DAMNED BY DAWN

NIKI HENRY-Photographer Journalist
Five bands compete in z93’s neXt2rock competition, hosted by Soaring Eagle A high level of energy ensued at Cumulus Media’s neXt2rock band competition, accommodated by the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort, on Thursday, Nov. 16. The event, held in the entertainment hall, was hosted locally by WXQZ (Z93) and attended by approximately 400 enthusiastic audience members who showed up to support the five local bands that made it to this final competition. These five bands were determined the best out of a total of more than 80 bands from the area that competed in the contest which began weeks ago. Each band submitted one song to Z93. The submitted songs, posted to a website, were then rated by listeners to determine which were best and which band would compete at the final event and for the opportunity to earn a national record deal with Big Machine Records/John Varvotos Records. “We also had people in our building rate the bands to help determine the top five,” said Matt Bingham, Z93 program director and “Morning After” show host. Bingham also said clips of songs from selected bands were featured during his morning show, though none of the songs were played through in its entirety. The first qualifying band to perform the night of the final competition was Handsome Pete, a five-member band from Lansing, with a high-energy vibe and a sound that combined hard rock with 90’s alternative rock. Handsome Pete was followed by Here After Six, a rocking four-member band from Bridgeport with notable vocals. Next to take the stage was A Silver Lining, a five-member band from Bay City that impressed the audience with its talent. Mount Pleasant’s Revolution in Progress, a four-man group that recently earned recognition as Michigan’s best unsigned band, then rocked the stage, followed by Evart’s own Damned by Dawn, a five-member band that wooed the judges with musical styling that combines modern hard rock with a classic rock sound. Each band performed a three-song set in front of three judges who followed assessment procedures set by Cumulus corporate. Z93 selected Natalie Shattuck, local musical talent and managing editor of the Tribal Observer, to be one of the judges. Tribal Sub-Chief Brent Jackson joined Shattuck on the panel, and Gayle Ruhl, Tribal Council treasurer, volunteered to evaluate the bands when a Z93 judge chose to drop off the panel at the last moment. “We rated each band in six different categories,” Shattuck said. “During each band’s performance, we wrote down our reviews and comments. All bands were judged in each of the categories, ranked one to five with five being the best.” Shattuck said the bands were judged on musicianship, originality, stage presence, appearance, song selection and crowd reaction. The judges were told to write comments for each band during the performance but to wait to assign any number judgments until they heard each one of the bands, Shattuck said. “After the final band performed,” Shattuck said, “the judges then went backstage to individually rate the bands, and the numbers were added to determine the third, second and first place winners.” Shattuck said selecting the winning band was challenging. “The final result was a difficult decision to make,” Shattuck said. “Each band displayed their own strengths and talents, completely distinctive from the last band. As judges, we each had similar opinions, but, at the same time, very different stances on the skills and talent we were looking for.” After painstaking deliberation, Damned by Dawn won the top spot as Z93’s neXt2rock finalist. The band, comprised of guitarists Levi Elder and Chris Martin, bassist Ameer Pore’, drummer Mike Sylvester and lead singer Justin Miscikoski, now has the opportunity to compete at the national level with the 46 other bands that were chosen from more than 1,800 competing bands vying for a record deal and the chance to perform at the legendary Viper Room in Los Angeles on Dec. 12. Bingham said videos of each of the 47 bands from around the nation will be sent to Cumulus corporate, and a final decision will be made about which five bands will be sent to California for the concluding competition that will be judged by Scott Borchetta, founder and CEO of Big Machine Label Group, and his partner and fashion designer John Varvatos as well as Bush front man Gavin Rossdale, producer and songwriter Desmond Child and Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones. Bingham said the entire promotion went very well from the beginning. “From the 80-plus bands that submitted their music to the 1,500-plus fans that rated the bands, everything went better than I could have possibly imagined, especially considering this was the first year of the promotion for us,” Bingham said. “I look forward to doing it all over again in 2018 and making it even bigger and better.” - Tribal Observer