The XMG Music Conference and Showcase is an interesting concept. It is designed to help independent bands and musicians to get an audience in front of music industry representatives with the hope of being signed to a label.
I wasn't all that familiar with the concept until a new band I've been recently listening to here in the Quad Cities - Seed - held a fundraiser recently to help defray the costs of their trip into Chicago for some showcase conference they were selected to attend. Cindy and I went and helped their cause by donating a few bucks.
A couple weeks later, I got an e-mail from Bob Kelly from Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls that said they were going to be playing in suburban Chicago for the XMG Conference later that week. It turned out that I was going to be in the Chicagoland area at that time and I worked my schedule out to be able to go see them and support them in this thing.
When I got to reading up on the XMG Conference, I found that this was the same conference Seed was going to be at. Small world.
In addition to being able to perform in front of music industry representatives, there are a number of workshops for bands to participate in during the XMG conference. These workshops include information on promotion, publishing and copyright procedures, and other things that go into helping bands grow and hopefully get them signed to a national recording label.
Over 100 bands were invited by XMG to participate in the Chicago leg of the conference. Each band is given 20 minutes to perform three original songs in front of music industry "Artist and Repertoire" (A&R) reps. They then get to sit and talk to the A&R people for a short time after their performance. And six bands will be picked to come back to perform in the finals of what will turn out to be a "Battle of the Bands" for prize money and studio recording time.
The Chicago XMG conference was held out in Schaumburg at the Marriott, and the performances were held at the Penny Road Pub (shown above) in Barrington, IL. I went out to the Penny Road Pub, kind of a neat little road house sort of in the country in the far NW suburbs of Chicago. It wasn't a big place, but it certainly wasn't crowded, either. They evidently have a number of lesser known national acts that come through and play at Penny Road Pub - mostly heavy metal and headbanger acts.
The showcase was neat in that each band or performer had three songs and couldn't go over 20 minutes. There was about a 10 to 15 minute changeover between performances. It was good because you could watch music for 15 to 20 minutes, talk to people for 10 to 15 minutes, then see someone else perform for another 15 to 20 minutes. If they sucked, well, you only had to listen for a maximum of 20 minutes. But since most are going to be playing their best stuff for three songs, you can pretty much make up your mind if they were good or not within the 20 minutes they're on stage.
I was able to see a few bands before Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls took the stage. Some were pretty good, others were, well, hmm... They sucked. You could see the judges seated at a table toward the back and I would look at them from time to time to gauge their interest of a given band. More often than not they weren't paying attention by the end of the second song if the band playing wasn't all that good.
Not so with Wicked Liz and the guys. I stood over by the sound board(the best place to listen to a band - a little tip there) and was able to watch the judges reactions. Given the fact the band sounded great - they brought their "A" game to this thing and it was probably the best I've ever heard 'em sound - the judges were pretty enthralled with their performance. They were intently paying attention the whole time the band was on stage.
Bob told me afterwards, however, that the "interview" with the A&R people was sort of lukewarm. But as I told him, these guys are probably so jaded that it would have really taken an extraordinary talent or performance to get them fired up. I said, "The way they were paying attention to you guys through all three songs, considering the way they were tuning out some of the others, spoke loudly in my book."
One of the things that I noticed in this "competition" were the number of bands and performers who used acoustic guitars within their band. I'm guessing it's probably because of the wide popularity of the Dave Matthews Band.
And one of those guys playing acoustic guitar was a Twin Cities performer by the name of Ronny Cary (shown left). (The competition showcase was open to performers from all over the Midwest. Craig Smith from Seed told me at the showcase the night I was there that there were a number of musicians and bands there from Iowa.) He did a three song set and was very good.
Another good band that I saw was a Chicago area instrumental band called Lost in Blue. They were three guys - a great little left-handed guitar player, a bass player and a good drummer - whose musical style reminded me of a cross between Metallica and Rush. I talked to the guitar player, Keith (shown above), after they played and he said they really needed a vocalist. I thought that was kind of funny because when Leo Kelly and I were standing there watching them play, Leo turned to me and said, "What this band really needs is a vocalist."
I could have stuck around all night listening to bands, but they were going to be playing until about 2 a.m. And it was the first night of the showcase. I'd really hate to be the music industry reps come the last night of the showcase. And, quite unfortunately, a new Quad City band that Bob Kelly has taken under his wing - Minus Six - is scheduled for the LAST performance of the conference. Too bad.
By the way - Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls didn't make it to the finals on Sunday. I talked to Bob Kelly about it and he said it didn't matter to him. Besides, the A&R guys thought their name was too long and cumbersome. Bobby told me, "You know, over the last couple of years we've had maybe 50 people come up to us and say, 'We saw the name of your band and we had to check you guys out.' "
There are a number of XMG Conferences held across the U.S. at different venues. If you want to check out some up and coming local and regional bands in a short amount of time, this is a great way to do it.
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