The great thing about a band wars, like the  Jan. 21 event at the Lethbridge College Barn, is it not only brings together a variety of bands who may not have actually seen each other play before, but their fans as well, who may not have, and, in fact  had not, heard of a lot of the other bands. 

Not everybody hits as many different venues as I do every night , so I’d seen most of the performers before. But it helped to draw in a crowd, that each band was given tickets to sell to their own fans.

 But here’s the thing, there are so many different venues featuring live music in Lethbridge periodically, but there is barely any crossover in bands at the different venues, or for that matter their audiences, who barely ever set foot in any of the other venues, at least to my eye.

Which made it all the more  the pleasant surprise  for most of the sold out crowd to see the local talent they had never heard, but are playing in their own backyards.
I missed excellent sets by the Living Luca and  Matt Robinson,  who usually is a solo folk and blues music singer, but who had his own band this time including Leeroy Stagger.

I arrived in time to see a solid, though bass heavy set by local punk/ metal band Kenzi Kill, who I’d seen at an all ages gig on the north side a few months ago.

Blues rock duo Smokestack Jacks won the $800 grand prize and $25 equipment rental from Long and McQuade thanks to an energetic and inspired  set with guitarist/ vocalist Dave Bullied sporting a lone ranger mask and racing across the stage to sing out of all three mics on the stage, Geoff McDonald, also wearing a Lone Ranger mask kept the beat and played an impromptu drum solo while Bullied changed guitars and tuned  up. They played a set familiar to me and a lot of the crowd including “Fat Ass,” “Rocket Ship,” and  crowd favourite ”Whiskey.”

Another duo, Penny Fortune, took second place with a set of more laid back R and B and rap powered by keyboard, computer and guitar.

This was one of the few bands I had never seen before as they had just moved back to Lethbridge for Calgary. And while rap music isn’t my favourite genre, they exhibited some excellent soulful vocals combining singing and rapping with some tasteful, funky guitar and some catchy keyboards thrown in as well. Their set was a nice break from a show which mostly featured hard rock and metal acts.

 Like Caste of Shadows, who played a “Barn burning” set of energetic metal. I was impressed by one of their shows at Bo Diddley’s last year. They also sometimes play the Owl Acoustic Lounge’s Sunday metal night as well, though I haven’t seen them there.

I was definitely impressed this time, though I remember them having a second guitarist. But the singer, Chad, was the quintessential charismatic frontman, howling into the mic, bounding all over the stage and leaping into the crowd to start a mosh pit.

I was expecting them to do better, but they took home $100 and a $25 equipment rental from Long and McQuade, for third place and bringing an enjoyable night to a close.

Another newer band, I had only seen a few members, playing in other bands,  was  the Clapping Monkeys, who took fourth place  and a new karaoke machine plus a $25 equipment rental.
I know bassist Dan Espelien from playing with a variety of different bands, but hadn’t seen him in this band featuring Brock Jellison, Cornelius Cole and Jayden Kutanzi.

They had a charismatic frontman writhing like a hippie on a bad acid trip and crooning like Blind Melon’s Shannon Hoon. But the catchy, finger-picking guitar made them for me.

 They other bands on the bill also brought it and/or showed a lot of potential.
Local dark metal band Enceladus usually frequents University of Lethbridge Headbangers Society events in the Zoo at the university.

 They played a typically headbanging set, featuring a handful of their fans banging their heads throwing up the devil horns, shaking their hairy heads to the thunderous seven string bass powered beat which drowned out what looked like some very cool guitar playing, some impressively operatic vocals and  gothic keyboards as they wailed about Odin and the mythological Gods of yore.

One band which showed a lot of potential, was Dead Voice, a late addition to the bill, who brought a more acid rock/ classic  rock inspired and a more psychedelic feel featuring charismatic frontman Dan Trivates sporting a funky hat and wielding a double necked guitar, which was once again drowned out by the bass.

 But they have a lot of potential, especially as they bravely premiered a new song sung by their lead guitarist, who had to use a music stand for the lyrics.

 Last but not least, for the grunge and stoner rockers in the audience, Pilgrimage of the Lost  played Black Sabbathy sludgy detuned, slower rock. The trio laid down layers of concrete hard sludgy rock.