WATCH: Music Mate road to Splashy Fen paves dreams
CRESTA – Raw talent and good music grace the Cresta Mall Barnyard Theatre.
Music Mate, a musical equipment retail and installation group, in conjunction with Barnyard Theatre Cresta and Splashy Fen hosted the Music Mate – Road to Splashy Fen East Rand heat on 15 February.
The venture was a competition where six East Rand bands played against each other to get a chance to move into the final. After two other heats, one in the West Rand and the other in Pretoria, a final will be held in Rivonia, where one lucky band will win the opportunity to play at Splashy Fen, a KZN music festival, alongside the likes of Mango Groove and Gangs of Ballet.
The six competing bands were selected out of 30 applications. A random draw selected the order in which the bands performed on the night. The bands, in order of performance, were Nebula 9, Coolerbox, Madhouse Theory, The Ceramics, Raygun Royale and Phoenix Turbine.
Danny de Wet, event organizer and promoter, commented, “Splashy Fen is having a festival revival this year and this event was to broaden Splashy’s footprint in Johannesburg. Since there are so many festivals around, this is a reminder of Splashy and the great line up they have planned for this year.”
The performances were judged by a panel including Music Mate store managers. Every band had 15 minutes to impress the panel. Afterwards, two bands were selected to go through to the final.
One of the judges and manager of the Music Mate Fourways branch, Keevan Bradshaw, said, “This is the first time Music Mate has partnered with Splashy Fen for a competition such as this. I think it is a good opportunity for local bands as there is not a lot of places for upcoming bands to play these days.” Bradshaw was mostly judging the bands on their stage performance as they would have to know how to please a crowd if they played at Splashy Fen.
Although every band had different strengths and a unique sound, all the bands agreed that the opportunity to play at Splashy Fen would be a dream come true and the beginning of bigger things.
At the end of the evening the judges selected three bands, Raygun Royale definitely got through to the final but Coolerbox and Madhouse Theory were put up for a random draw. Coolerbox made it through to the final.
Watch part of both Raygun Royale and Coolerbox’s performances:
Details: Barnyard Theatre Cresta, 011 478 5300.
