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PHOTO COURTESY SSBA

BLUES BATTLE. Eight local blues groups will be competing for the best in the Northwest title and the opportunity to go “Back to Beale Street” for a national blues competition in February. The Crossroads Band (shown above) are just one of the groups competing at Jazzbones June 8.

Blues showdown could pave way for southern success

By Clare Jensen

Be a witness to one band’s journey to Memphis – and possibly worldwide fame – at the two-phased Battle of the Blues Bands June 8 and July 4.

The South Sound Blues Association (SSBA) event starts out with nine bluesy hopefuls all trying to get “Back to Beale Street” for the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tenn.

SSBA President Gary Grape said this is the fourth year the association will be “sending a band back to Memphis.”

Grape contacts SSBA bands from throughout the South Sound for a night or two of healthy competition – with the winner representing the area at the high-caliber Memphis challenge.

The preliminary and final rounds in Tacoma are judged on the same criteria as the big show, so that when the band goes to Memphis, there are no surprises.

A total of six secret judges (three for preliminaries and three for finals) are handpicked by Grape to ensure they are the best quality judges to yield the best possible band to represent the region.

Grape said he picks people who are well versed in blues music. He also tries to find judges who have no preconceived notions of the bands – which can prove difficult because of the judges’ first requirement to be knowledgeable of the blues scene.

“It’s always a challenge – I’ve really worked hard at trying to make this as fair, to [ensure] that the judges are very competent, that they know good, average or bad,” Grape said.

The bands are critiqued in four categories.

First of all, they must actually perform blues content. This is to make sure that bands who may claim they are a blues band do not show up to perform a set of Motown or classic rock covers.

Second, they need to have talent.

Third, the band must feature originality. This can mean either coming up with all original material, or putting an original twist on a blues cover.

And four, which may be the most important of all according to Grape, is stage presence.

He noted that the level of performance in Memphis is top of the line, and showing up in T-shirts and baseball caps will not cut it there, so it should not in Tacoma either.

He noted of bands he has seen win the international title, they were not technically better than the other bands in some cases – it was their level of showmanship that brought them to the top.

“You might be the greatest band in the world – but you’ve got to look good, you got to perform well…and play to the people,” he said.

And even though there is no “audience pick” category for the upcoming competitions, Grape noted that the judges can look to the audience for whether the band is pleasing the crowd or not.

While no bands from the SSBA have ever taken the international title, two of this year’s competitors have made it down to Memphis in the past.

The Randy Oxford Band and the Michael Miller Band are both giving it another shot this year, while the Crossroads Band, the Mike Wright Band, the Seatown Rhythm and Blues Players, the Al Earick Band and Mariano Silver will be competing for the first time June 8.

The top four finalists will compete for the trip to Memphis July 4 on the Duke’s Chowder House Blues Stage at the Tacoma Freedom Fair and Air Show.

The best band will travel to Memphis to compete against 100 other bands from around the world in February 2009.

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