One of the biggest Battle of the Band event – Passport To Fame just closed its’ curtain on Saturday at The Opera, Sunway Pyramid. It is one heck of a long competition, from early June till end of August.

My band JUNK took part in this competition. We managed to enter Top 10, but sadly was kicked out of the final 5 selection. Part of the reason??? --- Not commercial enough. We are grateful that the panel of 3 judges wanted us to be in but sadly, we are just not commercial enough for one of the sponsors. So we were left out of the final 5. Apart from that, I think we are still green on these kind of stuff. This is my first Battle of the Band contest, and for the most of the band members too I think. We are also still not technically good, but we are working hard to improve ourselves.

Eizaz was the one who mooted this idea of taking part in the contest because of the Shure products. If we manage to win, we will have some useful stuff for our studio. We are not really interested in the cash prizes or the recording contract or the prizes from the food sponsors bla bla bla bla. But of course to expose ourselves to more people out there la…

Throughout the whole journey in the competition, there are ups and downs in the band as well. Some of us wanted to quit, some of us are just too tired of the hectic practice schedule till 1am everyday after a full day at work and too learn up the complicated parts in a short span of time. Sometimes, I do question why have to make the parts so complicated and settle with the easier ones. But in the end, it all boils down to whether do we want to take up the challenge or not. I’m happy that the band chose took up the challenge to settle with the “technical” route of the music arrangements.

Overall, we gained lots of experience from the competition. There were times that we are very nervous before any shows (sometimes, insomnia). After a series of gigs and from the rounds of the competition, somehow we managed to suppress the pre-gig anxiety and we are more composed when we were on the stage performing, up to the point of “Whack first, Think later”, LOL. Other than that, we managed to composed a few songs as well.

For me, JUNK is a very delicate and special band. Every band member is irreplaceable. Take any member out and you’ll leave a big hole in the music that we play. The band members compliments each other and we really “exploit” everyone. I’m really impressed by how we worked together to sound good, especially in our originals.

I do cherish the moments we had together, from practicing everyday, road trip down to JB for competition, the fright of empty gas tank at the long stretch of dark expressway on our way back to KL, the makan time and etc. It’s definitely a memorable moment for me. Although we didn’t made it to the finals, but we do gain something that are intangible and has no price tags on it.

NEXT UP >> Best Guitarist Award … will post about it once I got hold of the pics.