10 bands down, 10 to go in Battle of the Bands

AND THEN there were 10.

We spent last weekend carving the 20-act field in half at the third annual High School Battle of the Bands at the Sleep Train Pavilion in Concord. I was a judge Friday, but couldn't make it Saturday. Nevertheless, I think I got a good feel for this year's high quality.

I'll summarize what I saw, at least Friday, when Avery Mast, Funky Bus and the U-Turns, Budapeg, Skamikazi Pilots and Dripsoul advanced to Saturday's finals, also at the Pavilion.

My first thought was how tough the competition was when a band like Dissimulated couldn't get out of the first round. The musicianship and stage presence were strong in many bands. Anyone in high school who gets up on the large stage at a large venue without fear already has conquered one big obstacle.

That said, a couple of glaring qualities, or lack thereof, still separate the kids from the, uh, bigger kids.

The first is writing a chorus. This isn't uncommon among high school bands — it happened to mine. After doing our first demo in high school, we presented it to a local rock stud-guy whose band we wanted to open for. One listen later and we were rewriting all our songs because he told us we forgot to write choruses.

I noticed the same problem with more than half the bands from Friday. They can't compete with bands that play well-rounded songs with easy-to-remember hooks.

Another thing I noticed is that band members

couldn't get out of each other's way onstage. For example, when a guitarist plays a solo, the singer shouldn't stand in front of him. And he really shouldn't stand in front of him playing air guitar.

Just a few words for bands who were deserving Friday but didn't advance: Vintage Prose will be ready to win the whole thing in a year or two. They were just a bit young and got muscled out by some good bands. Stereo Divine had no overt faults and showed great stage presence. They just need to take the whole package to the next level, as songs tended to fizzle. And watching Dissimulated was like watching a young Iron Maiden. I wasn't enamored of the Cookie Monster vocals, and the singer needs to figure out what he wants to do onstage. But I was very surprised they didn't make the cut.

I wasn't there Saturday, but I heard the competition was similar to Friday. The bands that advanced to Saturday's finals included Break the Light, Crimes of Passion, Lucid, Matchless Overthrow and the Thirst Busters.

All 10 finalists square off at 6 p.m. Saturday. Tickets for Saturday are $7 and can be purchased the day of show or at www.ticketmaster.com.

For two free tickets, be the first to e-mail me with the answer to: What band appearing at the May 30-June 1 Monterey Music Summit appeared in the late-1980s Annette Funicello/Frankie Avalon comeback vehicle "Back to the Beach"? If you need to peruse the lineup, visit www.BandsOfTheBay.com.

Contact Tony Hicks at thicks@bayareanewsgroup.com or 925-952-2678.