Congratulations to our Round 1 Quarter Final winners, Patrons of Sweet

Congratulations to Patrons of Sweet for winning our live Battle of Original Music on Saturday night at Nietzsche’s. With that win, they secure a spot in the BOOM Grand Finale, coming up in April 2012.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with BOOM, here’s how it works: Local original music acts visit the boom.artvoice.com website. There, they can learn how easy it is to enter the contest. Number one, it’s free. That out of the way, all a band has to do is supply a digital photo, a digital song track, and answer a few questions about themselves. This is all done in a matter of minutes.

Each week from those submissions we choose two acts to go head-to-head against one another. Then, local music fans visit boom.artvoice.com where they can click on the band they prefer.

The most successful bands are those that not only have created a cool sound, but have also cultivated a loyal fanbase that will go to the website and vote for them. Fans only have from Thursday when the paper hits the street until the following Tuesday at midnight to register their vote. By the following morning, those votes are counted, and the band with the most votes wins a spot on the bill at the first live BOOM Bash. The next one happens to be scheduled for Saturday, January 14 at Nietzsche’s—one of the area’s top live music venues. There, audience members are issued a ballot at the door which they can then cast for their favorite act. At the end of the night, the band that garners the most votes wins a spot in the BOOM Grand Finale—an event that will be described in a moment.

The process then repeats three more times—two bands facing off against one another—until we have four finalists for each upcoming BOOM Bash (1/14, 2/25, 4/7). Along the way, a total of eight local original acts get exposed to a wider audience every month by simply participating in the contest.

But the fun doesn’t end there. For, once we have the four winners from these live BOOM Bashes, we send them all into the crucible of public opinion known as the live BOOM Grand Finale. There, the cream of the crop go all out in one last heroic effort to blow the audience away and coax the most ballots into their pile—because, at the end of the night, the band with the most votes wins the right to call themselves Artvoice BOOM Grand Champions.

Along with $5,000.

Sounds good? That’s ‘cause it is good.

A word of warning however: Bands attempting to stuff the ballot by submitting multiple votes will be rooted out using the most sophisticated intelligence software available on the black market. (Well, okay, that’s a bluff, but if you try to fool our IT guy you will be caught. Just ask the FBI…he’s that good. And if that happens, you will be disqualified with nowhere to appeal our decision.)

IF YOU’RE IN A BAND, AND WOULD LIKE TO ENTER BOOM, visit boom.artvoice.com to find out how. In the meantime, check out this week’s contestants—The Tins and Whiskey Reverb—then visit the website to listen to their music and vote for the one you like best. As always, may the best band win.

Whiskey Reverb	The Tins
You must have the latest Adobe Flash Player installed to listen to the BOOM! contestants.	You must have the latest Adobe Flash Player installed to listen to the BOOM! contestants.
Band Members: Jim Candytree - vocals, acoustic guitar / A2J - vocals, synths / Jamey Kern - vocals, electric guitar / Scotty Harington - vocals, drums / Tony Bales - bass When/where did the band form? We were formed in September of 2009 right here in Buffalo. You might like us if you like: Lynyrd Skynyrd, 311, Stevie Wonder, Rage Against the Machine, MGMT, The Allman Brothers, Johnny Cash, Ludacris, Veruca Salt, R. Kelly, Alice In Chains Recorded Releases: Proverbs Bi-Polar & The Body Electric (2010), SoulFire Vol I (2012) Why you should win the Artvoice.com Online Battle of Original Music: We feel we deserve to win BOOM! because we have something bigger than our music going on, our fans, family and friends are truly the BEST! We love our city and our support and we just want to make them proud. Website: www.whiskeyreverb.com	Band Members: Dave Muntner - percussion / Adam Putzer - guitar, vocals / Mike Santillo - keyboards, vocals When/where did the band form? Winter of 2008 in an isolated attic. You might like us if you like: The Beatles, The Flaming Lips, Bob Marley, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Trader Joe’s Recorded Releases: The Tins EP (2010) Why you should win the Artvoice.com Online Battle of Original Music: This is our third year booming it up. We will never give up! Website: facebook.com/thetins

What did you think of this week's contestants? Feel free to discuss below - please keep it friendly - and remember, posting a comment in favor of a band doesn't count as a vote. Use the link above to cast your vote!