Group Heads To Thailand For Global Battle Of The Band Competition

Bahamian rock band, Avante Guarden has “eight minutes to impress the world.”The band, which took first place in last year’s Global Battle of The Bands (GBOB) Bahamas competition, will be in Chiang Mai “City of Music” Thailand on February 8 for the Global Battle of the Band World Final – the world’s biggest music competition.

There, the five-member band will compete against 17 groups for a chance to win a $100,000 band development package, a chance to go on a world tour and a special gold “Best Band in the World” statuette.

Competition rules forbid song covers. All music must be original compositions performed live and judged in several rounds.

Avante Guarden guitarist, Vallon Thompson, who is also one of the principal songwriters in the group, said he is excited about the competition, but admitted he has “some butterflies.” He explained the group’s strategy to win the competition.

“We took a lot of time to refine our show. We’re doing something completely different than we did here because we want to be new and innovative,” he said.

“We have eight minutes to impress the world. No pressure, huh? But, they’re going to take one look at us and we’re going to stand out.”

Lead singer/songwriter, Lisa “JayneDoh” Bullard said she is looking forward to travelling to Southeast Asia.

I’m really, really excited about the trip. I’m looking forward to the travel experience and meeting the people of Thailand and the competition,” she said.

“I think we will win it.”

GBOB Bahamas, which has partnered with The Counsellors Ltd. (TCL), the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Culture and the Cable Bahamas Cable Cares Foundation to send the band to Thailand, is a franchise of Global Battle of The Bands Worldwide.

Band members met with TCL President Joan Albury this week, who presented them with their airline tickets and gifts from the Ministry of Tourism.

GBOB Bahamas Chairman Ricardo Berrís said his organisation is focused on giving the band as much exposure as possible.

“It’s a huge undertaking and there are so many people that we have to thank. I want to thank the Ministry of Tourism, as well as the Ministry of Culture. Thanks to our partners, Zamar and The Counsellors and everyone who put this together from November to now. Now is where we get excited because the band is going to Thailand and we’re going to come back with the world title and that, I think, will do us proud.”

“We just want to thank the entire music community, the entire fan base of the Global Battle of the Bands Bahamas, the followers and fans of the bands and thank you to the entire Bahamas for just supporting this small initiative. It’s a small initiative, but it’s a lot of work that takes a lot out of us to get to this stage and we’re finally happy that we can fulfill our commitment to getting a band the international exposure.”

Fans have an opportunity to see Avante Guarden take the stage on Saturday. The band’s performance will be streamed live on gbob.livebox.me. There is a 12-hour time difference between The Bahamas and Thailand. Therefore, the competition will start at 6:00 a.m. (local time) Saturday.

For more information, visit www.gbobbahamasfestival.com.

Avante Guarden winning last year at Bahamas' competition of Global Battle of the Bands