By Jason Genegabus

Teddy “TC” Casison (left) interviews Jacy Anderson during the taping of “Band Champ” on Saturday. (Jason Genegabus photos)

Four up-and-coming bands from around the state arrived in Honolulu last weekend for the first-ever “Band Champ” finals at Pipeline Cafe.

Kauai’s 2nd Nature joined Why Bother from Maui and the Big Island band Violet Eclipse to make the trip to Oahu. They were joined by Kalani Koa during Saturday’s taping. The show will air Wednesday at 9 p.m. on KHON.

If you haven’t heard of “Band Champ,” the premise is simple: Take a winning band from each island participating in the competition and have them battle for $5,000 cash, a recording contract, an opening set at an upcoming concert and free cellular phones from Mobi PCS.

It’s billed as “Hawaii’s first-ever youth band talent competition,” which is inaccurate once you consider numerous all-ages “Battle of the Bands” events held at Pipeline, Anna Bannana’s and other local venues over the years. More recently, the return of “Brown Bags to Stardom” provided an opportunity for high school students to start their own bands.

What “Band Champ” has done, however, is establish itself as the slickest and most heavily-promoted contest in town. And that’s all thanks to the vision and direction of Uncle Tom Moffatt:

Under Moffatt’s guidance, the show has locked in airtime on KHON and secured major sponsorships from Burger King and Mobi PCS. When the finals air on Wednesday, viewers will be able to call or text their votes in to be counted – just like on “American Idol.”

The program also features a pair of teenage co-hosts, Teddy “TC” Casison and Jessica Calventas:

After a short sound check, each of the four bands got some camera time to showcase their abilities. The first to perform was 2nd Nature, a group of students from Waimea High School who fell squarely into the Jawaiian category.

Matching outfits with red, yellow and green accents?

And a lead singer rocking a knit cap?

Yeah. I’d say they were a Jawaiian band. But they sounded pretty good for a bunch of high school kids.

After 2nd Chance wrapped up, Maui’s Why Bother plugged in their instruments to share a blend of rock guitar and ukulele.

Thanks to the camera man posted up right on stage, viewers at home on Wednesday should get a pretty good view of all the action:

Why Bother is made up of two students from Kamehameha Schools’ Maui campus. While senior Kala’e Camarillo played ukulele, junior Dane Lum Ho showed how well he could shred on guitar:

The Big Island’s Violet Eclipse featured another talented guitarist. Jacy Anderson put on a clinic for the crowd at Pipeline as his bandmates struggled to keep up:

Oahu finalists Kalani Koa closed out the live taping with a high-energy performance that was easily the best of the day. Keep in mind these guys have been together for a while now, having participated in (and taken home a trophy at) Brown Bags to Stardom last year.

While you could sense a little bit of nervousness among some of the other bands, Kalani Koa looked completely at ease on stage at Pipeline:

Still, “Band Champ” is essentially a popularity contest, so each band needs your help after the finals air. Votes will be collected from 10 p.m. to midnight on Wednesday, with the results announced during KHON’s 6 p.m. newscast on Thursday.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 23rd, 2009 at 5:30 pm and is filed under Nightlife, Music, Picture Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.