Curtis Brings The Rock Out Of The Battle Of The Bands Competition

You can help the Band win $10,000 and, maybe more importantly, win the distinction of being the most rocking school band in the Puget Sound.

The Viking marching band is one of about 40 from throughout the region who are competing in the 5^th Annual Battle of the Bands Competition by The Rock, Wood Fired Pizza & Spirits in Tacoma.

The contest, in partnership with 102.5 KZOK, CBS Seattle and Xfinity, will award $20,500 through The Rock’s nonprofit Schools of The Rock Battle of the Bands program to local high school marching bands for their video renditions of classic rock-and-roll hits, according to a press release.

Over the past five years, The Rock has donated more than $65,000 in cash and prizes to local high school music programs. This year, the winning school’s band program will be awarded $10,000, second place will receive $3,500, third place will receive $1,000 and four runners up will each receive a pizza party.  Three divisional winners will each also be awarded $1,000 for receiving the most text votes within their division, determined by school size. In addition, The Rock will award one school with a $1,000 Best Video award.

102.5 KZOK is contributing $2,500 to the Battle of the Bands prizes and Xfinity will be sponsoring all runners up pizza parties with a value of $750 each.

“We are bringing a friendly competition to our local high school music programs to inspire the next generation of rock legends and spread the timeless art of classic rock,” said Jay Gigandet, co-founder and CFO of The Rock.

The four month-long Battle of the Bands competition invites local high school band programs from across Washington state and the Portland, Ore. area to participate in an online and on air contest to see which school’s performance can receive the most votes via text message.

Voting doesn’t begin until Nov. 14.

(To view Curtis’ entry in last year’s competition, “Immigrant Song” by Led Zeplin, click on the video in the media gallery above)

Here is the timeline for the competition:

Nov. 14 – Dec. 2: Text voting

• Participants can text in to vote for their favorite schools which will be featured on the School of The Rock website and Xfinity On Demand.

Dec. 5: Top 10 announced

• The top ten schools receiving the most votes will be announced on air and online.
  

Dec. 12 – 14: Celebrity judges deliberate

• A panel of celebrity judges will review the ten bands and rank them based on quality of musicianship, originality of arrangement and song choice, technical ability and overall performance.

Dec. 17: Winner announced live at school

• Winners will be crowned live at the school and join the ranks of previous winners Puyallup High school in 2009 and 2010, Liberty High School in 2008 and Shorecrest High School in 2007.

To learn more about the Battle of the Bands contest, visit www.TheRocksBOTB.org. You can also check out the competition’s Facebook page by visiting www.facebook.com/TheRockWFP