Dorset Music Awards – Heats 1 and 2

Centre Stage, Bournemouth

The suspense and drama of the 2012 Dorset Music Awards began last weekend at Centre Stage in Bournemouth, organizer Trevor Hill has the task of putting on 40 bands over two days with each of them performing 2 songs, for them to get the chance to move on in the competition to the Quarter Finals at The Winchester and then the Semi Finals at Mr Kyps.

The venue was set out with two stages with bands alternating between them making for some smooth uncomplicated change overs. The band with the task of kicking off the event was Sepia Daze who arrived on stage with their lead singer dressed in an all in one skeleton suit, standing out from him other band mates dressed in black. The band set the bench mark for the day with a solid performance making the most of their short time on stage. The event has a team of judges including local Hope FM DJ Tim Heywood and musician Catherine Burke who have the difficult task of turning the 40 bands into 20 quarter finalists.

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This year the competition is really tough with lots of various styles of music on show, there are mainly bands along with a few solo artists as well. The acts on the Saturday make the most of their two songs and there were some really great performances from the likes of the hard rocking’s ‘Bad Magic’, the delicate acoustic tones of Krista Green, the keyboard led 80’s sound of Veetacore and the punk rock of Escape from 98. The stand out acts who impressed the most were the big band sounds of “Pachago” and “Know One” who both put in top quality performances worthy of a place in April’s final at the O2 Academy in Bournemouth. The evening ended on a complete high with Peace Love & Gloves and their army of fans who briefly took over the place with their exciting enthusiasm playing two infectious tracks which really impressed.

The Sunday started as a slightly more laid back fashion with the day gradually gaining momentum. JC Jesus showed themselves to be a world apart from everyone else with a highly original and energetic performance that if nothing else really warmed up the audience with some great jumping in unison. “Yoofs” has the privilege of being the 1st band to take trip out the electrics while “Paint it Blue” and “Empire Affair” showed some real quality with great performances. The acid Jazz of “Space Age Robot” had everyone confused as to whether this was a short theatrical production and indeed a musical performance, with the lead singer dressed in a wet suit with a dust mask shooting plastic guns at the stunned audience members. As with Saturday everything on Sunday went smoothly with the final few bands “Jack Grace”, “Pump Action Radio” and The “Deltorers” delivering performances worthy of high praise from the judges and a place in the finals

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After seeing 40 artists perform the judges came up with their decisions, and the following acts made it into the quarter finals:

Bad Magic
Constellation
Darren Hodson and the Southern Companion
Devils Rejects
Dirty Jerkers
Escape From ’98
Jack Grace
Know One
Krista Green
Pachango
Paint It Blue
Peace, Love & Gloves
Pump Action Radio
Sean Gary Palmer
Sean Hatton
The General Public
Tom Clements
Veetacore
Voice Of reason
Yellowgroove