B.O.O.M! Round 4, Week 4

Congratulations to our Round 4, Week 3 winners: The Sleepy Sparrows!

Congratulations to the Sleepy Sparrows for winning this week’s online vote. With that win, they secure a spot in the next BOOM Live Showdown, coming up on April 7 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 the same page 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 next live BOOM Bash. The next one happens to be scheduled for Saturday, April 7 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. 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.)

Check out this week’s contestants—Canary Girls and The Black Belt Jones Trio, and head over to the polls at the bottom of this page. As always, may the best band win.

Canary Girls	The Black Belt Jones Trio
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Band Members: Dan Kolb - guitar, vocals / Joe Marshall - bass, vocals / Jon Yerico - drums When/where did the band form? Fall 2011 in Buffalo, NY. You might like us if you like: LCD Soundsystem, Cut Copy, Talking Heads, Chill Wave, 80’s Movie and TV scores. Why you should win the Artvoice.com Online Battle of Original Music: Although we started this as a fun creative outlet, we take songwriting and our performances seriously. We feel our music and how well it’s executed live proves that we deserve any gains we make. Website: facebook.com/canarygirls	Band Members: Specill K - microphone / Bobby Fischer - drum machines / DJ Maxwell House - turntables When/where did the band form? We formed in June of 2011 in the Elmwood Village. You might like us if you like: Karate flicks, classic 90’s hip hop, Bruce Lee, Jim “Dragon” Kelly, the Cobra Kai dojo, Miyagi Dojo, Wu-Tang Clan, Frank Dux & the Kumite. Why you should win the Artvoice.com Online Battle of Original Music: We’re new and fresh to the scene, although the three of us seperately have been perfomring and releasing material for the past 5-6 years. The real reason... because we aim to please the crowd and to put Buffalo, NY on the map. Those are our missions. Website: soundcloud.com/evc

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!