Bands ready to battle as second heat draws closer
Four more bands will take to the stage at the Rockingham Hotel on Friday night, when this year’s Battle of the Bands returns for heat two.
Blacksmith is returning to the competition for the second time and frontman David Spencer said he hoped to improve on last year’s appearance, which saw the band make a first-heat exit.
“We’re a mature-aged band and obviously the crowds were there for the younger ones,” he said.
“We’re in our 40s and 50s. It can be (a disadvantage) depending on what the crowd want to hear.”
Spencer, joined by Peter Delaney on guitar, Richard Wilson on bass and Ernie Steiner on drums, said he had a love for the blues rock genre and hoped the crowd enjoyed their set, which includes covers and originals.
“We’d really like to think we could progress through to the heats, we think our music is good,” he said. “The thing I love about blues rock is it is timeless.
“Even though there are a lot of genres our there, you still get gigs playing blues rock — it appeals to all ages.”
In contrast, Double Dragan will perform a set of hard rock and heavy-metal music. Lead guitarist Alan Prizmic said he was unsure what to expect from the competition.
“We’re a little bit petrified actually,” he said. “I’m sure we will bring a small army along to give us some support.”
Prizmic said the Kwinana-based band, which also includes Marc Stipinovich on vocals, Denis Sapina on drums, Daniel Sapina on rhythm guitar and Dragan Nikolic on bass, considered heavy metal the music of legends.
“I think hard rock is one of the rawest forms of music there is,” he said.
“It’s something that gets the crowd going and the band — it gets your blood flowing. That’s the reason we do what we do.”
Double Dragan will be up against metal-based Hearts for Stones — a five-piece band which formed in February.
Rockingham’s Mathew Andrew is the lead singer, joined by Peter Vaughan on drums, David White on guitar, Curtis Watchorn on bass and Jason Hawkes on guitar.
Andrew said the band’s re-released single Ghosts of Us would end their original set.
“We are hoping to win, but at the end of the day we just want to make our mark,” he said.
Rockingham rock band Silence to the Left are hoping the crowd enjoys their original work, recently recorded in Adelaide.
Frontman Dave “Pinna” Culpin saw the battle as a launching pad.
“It’s about visibility for us,” he said.
HEAT 1 WINNERS:
Hello Colour Red and Approaching Opposite
HEAT TWO:
Friday, September 13, 7pm
