Devon-Wide Battle of the Bands seeks young musicians

A Devon-wide Battle of the Bands has launched this week, calling for young musicians at secondary schools up to the age of 18 to sign up to join the contest.

There are prizes including free recording, mixing and mastering a song for release on streaming platforms for the first, second and third prizes.

Radio exposure and performance slots at music festivals in the South West are also up for grabs for contestants who impress the judges.

This brings together existing contests that have run in recent years in North, South, East and West Devon.

Separately, each of the four contests have been a huge success, with 50 applicants in East

Devon alone last year.

The providers in each area have been brought together by the Devon & Torbay Music Education Hub, the Music In Devon Initiative and Devon production company R&K Systems. 

The organisers hope that by expanding the contest by bringing all four providers together, that it will attract an even greater number of young musicians and actively encourage them to get involved in the south west music ecosystem.

Four heats will be run at participating schools in each of the regions in early to mid-June; 

• South Devon; Plympton Academy (Plymouth) Monday, June 17
• West Devon; Coombeshead Academy (Newton Abbot) Tuesday, June 18
• East Devon; Cranbrook Education Campus (Cranbrook) Wednesday, June 19
• North Devon; Petroc College (Barnstaple) Thursday 20th June

The winners of each heat will battle it out at the final at Bomba in Exeter on June 27.

Young musicians up to 18 years of age wanting to take part need a teacher from the school that band members attend to visit the Devon & Torbay Music Education Hub’s website and apply by completing the online form on their behalf; https://forms.office.com/e/3PvaHFP4RJ