How do you win HardRock Rising?

Around the world, hundreds of bands are now gearing up for or have already played their local HardRock Rising battles. We've won ours yesterday in Munich and wanted to share our experiences and thoughts, as we understand most battles will be pretty identical the world over. How do you win HardRock Rising?

Preparation

With just one week between the closing of the polls and the first gig, it was a bit of a muddle - mails going back and forth between the Cafe, us, the engineers. Some stuff didn't make it through in time. The technical rider wasn't available until the morning of the battle, when we'd already loaded all our gear in the car. We had to discuss whether we could record the show on site (we could, but only for private use). All in all this went as good as could be expected, thanks to the easygoing professional attitude of everyone involved (we kept our drama queens in check).

The Venue

Munichs HardRock cafe is located right across from the famous Hofbräuhaus. So we expected a lot of traffic and no parking space. Both true, but we lucked out and got the last free spot next to the Cafe. We could have rolled up the doors and unloaded, then move on to find a proper spot to park, but it wasnt worth the bother.

The Staff

Professional and friendly, these people were the best. We know Micha, the sound engineer, from way back, and by chance she'd mixed us a couple years back. We were able to mail her the link to the video, which helped her prepare. Dani, the stage manager and MC, is a musician herself and handled the evening quite well. Whatever we needed, she was able to help. We talked about the various venues Munich has to offer and compared war stories.

The Schedule

We had to arrive early - 4 p.m./16:00 - and finish our very brief soundcheck in time for the dinner crowd, by 6 p.m./18:00. Then there was a three hour wait until the first band went onstage for their 20 minute set at 9 p.m./1:00, followed in short order by us. An hour later, at the conclusion of the show, the Jury handed their results to the MC, who announced us the winner, handed gift bags the the other band and had us pose for a picture. We hung around and had a beer, chatted with our fans and friends, then got our de-briefing from the Jury, then hit the road by 11 p.m./3:00.

The Backstage Room

The Chapel at Munich's HardRock Cafe
Nice and comfortable, but not ideal: the "Chapel" room is windowless and uncomfortably airconditioned, without mirrors, a chaning room or a good place to lock your stuff. It's basically a dining area set aside for the competition. Catering was, of course, great - the HardRock Cafe burgers live up to their reputation. There were softdrinks and water, but no beer. A pretty outrageous proposition for Munich. But then the Hofbräuhaus is right next door.


The Competition

We faced off against alternative rockers GRAP!, who were really cool and laid back. Since we shared three hours of waiting time in the backstage room, we got to know them a bit, and decided to gig together in the future. I wonder what it would have been like if the other band had been really competetive - it sure would have taken a lot of fun out of the whole thing. Also I would have felt bad about enjoying their show, which I did.

The Stage and Equipement

GRAP! in the backstage room.
The Cafe provided the backline, consisting of the drum kit, bass amp and cabinet, microphones and stands as well as most of the cables. Our drummer Mikey talked the stage manager into allowing the use of his own double bass pedal and seat, but other than that no customization was allowed. The bass amp broke down on the first few notes, and since no replacement was available, Michael had to plug his bass directly into the mixing console. Overall, the onstage sound was OK, and there was enough room to put on a bit of a show.

The Crowd

The first row of tables was reserved for fans and friends. GRAP!'s were more vocal than ours, and more numerous. The rest of the Cafe seemed to be tourists mostly, with a few fellow musicians among them, presumably from other HardRock Rising bands. We knew the jury was seated somewhere in there, but as we hadn't been introduced couldn't spot them.

We Rock Out!

Oh yes we did. We managed to connect with the audience after the third song (we played five), and from that moment on it all clicked. You know the feeling.

The Jury

The jury consisted of three record label execs, which we weren't allowed to talk to in advance. So no brown-nosing. The MC welcomed then before the first band went on, but without pointing them out. Strangely, we didn't feel uncomfortable by the Mystery Men judging us. After all, that's what every new audience is, really.

De-briefing

After the winners had been announced and we'd cooled down a bit, both bands were welcome to get some feedback. The jury were open and straightforward, and their questions and suggestions helped us fine-tune our act for next time. What I found most helpful was the fact that they focused on marketability: what exactly is it your band wants to do, and what can they do that will get people interested. Some advice we could have guessed ourselves, some came as a surprise (did we really blow the first two songs so badly?). Over all, I'd say this was probably the most valuable part of the whole gig for us. It also showed us that our strategy had paid off: we had pegged GRAP! as very straightforward rockers and knew we wouldn't be able to outdo them in that area, so we chose a set that was more diverse in style and offered more variety. The jury recognized it, and liked it.
GRAP! take the stage

Whats next?

The Final Battle is on April 10th, and whoever wins will go into an online voting round to determine the 25 global champions, and then a jury vote will decider the final winners - see the rules on their blog. Their verdict will be based on all available material online, so we probably need to polish up our Revernation, Youtube and Facebook accounts. But really for us just playing the HardRock Cafe was a blast, and if we don't make it to Rome in the end, well, that place wasn't built in a day either. We'll keep rocking.

So now it's time for your feedback: how did your HardRock Rising battle go? Was it really the same the world over, or does your Cafe do it differently? Let us know in the comments!

Kommentare

  1. Nice blog! We had a super similar experience. My band, INDEPENDENCE DRIVE, won in Philadelphia last night, but we really got to play with some fun people in the other bands who massively respected music. It luckily didn't feel like a competition as much as a showcase of all our talent. Everyone was complimentary to each other, the crowd supported each act, and the staff was extraordinary. Mad props to our sound guy Jeff from Philly. And also, congrats to you guys for winning Munich! Hopefully we'll see each other in the finals online.

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  2. Hi Ian. Thanks any yeah - facing off in the finals would be great. Rock on!

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