Harley Rock Riders Announces Find Your Freedom Band Hunt
The motorcycle and music festival’s band competition takes on a new format, giving out free jam room slots in Mumbai and Pune
With Harley Rock Riders Season VI comes Megadeth, motorcycles, and one of the most important competitions for aspiring bands — the Find Your Freedom talent hunt. While previous editions of the contest selected bands by means of fan voting and jury scores based on recorded material, there’s a few new experiments this time around.
Kraken, winners of Harley Rock Rider Season V’s Find Your Freedom Contest in 2014. Photo: Rudraksh Banerjie
Bands interested in taking part are required to submit links to their music, but artists in Mumbai and Pune have an added edge ”“ they will be judged not just on their studio material but also based on their jam room sessions. Bands in Mumbai and Pune can book free jam room slots at six rehearsal spaces in their respective cities [four in Mumbai and two in Pune] across three weekends between September 23rd and October 11th. Says Arjun S Ravi, the editor of webzine NH7 and part of the Find Your Freedom judging panel, “Scouting for cool new talent is at the core of these band hunts. So we’re going to go in unannounced and check these bands out. Yes, bands in Mumbai and Pune do have an advantage, but we will listen to all the demos and we’re looking for anything cutting edge.”
Based entirely on a panel of expert judges including Ravi, staff from organizers Only Much Louder and musicians from metal and rock bands, one band will be picked to perform at HRR VI, which takes place in Mumbai on October 30th and 31st. The winning band joins the likes of thrash metallers Megadeth, reggae act the Wailers, and Indian acts such as metal band Bhayanak Maut, prog rock band Coshish, Bengaluru folk metallers The Down Troddence and more.
While previous winners of the Find Your Freedom contest such as Chennai rock ”˜n roll act Grey Shack and Delhi math rock/metal band Kraken got a chance to perform at European Bike Week in Austria, there’s more in store for the winner this year than just an international gig. Says Ravi, “We’ll send the winning band on a tour around the country and not just the regular metros. We’ll be incorporating travel since that’s what Harley is all about and take them to different places. We will mentor them.”
Click here for more details and to participate in Find Your Freedom Band Hunt.
