By Esther Sanchez
Elektric Lucie has become a respected staple in the Coachella Valley Music scene and this Thursday, April 30th they will be the only local artists competing against 7 other bands in the first round of “Hard Rock Rising” which the promoters are describing as the, “World’s Largest Battle of the Bands.” In addition to a $1000 cash prize, Hard Rock Rising, will give the winning local groups a shot at stardom with an all-expenses paid trip to Barcelona, Spain to perform at the first-ever Hard Rock Rising Barcelona music festival this Summer.
Last January, Hard Rock, in partnership with ReverbNation, hosted open registration for bands wishing to participate in the international battle. Between Hard Rock’s iconic brand and dynamic live music program and ReverbNation’s community of more than 3.8 million artists in 250 countries worldwide, emerging and undiscovered talent have a platform to expose themselves to Hard Rock’s global audience and possibly catapult their careers to unimaginable levels.
John Galloway, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Hard Rock International to PRNewswire: “At Hard Rock, music is the heart and soul of everything we stand for, and we can’t wait to welcome new talent to our international stages. Since 2010, Hard Rock Rising has been a staple of our live music program, and attracts more than 15,000 bands annually. We look forward to supporting promising artists in hopes of exposing them to new fans and opportunities to enhance their music careers.”
This is where our boys come in. Elektric Lucie, 2014 winners of the “IPAC Red Hot Battle of the Bands,” is based in Indio and consists of Victor Estrada (songwriter/vox/guitar), Jorge Carillo (bass), Hernan Hernandez (drums) and Danny Sandoval (keyboard).
Estrada: “Initially, we were up against bands between Calexico & Los Angeles in order to make the regional finals & we received the most online votes out of every band that entered into the preliminary round.” Earlier this year, proof of the quartet’s loyal fan base became evident when, although they did not make it through the finals to win the opportunity to perform at the Tacheva Block Party this year, they had the most online votes for the preliminary round out of every band that entered.
The finalists consist of 8 bands that will compete for the number one spot at the Hard Rock Hotel in Downtown Palm Springs. Competitions will be split between two rounds of four bands each night of the showcase. The first night is Thursday, April 30th and second will be the following week on Thursday, May 6th. A panel of judges will score the bands based on qualities including appearance, originality, vocals and crowd response. There will also be an opportunity for the attendees of the free, all-ages event to cast a ballot for their favorite band for the judges’ consideration. The winners from this week will be announced at the end of the night and the winners from the entire competition will be announced next week at the competition’s end.
Estrada: “We are the only band from the Coachella Valley that will be competing. It would be amazing for us to be able to represent our community on an international level. Nothing would make us more proud. We can’t do it without support from the locals. We go on first, 7:00 pm sharp so we are really hoping that we can get enough of our people there to influence the judges.”
Look out for Elektric Lucie’s debut album “Bipolar” expected to drop mid-May of 2015.
Photos by Caesar Rodriguez / adriftonthewave@mac.com
