In 1964, St Albans band The Zombies, won the ‘Herts Beat’ competition at Watford Town Hall. The prize of £250, came with a record contract with Decca that helped catapult them into the charts in the UK and USA as part of the British Invasion of the mid early 60s. Sixty years later, they are still playing and in 2019 were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Returning to St Albans for their ‘Begin Here’ festival, the band decided to celebrate their own start by running their own Battle of the Bands competition, generously donating £1000 to the winners. Ten bands were selected and their fans voted for the final three, with the final taking place at the Horn during the festival.

First up was singer songwriter, Kyle Kirch, who had come all the way from the California. That’s an expensive trip to make for a battle of the bands competition at a small venue in St Albans. It’s also a once in a lifetime experience that hopefully he won’t forget.

I thought London band John Lion wouldn’t have been out of place supporting the Zombies, with their 60s inspired blues rock. It was a strong set and I had a feeling they might get the nod from the judges.

Local band the OWES, have been quiet recently. I last saw them play at the beginning of 2023. They impressed me at the time. They had good songs, lots of energy and in Harvey Anselm Taylor, a frontman with some presence. But they then went quiet and I assumed they had split up. However, they are back with a new lineup and one that works really well. Having the advantage of having friends and family supporting them, they put in a blistering set.

Although I’m slightly biased. OWES were for me the winners on the day and the judges seemed to agree. It seemed fitting that these Hertfordshire lads won the prize. One of Hertfordshire’s most famous bands handing over the baton to an exciting local band. I’m sure the band will put the money to good use. Hopefully helping them to get into the studio and take bookings that they might otherwise have been unable to take. Congratulations to the band and what a brilliant gesture from The Zombies. This is how the music industry should work. Bands who reach the top giving other bands a helping hand. To celebrate their win, Hugh Grundy joined them on drums for an encore.

Maybe because they were all wearing baseball caps and looked like an American college rock band from the 90s, I didn’t think they sounded contemporary British Indie. No jangly guitars. Guitar sound had a bit of heft and they had three members taking vocal duties. A few call and response type songs and a few songs with multi-vocal harmony which sounded 80s AOR a times. Have to say, not sure why an audience who has paid to see them, should be thrilled to be told by them that they are still hungover from the evening before? In fairness they still put in a decent performance. But really?

Owes from Hemel Hempstead had that kind of ‘we’re four lads rocking’ look with liberal swearing thrown in to be edgy. I had decided I wasn’t going to like them, but you know what, the singer had a decent voice and stage presence and the music was familiar but also felt fresh. I will happily watch them again.

First band was Freddy Merkky. They had a ‘Windmill’ sound. Clearly influenced by the anarchic and jazz influenced bands like Squid and New Country Old Road. They had interesting moments. Singer had the ‘geek pretending to be cool’ look. Worked better when he was shouting. When singing, he had a lot of tuning issues and was flat at times. But again, decent potential.