For 12 years, Seattle’s EMP Museum has been sleuthing out some of the best young Northwest bands for its Sound Off music competition.
Four finalists from the South Sound will compete with eight other bands in this year’s Sound Off semifinals over the next three Saturdays. The finals round (with one wild card band) will occur March 2 in the museum’s SkyChurch.
The event is considered the Northwest’s premier 21-and-younger battle of the bands. More than 130 bands vied to make the semifinals, EMP’s Anita Woo said.
Not only will the winning band be able to herald its title, but they also will perform at this year’s Bumbershoot. The four finalist bands will win gear, studio time, radio airplay and one-on-one time with industry professionals.
Past Sound Off competitions have featured The Lonely Forest, Dyme Def, The Globes, Kithkin, Schoolyard Heroes, Sol, The Lonely H, Brite Futures, Tomten and Land of Pines.
The four South Sound bands and semifinal show dates are:
Saturday: The Fame Riot and Shogun Barbie
Feb. 16: Shebear
Feb. 23: I for Eye
March 2: Band lineup to be determined by semifinal winners
The Fame Riot
Website: facebook.com/thefameriot
Tacoma brothers Liz Scarlett (17) and Shazam Watkins (20) haven’t even hit one year as glam electro-rock duo The Fame Riot, but they already have pulled crowds at The High Dive, The Comet and LoveFest. In Bowie-esque shades and fur coats, they lay Scarlett’s guitar and Watkins’ synth licks over bubbly pop beats with gritty, falsetto vocals. And they’re not shy about it.
Q: It’s a pretty young band, right?
Scarlett: Yeah, we started playing together as The Fame Riot in April 2012, when we moved back up here from California. We did some shows, got good feedback and it was like a big snowball.
Q: What are your influences?
Scarlett: Bowie, definitely, especially for the image. Club of the Sons, The Strokes, Kings of Leon, Buckethead. All those old progressive rockers, you know? And we used to play some classic rock in California, so like, Wolf Mother, Black Sabbath.
Q: Where do you get your clothes?
Scarlett: They come down from somewhere holy. No, just kidding. People give them to us, or we get them from handmade retail places, antique stores, exchanges. We even have hand-me-downs from old ’80s bands.
Q: What makes The Fame Riot likely to win Sound Off?
Scarlett: Well, don’t take this in a braggadocio way, but since you asked, it’s because we’re the only people doing what we’re doing successfully. We’re the only glam-rock band playing good electro-pop. It’s an old story told in a new way.
Shogun Barbie
Website: facebook.com/shogunbarbie
With a year of local gigs under their belts, like Tacoma’s First Night, the New Frontier Lounge and Seattle’s Crocodile Café, Shogun Barbie are getting a name for their punk-influenced garage pop with dueling male-female vocals belted out by guitarist Aaron Berryhill and lead singer Drue Jeffrey over a dirty, hard-core sound of guitar/synth from Jake Perez, Sheila Strecker’s bass and Rodney Van Mitchell’s drums.
Q: How did Shogun Barbie come about?
Berryhill: I was playing in another band, Dungeon Science, in January last year. In fact, we played at last year’s Sound Off. I was writing songs, and it was another style of music that was naturally coming out as I was writing. I didn’t want to ignore that, so I began playing that with our drummer, and the others started to jam along. Our first show was last April.
Q: Do you still write music?
Berryhill: I write about two-thirds, and Drue writes the rest.
Q: What are your influences?
Berryhill: I really like King Tuff and other bands on the Sub Pop (indie label); Hunx and His Punx, Jay Retard, Black Flag – fast-driving, punk rock music.
Q: How do you feel about making the Sound Off finals?
Berryhill: We are all so excited. We’re doing our best to be over-prepared. Last year it was three times bigger than I thought it would be. I mean, it’s fun to do an all-ages concert at The Den in Tacoma, but when you have a show far from home at such a popular event, you get 400-500 people all paying for tickets. These are the people that really love music.
Q: Will you win?
Berryhill: There are some very good bands, very tough competition. I’d be absolutely delighted to win. We’re not getting cocky about it, but we’ve got a good chance.
Q: Why?
Berryhill: A lot of the other bands are too close to playing off of something else. My own band has so many unique influences – the guitarist is into The Strokes and even Justin Bieber, the drummer played in a heavy metal band, the singer like ’90s stuff, I love garage punk – but it all comes together. And we’re all best friends, we all love each other and hang out all the time. It’s a serious bond. To us, it’s more than just music.
Shebear
Website: facebook.com/shebearband
It all began at church. The young members of Shebear met at Puyallup’s Whitewater Church. They formed the indie-pop band in May 2012. Members include Jeffrey Andersen (21, singer/guitar), Evan Bedlion (17, keyboards), Tobin Risser (22, base, vocals, keyboards), and Kody Kissner (18, drums). Risser, who exceeds Sound Off’s age limit, will be subbed by Jakob Kelley, 18, for the competition.
What are your influences?
Andersen: M83, Passion Pit, Kings of Leon. The Temper Trap, (Ben) Folds.
Where do you usually perform?
Andersen: In Seattle: El Corazon, The Central Saloon, Chop Suey.
Are you going to win this thing?
Andersen: There’s a lot or really good bands (at Sound Off). We’re just excited that we’ve been given the opportunity. We just all love what we do. We decided to jam and hang out and it ended up becoming a band. There’s a lot of emotion and push behind what we do and we think that adds to the band.
What’s next after Sound Off?
Andersen: Continue writing and playing music. We just finished an EP in the studio. And we hope to work on a full-length album.
I for eye
Website: facebook.com/IforEye
In a competition for young bands, I For Eye’s youth still stands out. The indie-rock/alternative band consists of Alec Bukata (15, Bass), Cole Rau (16, drums), Drew Ryan (16, guitar) and Kierah Taylor (18, vocals). Bukata, Rau and Ryan all attend Gig Harbor High School. Former Gig Harbor resident Taylor now lives in Tacoma.
When and how did you form?
IFE: The band first started playing together in the summer of 2011. We played many shows at the Puyallup Fair before winning the 2012 Battle of The Bands put on by the Boys & Girls Club of Gig Harbor. From there, we entered a phase of writing original music.
What are your influences?
Ryan: Cold War Kids, Nude Pop.
Taylor: Paramore and Heart.
Rau: Neil Peart, Sean Waugaman.
Bukata: Local Natives, Two Door Cinema Club.
Where do you perform?
IFE: We have performed at El Corazon in Seattle, the Swiss in Tacoma, 12 shows at the Puyallup Fair, some benefit concerts and a couple of house parties around Gig Harbor.
Are you going to win Sound Off?
IFE: All the bands are really good and just being in Sound Off is a win for us. We love what we do and hope people like our music and support us in the coming years — that’s what this is all about. … Of course, we think we will blow people away with our newest music and win this thing.
What’s next after Sound Off?
IFE: We have a few gigs booked, some more songs in the pipeline, and we hope to go back to the studio and lay down more tracks. Our hope is to hook up with many of the bands in Sound Off and play some gigs. If we win, come see us at Bumbershoot.
Sound Off!
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, plus Feb. 16, 23 and March 2
Where: EMP Museum, Seattle Center
Tickets: $12; $8 students
Information: empmuseum.org
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