Feature: SonicAltar - The world's third best band...

New Zealand's SonicAltar impressively took out third place at the 2006 World Battle of the Bands final in Hong Kong on November 24. The Whangaparoa-based five-piece hard rock band, which formed only last year, went unbeaten all the way to the world finals before being outpointed out by US winners Lojic and China's excellently named Voodookungfu.
Organised by Auckland studio and metal label owner Andrew Featherstone, the World Battle of the Bands is fast becoming a global competition. It's open only to unsigned bands that write and perform their own, giving up-and-coming bands from around the globe the opportunity to prove themselves on the world stage. Growing out of the New Zealand domestic BoB, the competition has expanded by adding more countries around the Pacific rim each year since the first in 2004 (won, incidentally, by Hamilton's Chuganaut).
This year's world final featured the regional winners from eight different countries including New Zealand, the US, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and the Philippines, and will include India and Korea in 2007.

 

Despite not winning the competition outright, SonicAltar are extremely happy with the way things panned out according to vocalist Kane Bennett.
"Afterwards we were talking about it and we felt that was the best we could do. It was good that we didn't leave with any regrets or anything like that."

They can be content with warming what Bennett describes as a relatively unenthused crowd - despite the fact he doesn't speak Cantonese.
"The crowd was kind of quiet and seated and not really doing much, and the [previous] two bands didn't really try to do anything about it. So our goal was to go out and try to change that," he explains. "I yelled at them a bit and did some hand gestures and slowly but surely they got up and [got involved]. We set it up, which felt really good."

Bennett describes the variety and calibre of bands on offer in the final as truly world class. He particularly enjoyed Australian entry Meridian, which he says is "progressive rock like I've never heard before" and Chinese second place-getters Voodookungfu who played "really heavy metal with influences of Chinese traditional music".

It wasn't all business for the SonicAltar boys: they took the opportunity to check out the sights and sounds of Hong Kong. Well, kind of.
"To sum it up in two words, it was 'party central'. It just doesn't sleep. When we got there at 3am, the manager said 'Do you want to see the city?' and it's just buzzing with people everywhere. Instead of going out and seeing giant Buddhas, we decided to go out and party. We had to at least play rock stars!" laughs Bennett.

Ironic for a band that admits they were pretty "rough around the edges"  upon entering the national competition. "We just entered it to see how far we'd get and as we started getting further, we started putting more effort in. It rushed us to be better than ever and all that kind of stuff. I think that was the happiest part of it all. The New Zealand part was pretty special."

The prize package for winning the New Zealand regional leg of the competition included their flights to Hong Kong and five-star accommodation at the Harbour Plaza. The band also got to record a single at Intergalactic Record's Area 51 studios. "The song's called Kneel at the Altar. It's all pro and it looks good and it's all pressed and packaged," boasts Bennett.

And prizes for placing third in the World Final? "I don't know - they haven't actually told us yet," laughs Bennett. "I assume there is; all I walked off with was a stuffed toy penguin that a local TV station gave me."