College musicians plug into new outlet

If participating in a battle of the bands competition counted as
units toward graduation, it would be a college band’s dream
come true.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t, and balancing school with music
can be difficult. But that doesn’t stop scores of UCLA-based
bands from playing music and finding outlets for exposure.

With online contests such as Rebels With a Cause, launched by
nonprofit AIDS awareness organization Keep A Child Alive, bands can
get the word out with greater ease than was possible in the
past.

“College bands are looking for an outlet and they have to
get their music out there and be heard, outside of their immediate
crowds,” said Evan Vogel, a member of the Keep a Child Alive
board of supervisors. “The attractive part of a contest like
this is it allows (college bands) to be featured, to be heard and
increase a band’s fan base.”

Bands can submit MP3s at www.kcarebels.com, and the winning band
is determined through a combination of online voting and panelist
judges. Winners get a deal to cut an EP with independent label
Stone Crow Records, coverage in Blender magazine and a chance to
perform at the South By Southwest music festival in Austin,
Texas.

Keep a Child Alive’s marketing strategy for Rebels
involves responding to the popularity of online networking among
college bands (as with MySpace) and coming up with a quick,
hassle-free way for bands to participate rather than having to pack
up and compete live.

Events such as Rebels, however, allow bands to get their music
heard without having to go through the machinations of scheduling
an actual live show ““ which is hard enough to accomplish
without worrying about classes.

“We want to get a solid foundation before we go out there
to actually perform in a live battle,” said Nathan Longdon, a
third-year UCLA theater student and member of the acoustic jazz
band That Was Then.

“Every charity event put out there to promote young
people’s music is a great idea. We want to take part in these
things because any exposure is good exposure, and the Internet is a
great way to do it,” Longdon said.

Another UCLA student’s group, fourth-year theater student
Blake Stokes’ ironic glam rock band Klusterfuk, has found
online contests useful as well. The band submitted a track to a
KROQ contest and won a performance slot at the station’s
Inland Invasion concert. The band has been in motion since
Stokes’ high school years and until recently resorted to
recording and touring during the summer.

“It’s certainly more work being a student and having
a band,” Stokes said. “But I’ve been doing
Klusterfuk for three years. It’s a huge labor of love, so I
don’t mind it at all. Now that things are starting to move
instead of me pushing the reset button every summer, it’s
more day-to-day-work. But it’s more enjoyable because
you’re seeing the results.”

Stokes is also the producer of “The Mike & Ben
Show,” which operates under ASUCLA Student Media, an umbrella
organization that includes the Daily Bruin.

For bands both in and outside of UCLA, the results of their
labors can be seen soon. The winning group of Rebels With a Cause
will be announced on Dec. 1, World AIDS Day.

“(The participants) will be a part of this first campaign,
which I think will have a lot of arms and legs and I think will
exist and grow for many years,” Vogel said. “It’s
not just your average Web contest for fame ““ there’s a
lot of other things going on out there. It’s a combination of
musicians coming together and competing for the sake of a cause.
When you bring those two together, it’s extremely
powerful.”

As both Klusterfuk and That Was Then are busy managing their own
tour dates even while school is in session, an event like Rebels is
beneficial to busy bands as well as the charity itself.

“It’s for a good cause and you get to play for a
different audience,” Stokes said. “I don’t really
see how anybody could say no.”