Registration Open for Ernie Ball/Music Man Battle of the Bands 12

Mar 31, 2008

Now in its twelfth year, the Ernie Ball/Music Man Battle of the Bands competition is back and better than ever, offering North America's best unsigned talent the opportunity to play live on the Vans Warped Tour, perform before a crowd of influential music industry execs in Hollywood, CA — even win a $15k Guitar Center shopping spree and $1k in custom Hurley apparel.

Registration for the competition is open now through June 1. The online voting portion of the Battle website will remain open throughout the duration of the Battle, allowing fans to nominate their favorite registered bands for a shot at playing Ernie Ball's original self-contained Mobile Stage on the Vans Warped Tour, running from June 19 - August 17. Judges, comprised of Ernie Ball staff and Battle sponsors, will then choose four of the 20 most-nominated bands from each region to perform live on the stage during their hometown leg of the tour. Regional winners will be announced by mid-June.

As if playing the Vans Warped Tour wasn't reward enough, the nearly 200 bands who make it to the Ernie Ball Stage will also be competing for the chance to be one of just four showcase bands chosen to play live before industry elite and record label executives at a major Hollywood venue in the fall '08. Adding fortune to fame, one Grand Prize winner will be chosen from these four semi-finalists to take home a $15,000 Guitar Center shopping spree as well as a $1,000 custom apparel package from Hurley clothing.

"Since the Battle of the Bands, our lives have changed completely — it definitely helped push our popularity," said Alfonso Civile of Battle 11 Showcase finalist band KnowLyfe. "People from states up north and down south recognize us from the Warped Tour or the Battle, and booking is crazy! We're starting to work with bigger names. Our record is available digitally through major retailers, and our next record will be hitting the actual shelves of those retailers. We've been so fortunate."

To take part in this year's Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands competition, bands must upload photos, a band biography, and two MP3 audio files to the Battle of the Bands 12 site by June 1. For more details on sign-ups, please visit the Battle of the Bands 12 website at: http://www.battleofthebands.com/

Since its debut 12 years ago, the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands has given the best local bands from North America the opportunity to showcase their talents in the world's longest running and largest live music promotion in the music industry.

A breeding ground for the best unsigned talent, the Ernie Ball Stage is a self-contained mobile stage equipped with a 24,000-watt sound system. The stage has featured more than 5,000 unsigned bands, including then up-and-comers Bowling For Soup, Sugarcult, Story of the Year, New Found Glory, Avenged Sevenfold, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Less Than Jake, and more.

The Vans Warped Tour, the most prominent live music festival in North America, will hit 47 major venues in the United States and Canada in summer 2008 and will feature, among others, The Audition, Forever the Sickest Kids, Protest the Hero, MC Chris, Charlotte Sometimes and Lordz.

The Ernie Ball Company was the first to offer rock strings with the creation of Slinkys, and further revolutionized the market by offering guitarists Custom-Gauge single strings. Ernie Ball also produces Music Man guitars and basses, volume pedals and accessories. For more information on the Battle, contact battle@ernieball.com. Editors may contact On the Horizon Communications at (805) 773-1000 or emily@thepressroom.com.

For more information, visit their web site at www.ernieball.com.