Jaxx Night Club
http://www.jaxxroxx.com
February 9, 2008
Center stage at battle of the bands
By Heather Gioia
Jaxx Night Club in West Springfield, VA, was filled with all genres of music from early in the afternoon into the late evening, as the My Revolutions Productions and Apex Booking’s Battle of the Bands took place Saturday, February 9, 2008. 15 local Virginia and Maryland bands took the stage for 30 minutes each, to play their set for judges, fans, and potential fans.
Doors opened at 1pm and the first band took the stage shortly after, but it was the 9:15pm set that took judges and viewers breaths away. Woodbridge, VA, local band, Mercy Forgotten, stepped on stage and the crowd went wild. After their 30 minute set, Mercy Forgotten, had hands-down had taken the lead in at least two of the three judges categories— crowd interaction and stage performance.
At midnight, the last band wrapped up their set and the judges left for deliberations. Later they returned announcing Mercy Forgotten the first place winner of Battle of the Bands. The band received $1,000 and is now being booked by Apex and My Revolutions to play other shows.
Mercy Forgotten played six songs during their set. As they gave the crowd the best show they could, sweat formed puddles on the stage beneath their feet.
After a year’s worth of hard work and a demo finally complete, the band took the stage only hoping to add to their fan base. Taking the crowd by storm, rambunctious viewers began to “mosh” as others fell in “awe” to Dave Ferguson’s solos on lead guitar. Excitement over took female fans as tops and undergarments came off and landed on stage at the band’s feet. New fans were in shock to find later that this was the first show Mercy Forgotten had ever played.
“We came out there expecting dead last, and just to leave with a few new fans. And since the second we hit the stage we were getting support,” exclaimed Ferguson.
Vocals were done by Matt Thompson, whose charming personality and good looks won over everyone in the crowd. The guitars were dominated by lead guitarist Ferguson and rhythm guitarist Rob Ginther. The excited rhythm of the bass was maintained by Will Johnson, as Jared Jamieson held down the “fat” beats on drums.
My Revolutions and Apex awarded prizes to the second place band, Puppet. While Blood Corps, Poor Sweet Abigail, and Autumn In Ruins tied for third place.
Mercy Forgotten will be opening for Soil on Thursday, March 20 at Jaxx. Doors open at 6pm and tickets are $12 in advance and $14 the day of the show.
They can also be found on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/mercyforgotten where their demo CD is posted for downloads.
Heather Gioia's Clips 