A little while back One Reel’s Opportunity Rocks contest popped up on the local music radar. The contest offers one young band (band members all must be under the age of 25) the chance to play two paid gigs — one opening up a stage at the Family Fourth at Lake Union and another on a stage a Bumbershoot.
A total of 63 bands entered the contest and now you can vote on the final eight to help decided which band will win the Opportunity Rocks contest. The eight finalists are:
- The Cat From Hue
- Special Explosion
- The Cellar Door
- Land of Pines
- Jacob McCaslin & Roll the Credits
- The GNU Deal
- Whitney Ballen and the Intimates
- Joey Lyon
You can check out music by the finalists and vote for your favorite over here. You are allowed to vote once per until the contest closes.
Personally, while I quite enjoyed checking out music from all the finalists, I cast my vote for Whitney Ballen and the Intimates. They got my vote for a few reasons. First, they seem a bit like an underdog in the contest since all the other video clips from finalists looked somewhat professionally shot and theirs is a shot taken from the crowd of a live show at what appears to be Columbia City Theatre. I always dig underdogs.
But it’s not just the underdog factor that drew me in. Whitney Ballen’s got what sounds like a tremendously powerful country voice and the band, The Intimates, sound well-seasoned in what I think is the most tight clip out of the eight finalists. I posted their video above for your enjoyment.
But don’t take my word for which finalist should be playing both the Family Fourth and Bumbershoot. Go cast your own vote and be sure not to wait since the contest ends June 25.
