QRA: Rock Da House

The Queensland Rock Awards Heats run Tuesdays at the Acacia Ridge Hotel, Wednesdays at the Nambour RSL, Thursdays at the Powerhouse Nightclub in Lismore, Fridays at the Edinburgh Castle Hotel, Saturdays at the Jubilee Hotel and Sundays at the Hard Rock Café, Surfers Paradise.

The audition heats of the Queensland Rock Awards start tonight. In this initial round of heats, bands put in a set of their original material, and those who move on from this stage will get their official entry forms into the competition proper. There are other factors involved in the audition process to ensure that bands who make it through to the competition are of a high enough standard to put on a quality show, and are putting together a sets worth of material rather than just preparing a couple of tracks for the competition.

Tuesday night heats are at the Acacia Ridge Hotel. This week catch sets from Undermine, Myopia, Rendezvous, Dirtbox, 99 Sense and Snake.

This year’s event finds the competition expanding outside of Brisbane. Heats on Wednesday nights will be held at the Nambour RSL in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. Performers this week are Fullspent, Break Even, Bitchtoy, Shy, Waylans Infraction and Chemical Overload.

The Powerhouse Nightclub and the Canberra Hotel in Lismore gives Spot X their moment in the limelight on Thursday night.

Fridays are the domain of the Edinburgh Castle Hotel on the north side of Brisbane. Makeshift Cycle, Tuska, The Jaded Web, Porgy & Clementine, The Habits and The Acousma will be on stage between 7pm and 11.30.

Saturday night finds the action at the Jubilee Hotel in the Valley, with sets coming up from Random Sample, Uneven Terms, Lockjaw, Digga, Hygate and Bell Weather.

Finally, Sunday rocks out on the Gold Coast at the Hard Rock Café in Surfers Paradise. Catch up with prospective competitors Novus Kin, 7 Form, Things That Are Not, Mesmeric, Big Black Tip Truck and Tension.

Each band gets 30 minutes on stage to strut their stuff, but unlike many competitions, it’s wont be the top bands on the night going through to the next round, it will be whatever bands meet the performance standards set by the judges, be it all the performers on the night, or none of them as the case may be.

Be sure to check out Rage Magazine, each week for the bands progressing from the Audition Heats to the competition proper, and for full line up details for the coming weeks events. Remember, if you get along to the shows, punters also go in the draw for a massive door prize at the end of the event. More details as the weeks progress. Once again, best of luck to all the bands who enter; who knows what we may discover.