BC's Best Teen Band Contest - The 2010 Top 3: Where Are They Now?

What are BC's 2010 top teen bands up to now?

Six months after the 2010 BC’s Best Teen Band contest finalists beat out over 50 entries to compete on the Tom Lee Music Hall stage in Vancouver, the boys of Split the Silence, High Life Scenery and The Knots are all pursuing their dreams in their own way.

Kelowna’s Split the Silence is down a member with lead singer Tim Hirtz away at school in Montreal, Burnaby’s High Life Scenery is working on an upcoming EP and The Knots are back home in New West and Coquitlam after making an appearance at the Western Canadian Music Awards in Kelowna.

Youthink caught up with the three bands to find out how they’ve been spending the past six months, and what they learned from being a part of BC’s Best Teen Band Contest.
 

The Knots: 1st Place

YT: How do you feel about your recent performance at the Western Canadian Music Awards (WCMAs) in Kelowna?
K: Playing at Habitat for the WCMAs was awesome! We had so much fun over the weekend, watching The Zolas and We Are the City on Friday night and then playing on the same stage the day after! That was our first road trip and it was a really neat experience for us to play somewhere that wasn’t local.

YT: A year ago, could you have imagined playing at such an event?
K: A year ago, we had about four complete songs that we could play for people and if someone had told me that we would win BC’s Best Teen Band Contest and spend the weekend in Kelowna as part of the WCMAs, I would definitely not have believed them.

YT: How do you combat your nerves?
K: Boxing with the mirror in the men’s room sometimes works, but onstage right before we begin, we think about everything that we’ve already accomplished and think about how much we love the music.

YT: What was it like to be on the road for the first time together?
K: It was so fun to share a hotel room! The first night we actually pulled out our guitars at midnight after we came back from Habitat to try to write some new songs and we received a noise complaint! That was exciting! It felt too short though, so we want to look into doing a longer road trip in the future.

YT: When will you be heading into the studio to record?
K: Soon. We have a lot of recording time that we have won recently, including the recording time with Jay Evjen at The Factory from BC’s Best Teen Band Contest. But we really want to do a lot of pre-production and set everything up exactly the way we need it. Every other time we’ve recorded anything, we’ve rushed into it without very much planning and without knowing what we want. Jay still wants to hear more of our songs and we want to be sure of what we’re recording so we’ll be playing around with ideas for awhile and then hopefully going into the studio in early 2011.

Split the Silence: 2nd Place

YT: How did making the top 3 in BC’s Best Teen Band contest help your band?
STS: Since making the top 3, we got more recognition and played a few more shows in the summer. It was a good experience.

YT: What was the most memorable moment of the contest?
STS: Making it into the top 3 and our performance onstage in front of such a great crowd!

YT: Why would you encourage bands to enter BC’s Best Teen Band contest?
STS: It’s a great learning experience and you get awesome exposure.
 

High Life Scenery: 3rd Place

YT: What have you guys been up to since you made the top 3 for BC’s Best Teen Band contest 2010?
HLS: Just writing, playing shows and focusing our sound. We’ve really figured out what works and what doesn’t – and having fun.

YT: What’s coming up next for the band?
HLS: We are in the process of recording our debut EP. We have new material and it really shows how we’ve matured as a band and gets us really excited. We’re looking to have it out by the new year. We’ve improved so much thanks to BC’s Best Teen Band Contest and thanks to the other opportunities they continue to give us. We’re at www.myspace.com/hlscenery and have just released a new Myspace layout that we’re really proud of, not to mention an acoustic recording of a new song. Drop by if you have a chance.

VOTE FOR 2011'S BC'S BEST TEEN BAND JANUARY 7TH-FEBRUARY 7TH, 2011