The 1st annual Muzak Heart & Soul Foundation Battle of the Bands was a huge success!  Eleven high school bands from all over the Carolinas (Charlotte, Fort Mill, Statesville, Rock Hill, Wingate) registered to audition for the Charlotte Battle of the Bands on Saturday, March 10, 2007.  After a day of auditioning in front of Muzak (music savvy) judges eight bands were chosen for the finals.  The bands ranged from punk to rock to funk and all dreamed of making it big within the music industry. 

The Battle of the Bands was held at the Neighborhood Theatre in North Davidson (NODA).  Each band played two songs, one original and one cover.  The bands were judged on musicianship, originality, stage presence and overall impression.  A panel of five judges (Tracie Nasta – Producer 106.5 The End’s “90 Minutes”, Carlton Hargro – Editor-in-Chief of Creative Loafing Weekly, Debby Jennings – Freelance Writer/Music Critic:, Brian Cullinan – President, Air Support, LLC, and Chris McLane – Lead Singer for Stretch Armstrong) made up 70% of the band score and the 500 people in attendance at the event made up the remaining 30%.  The Verge, Desmond Myers, Dylan Stobbe and Brent Bilyeu, from Statesville, NC won the Battle of the Bands, the Funkquistadors, Fort Mill, SC in 2nd and Rekless Youth, Wingate, NC in 3rd.  The Verge walked away with; 16 hours of recording studio at Gat 3 Productions time to create a professionally-recorded demo, full scholarships to Noise! 2007, one-year Sonicbids subscription, one-year Onlinegigs subscription, one song played within a Muzak program that is heard by over 100 million people every day, $100 gift certificate from Sam Ash Music, one copy of Battle of the Bands Video Production for personal promotional use, 200 copies of band’s demo produced by Muzak for band to distribute or sell. 

In addition to their prize package, The Verge has been included in many Muzak and Muzak Heart & Soul events since March.  The Verge has also added to their Gat 3 recording by working with Muzak employees that have recording studios to develop a full album. 

2007 Battle of the Bands Sponsors:
Klipsch
AIGA
Gat 3 Producations
ImageMark
Creative Loafing
Sonicbids
Sam Ash
Onlinegigs
Bojangles
Thunder Road Brandworks
Dunkin Brands