A Loyola band has recently been catapulted into the international music arena. They are competing in a worldwide battle of the bands competition to win an opening spot for this summer at a premier outdoor music festival in London.
Hard Rock International hosts a yearly worldwide competition called Hard Rock Rising in which thousands of bands compete globally for a spot to open in the Hard Rock Calling music festival in London’s Hyde Park.
This year the competition will take place from July 13 through July 15, and the winner of the competition has the chance to open for headliners such as Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and Paul Simon.
The Loyola band, Liquid Peace Revolution, made up of singer and vocal performance freshman William Alber, guitarist and former Loyola student Kyle Deshowitz, bassist and former Loyola student Evan Hall, drummer and music performance freshman Matt Keegan and pianist and former Loyola student Jason Percle, has made it through the first three rounds of the five-round competition and is now competing in round four representing the entire state of Louisiana in the global online voting round, said the band’s manager and music industry freshman Kevin Quern.
The competition started in March, and 86 Hard Rock Cafés across the world held competitions in which they each selected a local band to represent their location.
“There are some bands that have their entire country backing them,” Quern said.
Round four started on April 9 and runs until April 24. Liquid Peace Revolution is in 27th place out of 86.
“We are in the upper half of the rest of the world,” Alber said.
“It’s really impressive. It’s a global competition, and they have gotten this far, like they’re in the top half,” said criminal justice freshman Sheridan Dagg.
Liquid Peace Revolution had its start in New Orleans in 2003 when Deshowitz and Hall met, but the band really came together in 2007 and has played over 100 gigs in New Orleans, Keegan said.
“This isn’t our first thing,” he said. “We’ve been around for awhile.”
The band only plays original music and currently has 14 officially recorded songs, Quern said.
“They put so much effort into writing their songs and making their music; it’s really fun to listen to their music,” Dagg said.
When it comes to the music industry, the band has strong views against being part of a record label.
“We intend to get famous without a record label. We don’t want to have to deal with the corporate greed,” Quern said.
They heard about the competition because they had already played at the Hard Rock and were encouraged to compete by Julie Sandford, Hard Rock Café New Orleans’ Sales and Marketing Manager, who books all the bands, Quern said.
Originally there were over 12,000 bands that entered worldwide. The first round was a local online vote in which they won by 120 votes. Then in round two, they had to perform at the Hard Rock and were chosen to proceed to round three where they competed against the “Best of Louisiana,” and they won that as well, Quern said.
By winning round three the band won $1,500 in prizes, a $500 gift card to Hard Rock Café, $500 cash and a $500 gift card to ReverbNation, a service that helps musicians promote their music and prosper online with advertising tools, Quern said.
If they win round four, they make it into the top 10, and enter the final round that will reward them with the chance to perform at Hard Rock Calling in London’s Hyde Park.
“We firmly believe that if we got to the top 10 we would make it to Hyde Park,” Quern said.
There are only a few more days left in round four, and the band plans to continue their promotional efforts by performing this Friday in the Peace Quad from 3:30-5:30 p.m.
“We appreciate any and all help,” Keegan said.
“If you go to theliquidpeacerevolution.com all you have to do it click vote. If the whole campus were to vote, then we could win,” Quern said.
Kristen Himmelberg can be reached at [email protected]
