The top five finalists of 98.7 FM's “Rockstar Contest” were announced today, and two of the chosen acts are from Orange County. Not a bad ratio, no?
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Rockers Entice and Black Eyed Peas-esque troupe Non-P (pictured, but you probably figured that out), both from Irvine, join LA's Eyeshine and Fight From Above, and Bakersfield's Vogue in the Movement in the competition's finals. By virtue of making the top five (through online votes), all of those bands have already won a Gibson SG guitar; no small potatoes given that the station has valued it at $1,200 (much better than that Squire you bought with Target gift certificates). Eyeshine is led by a former Power Ranger, so clearly it's not exactly a level playing field.
As noted last week, four OC/LB bands made it into the top 15, meaning that Entice and Non-P beat out their local brethren 1 Away (from Yorba Linda) and Audible Mainframe, from Long Beach and an apparent favorite among our blog comments.
The all-important next step takes place Friday, 7 p.m., at Citywalk up in LA, with a judged competition that's free to the public. Grand prize is: $10,000 cash, $5,000 worth of gear from the “Best Buy Musical
Instruments store,” a gig at an upcoming 98.7 event, photo session with
Sterling Andrews and a “full day” (10 hours, they say) of recording time at NightBird Studios in West Hollywood, which they've estimated to be worth $2,000. Feel free to root for one of OC's two entrants–we've got a 40% chance!
