Congratulations to week 2 winner, Jae-Skeese

Congratulations to week one winner, Jae-Skeese in our Battle of Original Music, or BOOM! With that win, he progresses to the live showdown on Friday, November 26 at Nietzsche’s.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with BOOM, here’s how it works: Local original music acts visit the boom.artvoice.com website. There, they can learn how easy it is to enter the contest. Number one, it’s free. That out of the way, all a band has to do is supply a digital photo, a digital song track, and answer a few questions about themselves. This is all done in a matter of minutes.

Each week from those submissions we choose two acts to go head-to-head against one another. Then, local music fans visit boom.artvoice.com where they can click on the band they prefer.

The most successful bands are those that not only have created a cool sound, but have also cultivated a loyal fanbase that will go to the website and vote for them. Fans only have from Thursday when the paper hits the street until the following Tuesday at midnight to register their vote. By the following morning, those votes are counted, and the band with the most votes wins a spot on the bill at the first live BOOM Bash. This first one happens to be scheduled for November 26 at Nietzsche’s—one of the area’s top live music venues. There, audience members are issued a ballot at the door which they can then cast for their favorite act. At the end of the night, the band that garners the most votes wins a spot in the BOOM Grand Finale—an event that will be described in a moment.

The process then repeats three more times—two bands facing off against one another—until we have four finalists for each upcoming BOOM Bash (1/14, 2/25, 4/7). Along the way, a total of eight local original acts get exposed to a wider audience every month by simply participating in the contest.

But the fun doesn’t end there. For, once we have the four winners from these live BOOM Bashes, we send them all into the crucible of public opinion known as the live BOOM Grand Finale. There, the cream of the crop go all out in one last heroic effort to blow the audience away and coax the most ballots into their pile—because, at the end of the night, the band with the most votes wins the right to call themselves Artvoice BOOM Grand Champions.

Along with $5,000.

Sounds good? That’s ‘cause it is good.

A word of warning however: Bands attempting to stuff the ballot by submitting multiple votes will be rooted out using the most sophisticated intelligence software available on the black market. (Well, okay, that’s a bluff, but if you try to fool our IT guy you will be caught. Just ask the FBI…he’s that good. And if that happens, you will be disqualified with nowhere to appeal our decision.)

IF YOU’RE IN A BAND, AND WOULD LIKE TO ENTER BOOM, visit boom.artvoice.com to find out how. In the meantime, check out this week’s contestants—Avaeya and Patrons of Sweet—then visit the website to listen to their music and vote for the one you like best. As always, may the best band win.

Patrons of Sweet	Avaeya
You must have the latest Adobe Flash Player installed to listen to the BOOM! contestants.	You must have the latest Adobe Flash Player installed to listen to the BOOM! contestants.
Band Members: Vic Lazar - guitar and vocals / Matt Lavin - bass / Dave Borden - drums and backing vocals When/where did the band form? Buffalo, NY circa 2007 (current lineup, 2009) You might like us if you like: Archers of Loaf, Superchunk, Polvo, Fugazi, Jawbox, Nirvana, Hot Snakes, Drive Like Jehu Why you should win the Artvoice.com Online Battle of Original Music: This is a tough question to answer without coming off like a total douche…I can tell you why we’d like to win: It would be nice to get some validation that loud, jangly, guitar driven indierock is still relevant. As far as why we should win? Probably because we do what we do better than anyone else in Buffalo (there’s the douchey part)…and because watching Vic Lazar’s hands as he plays guitar has been proven to cause epileptic seizures. You may not want to print that…he’d probably kill me. He’s a modest dude. Website: patronsofsweet.com	Band Members: Kori Wedzina - vocals / Scott Wedzina - guitar / Nick Marsillo - guitar / Kevin Slon - bass / Brian Slon - drums When/where did the band form? Formed in sunny Lackawanna in 2007. You might like us if you like: Flyleaf, Evenesance, and Breaking Benjamin. Why you should win the Artvoice.com Online Battle of Original Music: We put all our heart and soul into our music. Our lyrics and music are written with heartfelt emotion and we would love the opportunity to share it with everyone. Website: www.reverbnation.com/#!/avaeya

What did you think of this week's contestants? Feel free to discuss below - please keep it friendly - and remember, posting a comment in favor of a band doesn't count as a vote. Use the link above to cast your vote!