BANG sugar BANG, a punk rock quartet from Los Angeles, won the Disc Makers Independent Music World Series (IMWS) West Coast showcase held on February 10, 2005 at 12 Galaxies in San Francisco. As the grand prize winner, BANG sugar BANG takes home over $35,000 in prizes, including recording gear, instruments, CD manufacturing services, DJ equipment and more.
“We have experienced showcases in the past, and we have to say that the IMWS was the most positive showcase we have ever been a part of,” says Cooper, BANG sugar BANG’s front woman. “The other acts were very diverse, but every one of them was excellent in their genre. The quality of the talent was so high, we couldn’t believe we won! The showcase was expertly run and provided an environment for all the bands to perform at their absolute best. Plus, we made a lot of new friends with the other acts. We feel like we won the Super Bowl of independent music. We’re going to Disneyland!”
BANG sugar BANG was one of six finalists competing before a panel of 12 judges that included the lead singer from Carlos Santana’s band and representatives from NARAS, Electronic Musician magazine, EQ Magazine, CNET Download.com, San Francisco Weekly, KFOG, Eric Gotland Management, West Coast Songwriters and Bad Man Recording. Over 1,000 unsigned bands and independent artists submitted entries to participate in the West Coast competition. The other finalists included ALO (San Francisco, CA), Awake and Alert (Phoenix, AZ), The Grannies (San Francisco, CA), Tosa (San Antonio, TX), and Zun Zun (Santa Cruz, CA).
“Disc Makers prides itself on helping indie artists succeed, and the IMWS is just one of the many things we do to help these artists get to the next level,” says Tony van Veen, vice president of sales and marketing at Disc Makers. “This was our first showcase in San Francisco and it was a tremendous success. We thank 12 Galaxies and each of our sponsors for making this year’s event a success.”
To register for the competition’s next location, the Midwest showcase, and find out more information about the IMWS, please go to www.discmakers.com/imws. The competition is open to all musicians not currently signed to a major record label and to all styles and genres of music. To be eligible for the Midwest showcase, at least one band member must reside in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota or Wisconsin. Submissions must be postmarked by March 4, 2005. Each artist who submits an entry will receive a free copy of Billboard’s Musician’s Guide to Touring and Promotion and Electronic Musician magazine.
For more information, please go to www.discmakers.com/imws and www.bangsugarbang.com.
