And here we are again to welcome the search for the best band and solo artist for 2009. Last year we witnessed Nemesis, The Rebels and Indumini rise above the rest in a competition where a various bands and artists collided onstage to push them individually to showcase their abilities and talents. The result of which was an unforgettable night of Music and Spirit. 
I was absolutely thrilled when asked to help out with the bands and the artists for onstage this year. As TNL raised the bar by not only increasing the prize winnings, benefits and perks to the winners but also introducing new factors for the artists and bands respectively.

'Rock the vote' where the listeners of TNL decide which bands proceed/Eliminated respectively,

'The Encore’ round where the band/artist who stole the show of the night was given the opportunity to take the stage again and perform to an ever supportive and energetic crowd.

'The Dialog Jingle' bands were asked to create a musical jingle in line with the music they play.

The Sprite song and various other areas for bands to put their skills and abilities to the test

The selection process was both entertaining and time consuming. Countless bands and artists had submitted their demos ranging from Love ballads to hard rock, Hip hop to Soul and everything inbetween. Looking back at the demo submissions it was quite clear that over ten years, onstage has evolved to quite arguably be the most demanding Music Competition in this neck of the woods amongst the English radio stations.

It was quite an intricate process identifying the musical differentiators of the bands and artists, the more often referred 'X factors' of the musicians seemed quite obvious in some and remained dormant in others as the artists themselves undergo a journey of finding out who they are as musicians and what they’re capabilities are. Therefore TNL in collaboration with the advisors implemented a workshop for the bands and artists. Where they (Bands/Artists) had interactive sessions with the music advisors discussing the importance of song selection and how to best pick a song that not only enhances the bands ability/skills or the bands personality but further personifies the message behind the song. Also, the bands were told the importance of originality and how that affects the overall bands’ image in either a local or international level. In a nut Shell the more original the band/artist the greater the possibility of the band/artist standing out from the rest

Where the Solo artists are concerned, we took an interest individually to understand what the 'comfort zones' of the singers are during the preliminaries and are currently working with them to get them out of those comfort zones and pick songs That are off different genres, making it a bit more challenging for the artists. One song will be  decided by TNL and the Music Advisors. The idea behind this demand is to give the singers the freedom of conveying that song to their best ability. They will be working hand in hand with 'The Rebels' and the music advisors to bring out the best potential and put on what could possibly be one of the greatest moments in their lives.

It’s pretty clear that finding a band or artist suitable of walking away with the title Best Band 2009 or Best Solo Artist 2009 is like trying to find a needle in a needle stack. But The Stage is set. The Musicians are pumped and are willing. It’s anyone’s competition really...
Shout out to  5 minutes apart,  Alchemy,  Helter Skelter, Kristi Darma, Willies Jeep,  1234, Gravity,  MOT, Triton,  HiplessHop,  Detonation, Spartan Whisper, Sam, Sanjeewa, Kaveesha, Dushantha,Hiran,Nadeesha and Shenali for making it this far into the competition. As the second set of bands hit the stage in Kandy

And there on the Finals...
Game night may the most original, energetic, captivating band/artist Win…. (Melodramatic Blackout)
 
Without Music, Life Would be an Error – Friedrich Neitzsche

We don’t need another Simon Cowell.  We need the kind of guy who will listen to the music that is made and not care if you wear a yellow jumpsuit of the Velvetine Rabbit as your get-up for the concert so long as it’s all in the name of Rock and Roll.  We need the kind of guy who has better hair than the parting Red Sea on his head.  And certainly the kind of guy who has a wider vocabulary than canine references and tearful declarations of hand-to-the-heart love.  That’s Vidhu – he knows how to listen to music and he knows how to make it sound good.

Vidhu’s the kind of guy who’d welcome a darker side to Spiderman according to his MySpace profile and when it comes to musical villains and heroes, he’s the kind of guy who appreciates the alternative to the standard, the dare to be different than to be safe, and the sincerity of making the music that you really feel rather than what you think everyone wants to hear.