Sunday, August 31, 2014

The Penn Rock Scholarship- FINALS

At a concert venue in the strip district of Pittsburgh that used to be a church and is now called the Altar Bar held a gathering that was almost as interesting as Sunday service. The finals of the Penn Rock Scholarship took place on Saturday, August 30 and there were three bands battling to be the chosen one.

The event was hosted by SuperMonkey, a Pittsburgh born rock band whose latest album was nominated "The best rock album to come out of Pittsburgh" by SouthernBluesRock.com They kicked off the show by playing some of their songs off that album. They opened the night with "Nashville." You can hear 105.9 The X play their kickass hit, "Last Rock God," that has an intense guitar and drum beat. SuperMonkey closed their set with the very catch "Corporate America" and sang their words "Corporate America, it ain't the life for me." That may not be the life for this group, but rock 'n' roll sure is.  

SuperMonkey. Photo by: ToriOnTourPgh


The first of the 3 finalist to come on stage to showcase their talent was Nightly Standard. This unique band is fronted by the pin-up-esque tattooed lady, Laura. Her strong vocals set the standard for the rest of the band that includes two sax players, a trumpet and the standard guitar, bass and drums. They were all dressed to the nines and easily had the crowd groovin' to their sound. Their cover of The Beatles "Oh! Darling" is what got my attention because of their creative twist on it. Check them out on their Facebook for details on upcoming shows.

Nightly Standard. Photo by ToriOnTourPgh

Next up was The Semi Supervillains. All of these guys attend Duquesne University and call themselves "garage rock." I considered them to have a punk/rock sound. They looked like Weezer, rocked like the Foo Fighters and interacted with the crowd unlike any other band. In their pastel colored dress shirts, they got the crowd clapping and singing along to their music. Not only are they great with interacting with the crowd while on stage, I noticed their lead singer went to every Penn Rock Scholarship event in these last few weeks and he modestly said he enjoys supporting local music. They closed their set with their catchy song "Learned My Lesson" off their album "Tricks." See where you can catch the villains next on their Facebook page.

The Semi Supervilllains. Photo from their Facebook page.


Just when the crowd didn't think they could rock out anymore, Solar Burn came on stage. These guys are KICK ASS. It's an instrumental hard rock group that blew me away the first time I seen them a few weeks ago. Backed by an amazing drummer, the two guys that front the group are one of the greatest guitarist I've seen who head bangs his long hair and a bassist who's facial expressions really show how hard they rock. After their set that almost melted my face off, I have to admit I bought their CD. Very talented musicians. Check them out here.

Solar Burn. Photo from their Facebook page.

After some deliberation, the winner was announced online via social media. It didn't matter how many tickets each band sold to the event because this wasn't a battle of the bands. This was a showcasing of local music and the winner was chosen on 4 categories: songwriting, musicianship, live performance and crowd reaction. Drum roll please...

The winner of the first annual Penn Rock Scholarship presented by SuperMonkey Recording Co. and Pat DiCesare is... THE SEMI SUPERVILLAINS! They get a prize pack including a recording agreement produced by SuperMonkey Recording Co, 1,000 CDs, studio time at Soundscape Studios, mastering by Audible Images, A Gretsch Guitar, $500 gift card to Hollywood Music, Dean Markley Artist Endorsement, showcasing opportunities in Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Philadelphia, a photo shoot with Rich Follini and Coda Photography, a write up with PA Music News and a free case of Straub beer every month for a year!

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