“After Blood,sweat,tears and plenty of head-banging, the curtains finally came down on the most celebrated “Battle of the Bands” competition in Malaysia.
Video presentation on the bands jouney
The winners of this year’s GBOB Malaysia will proudly be battling it all out at the GBOB London finals. And, this year’s winner is deservedly, none other than the crowd pleaser— The Federated. They were runners-up at the same platform last year.
Hailing from Selangor, members of the “The Federated” first started their musical journey in 2000. The five-member band consists of Fauzi on vocals and guitar, Amir on bass, Eddy on lead guitar, Anam on keyboards and Ejad on drums. Formed almost nine years ago, the band had joined several competitions, like Battle of the Bands Greenday emerging as champions. The band then represented Malaysia at the Asian Beat 2005 held in Jakarta, Indonesia. Apart from sweeping the champions title as a band, they had also won awards for best drummer and best guitarist. They had also performed opening acts for Ella and Wings and at carnival Sure heboh, among other things.
Arrival of guests
Besides walking away with the grand prize of RM 50,000, all three winning acts this year also won a special Voize Music package worth more than RM 5,000 in value. The mentorship program includes up to RM 2,000 to record a song plus media,marketing and distribution support via mobile,web and digital platforms.
“Once again, GBOB has served up some of the best talents in the country. I take my hat off to Issa Rodirguez (National GBOB Director) and her team for unconditionally and passionately pulling this landmark event every year. We are just pleased to be in some ways associated with this global event, and our contribution of the Voize Music package to the Top 3 winners is to create a form of mentorship and sutainance in the life span of the 3 bands. We are committed to support GBOB next year for the World grand finals to be held in Kuala Lumpur. What a blast that’s gonna be! “, said Siva Chandran, Managing Editor of Voize.my.
“With regards to the crowd turnout, the energy of the night, and the level of talent displayed by the bands, I’d have to say this was definitely the best finals yet! The finalists faced serious competition and they all made their mark on that stage. But it’s been a long time coming for the Federated, who have been hungry for the GBOB title since 2007. It was a very close fight but Federated’s victory is well deserved.They’re ready to take on the world in London at the World finals on January 31st 2010″, quipped Issa Rodriguez, National Director of GBOB Malaysia.
(Issa Rodriguez, National Director of GBOB)
The competition among bands through the night were almost legendary, but Kyoto Protocol landed the 2nd spot with an enthralling and adrenaline packed performance. Once described as a cross between Foo Fighters and Tenacious D, the rather gutsy group draw their influence from bands like Pearl Jam and Sonic Youth. Kyoto Protocol vowed judges at the Yamaha Asian Beat Competition in KL, to sweep the runners-up title at the National Finals. Thematic and catchy, Kyoto Protocol still remains humble and will be a force to reckoned with.
The stage, where dreams will come true
Third place introduced a band whose members came from various bands such as Progression Soul, Sunday, Mistaken Identity, Ghostbuster, JB Station & Horizone. Hailing from JB, Hyper Act consists of different members bringing their own original talent together to build something far greater. From winning the first-runner up in the Battle of the Bands in Pasir Gudang in 2001 and 2002, the band has finished their recording their album in 2003. With Rony on vocals, Toy in bass and back-up vocals; Beby on lead guitar, Letan on second guitar and not forgetting Akir on keyboards and Labeb on drums, they cook up quite a storm.
Among the the twelve finalists include Tashya’s Ink (Acoustic Pop Rock), Benchmarx (Pop Rock), Pure Vibracion (Reggae), Coda (Pop Rock), Revenge (‘80s Hard Rock/Heavy Metal), Forty Winks (Punk Ska), Car Crash Hearts (Power Pop), Arabella (Modern Rock/Funky) and Khalfah (Rock).
Notable power packed and entertaining performances were Benchmarx, Arabella and The Revenge who rocked Titanium and its guests to euphoric levels.
