Battle of the Bands Final at the Corn Exchange
The first Battle of the Bands final at the Corn Exchange took place last weekend with a very good lineup featuring The Accents, Deadbeat Bracket and The Skive. Sometimes, these finals can be a weak affair, as earlier rounds are often popularity contests so you end up with college-age kids playing cover versions in the final, as they can rally more friends than anyone else. Two of tonight’s bands, The Skive and Deadbeat Bracket both went out at early stages of the Horn’s Battle of the Bands, simply because the local audience voted through friend’s bands. It was really good to see them both deservedly reach the final at the Corn Exchange.
With this being the inaugural Corn Exchange event. The ‘college factor’ has yet to come into play. Hertford’s college-age kids sadly don’t seem to regularly attend the Corn Exchange. Hopefully, future Battle of the Bands competitions will entice them in. Don’t get me wrong, it is great to see venues full with young people listening to live music and even the covers bands who reached the Horn’s final demonstrated they learned a lot from the experience, by turning up to the final with a few of their own compositions. But at least for one year, it allowed us to see a more authentic lineup and the Corn Exchange was packed out with friends and families of three bands. We were also lucky enough to see a headline set from the well deserved winners of the Horn’s Battle of the Bands, Safehouse. (who were head and shoulders above the over bands in the final)
Opening the evening were The Accents. A two piece from Hemel Hempstead with a ‘comfortable’ rock folk sound. Mike, the singer, has a good voice and Tommy keeps everything moving along on drums. A strong opening to the evening.
Deadbeat Bracket are one of my favourite local bands. A rock band hailing from Stevenage. They recently released a good debut album, ‘Chaos Theory’. The band have some good songs and a great stage presence. They again impressed.
The final band, another favourite, The Skive, are a stripped down punk band – all energy, youthful optimism and swagger, as they take a swipe at many of the things that are wrong at the moment.
It was great to see such a good final with differing styles. You could drop The Accents in any pub in the country and they would entertain anyone. Deadbeat Brackets and The Skive both have the potential to do well with young audiences if they play the right London shows and get some decent support slots.
Unlike earlier rounds, the final is judged by a handful of people in the audience, rather than leaving it to being a popularity contest. Tonight, any of these bands would be a deserving winner. Each has potential and offers something different. Hopefully, they all have found this to be a positive learning experience.
To close the evening, while the judges deliberated, Safehouse showed why they won the Horn’s Battle of the Band, closing off a great evening of live music.
The winner, announced by Juicebox’s Luke Hinton, and I suspect by a very fine margin, was The Skive. I am chuffed for them. I remember seeing an early gig just after their bassist left. They were great that night and I didn’t think they needed a new one. But in Joe, they found somebody who brings his own energy and showmanship and has only made them grow stronger. Well done guys.

