B.O.O.M! Round 3, Week 2

Congratulations to our Round 3, Week 1 Winners: '92 Bills!

Congratulations to ‘92 Bills for winning last week’s online contest. With that win, they secure a spot in the next BOOM live show, coming up on Saturday, February 25 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. The next one happens to be scheduled for Saturday, February 25th 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 (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—The Screaming Jeans and Breckenwood—then visit the website to listen to their music and vote for the one you like best. As always, may the best band win.

The Screaming Jeans	Breckenwood
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: Avi Altman - drums / Scott Nykiel - lead vocals, guitar, synthesizers / Gandi Rizik - lead guitar, vocals, bass / Joel Russell - bass, vocals, lead guitar When/where did the band form? Summer 2010 in Buffalo, NY. You might like us if you like: Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Coldplay, Interpol, Kings of Leon, MGMT, Radiohead, The Beatles, The Killers, The Pixies, The Smiths, The Strokes, U2, Vampire Weekend, Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Why you should win the Artvoice.com Online Battle of Original Music: There’s such a tremendous amount of talented bands and musicians in Buffalo, NY. Its hard to say why we would deserve it anymore or less than anybody else because there are so many people that have participated in the past or present that are certainly deserving. All we can say is that we are an extremely hard working, energetic live band that put a lot of time and care into crafting our music and we love to share that with everybody on the stage, in the studio or wherever. Winning BOOM! can help us share what we love to do with more people and ultimately, that is all we ever attempt to do every single time we play. Website: reverbnation.com/thescreamingjeans or facebook.com/thescreamingjeans	Band Members: Garrett Shea - lead Vocals, guitar / Nick Bonaventura - guitar, backup vocals / Will Folckemer - bass / Cameron Kukla - drums When/where did the band form? The current line up formed at the end of 2010 in Buffalo, NY when two of the previous members of Breckenwood left, leaving just Garrett and newly joined Will with shows scheduled but no drummer. Garrett brought Cam in for the show and he stuck. Will introduced Nick to the band a few months later after playing with him in an old band the year before. You might like us if you like: Green Day, Blink 182, Goo Goo Dolls, The Rolling Stones, A Day to Remember, up-tempo pop/punk rock. Why you should win the Artvoice.com Online Battle of Original Music: We think Breckenwood deserves to win BOOM! because of the hard work we put into writing material people of all ages all really like, practicing, performing musically great shows, which are often times benefit shows, and because we do our best to support other local bands to keep the Buffalo Music Scene alive. Website: facebook.com/breckenwoodmusic

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!