is on the entry form and should be addressed to contact@unifiedsounds.co.uk) or given in cash to one of the Staff at Unified Sounds Events (Formerly The Rock Matrix Events)

To find out more and for the full programme of activity including terms and conditions contact Unified Sounds at 0208 301 1532. or go live @ unifiedsounds@hotmail.co.uk for all the information about the platform. A new email account of contact@unifiedsounds.co.uk will be in action shortly for all related correspondence.

If we’re all in this together then it’s about ‘U.S.’ (Unified Sounds)

Schedule:

Metal- Every Monday from 02/02/09 @ The Drayman for 9 Weeks (Final Sunday 31st May)
Alt- Every Tuesday from 03/02/09 @ Acacia Hall for 9 Weeks (3 Finals, May Bank Hols)
Alt- Every Friday from 06/02/09 @ Red Lion for 9 Weeks, (3 Finals, May Bank Hols)
Alt- Every Sunday from 08/02/09 @ OHM Bar for 9 Weeks, (3 Finals, May Bank Hols)
Collective – Every Thursday @ The Drayman always! FREE ENTRY for platform users.

We are looking for more of the following people to join the platform:

Judges
Photographers
Reviewers
Social Networking Admin’s
Flyer distributors
Contributors
All bands/genres welcome from any area of South East
Minimum age for entry 16- I.D. required for some venues. (OHM Bar, Bexleyheath - over 18s only)

Successes of Darbex Band Quest 2008 campaign:

Raised £1250 for cancer research
6 bands represented, proposed or positioned on bill @ Bloodstock
6 bands represented, proposed or positioned on bill @ Bexley Festival Main Stage
2 Finals with 1100 in attendance between them
£7800 of prizes eventually granted
2000 units (Sold Out) of the Scratch the Surface promoted and position throughout the scene and industry
Local promotional booklet (Alta-Scope) Launched
Several radio interviews granted to bands and Rock Matrix
41 acts appearing on The 2 compilation CD’s mastered at Jigga Jam Studios
Over 10,000 people attending events during the Feb-June period 2008