Mid Sussex Battle of the Bands Returns!!!

Oh My! An event for young people in Burgess Hill and Mid Sussex. Surely this is some sort of a mistake?

After an absence of a number of years, various people and organisations are getting together to bring back the Mid Sussex Battle of the Bands.

The contest is open to musicians aged 13-19 and there is a special launch event taking place at the Martlets Hall, Burgess Hill on Wednesday 21st November at 7:30pm

How to Enter
To be eligible, bands must have three or more members all aged 13-19 and with at least one band member living in the Mid Sussex District council area.

Applications open on Saturday December 1 2012 and close on Tuesday January 22nd 2013.
The qualifiers will be announced on Monday January 28 2013.

Format
Two heats, one at Clair Hall in Haywards Heath and another at the Martlets Hall in Burgess Hill.
The judges will select three bands from each heat to go through to the final.
The winners and two runners-up will be decided in the final with a 50% vote split between the audience and the juding panel

Dates
Heat 1 - Clair Hall, Haywards Heath - Friday February 22 2013
Heat 2 - Martlets Hall, Burgess Hill- Saturday February 23 2013
Final - Martlets Hall, Burgess Hill - Friday March 1, 2013

Prizes
The winners will recieve a £250 voucher to spend at Bedrock Music in Burgess Hill and will also receive some free recording time at Sound Central Studios.

The 1st runners up will also receive recording time at Sound Central Studios.

The competition winners and both runners-up will be invited to support The Last Carnival at the 'Rock For Fairtrade' event on Friday March 15th at the Martlets Hall.



Judges
The Battle of the Bands will be judged by a panel comprising:

• Hereward Kaye: ex Flying Pickets, Rick Wakeman, Tom Robinson, proprietor of Rok Skool
• Stu Barbour: ex Alvin Stardust frontman, The Crossroads Band UK
• Rosie Langhorn: ex Legs & Co
• Jez Mumford: Sound Central Studios, record producer
• Phil Sumner: from Indie band British Sea Power - cornet, keyboard, guitar
• Hannah Peacock: Freedom Leisure
• Mak Norman: Bright FM
• Adam Williams from The Last Carnival

Comments from the event organiser
“We are delighted to bring a Battle of the Bands to Burgess Hill and are looking forward to meeting the youngsters and hearing what they can do,” says Robert Eggleston, Principal of Snowdrop Music and organiser of the event. “Martlets Hall is a great venue for us to base the Battle of the Bands and I’d like to thank Freedom Leisure for their support in getting this idea off the ground. The Battle of the Bands also dovetails well into the Fairtrade Festival which is organised by Burgess Hill Town Fairtrade”

Do you know of a local band eligible to enter this competition? Let them know by sharing this page:

Got an opinion on this story? Leave a comment below.....
Are you a local band eligible to enter the competition? Do you know any local bands?
How pleased are you that some organisations are getting together to put on an event for the young people of Mid-Sussex?