In a band’s world, everything starts off with competitions. These competitions can either make or break you, and if the competition we’re talking about is IIT Saarang, you know that you have to be more than just fairly good if you’ve made it past the initial step. And winning Powerchords is no small step. Its one hell of a leap into the higher level (with the turbo boost, mind you).

And like every year, the day of this competition brought together the analytical music geeks and the bad rockstar college boys, the “I’m-so-cool” DJ dudes and the ‘training-to-be-groupie’ girls... basically every possible pretentious and non-pretentious brand of music lovers. The sun blazed on, almost as if on purpose, just to spite the black-tee mass. But nothing could bring down the attitude of the participants. In the sweltering heat of the noon-day, they got on stage, one by one, to deliver their best.

The first band at the Powerchords 2010 Finals was Darkest Red. Fast and heavy with metalcorish influences, this band sounded promising but still, had some important elements missing. The vocalist lost his way a bit during their second song and the guitars could’ve been a little more ‘refined’ but never the less, a decent performance. It’ll be interesting to see how this band matures over time.

Amethyst from Bangalore was up next, and I must say, I really liked these guys. The music was in the vein of early Iron Maiden and Rainbow with just a hint of progressive elements. Very stereotypical, but still enjoyable music. The vocalist had some nice harmonies going, with melodic segments right through their songs, especially in their original composition ‘Liberation’. They did take a lot of time setting up their equipment, and so were able to play just 2 songs.

Next on stage, Frank’s Got The Funk. Funny name for a band, isn’t it. Brought to mind nauseous memories of Michael Learns To Rock. Well, Frank’s Got The Funk, or FGTF, as they’re called, were nothing, and I mean nothing like that. They played a spunky blend of alternative and funk rock, with classic lead guitars and a tight, groovy rhythm section. It wasn’t surprising that the bass guitarist and the drummer won the best individual awards at the end of the day. Their all original set list consisted of the humorously titled, ‘Who Caught The Bull By Its Udder’, ‘The Fast Song’ and the band’s title song, ‘Frank’s Got The Funk.’

Purple Blood from Trivandrum had quite a fan following in Chennai coming into a show, having previously played at Unseen Underground’s Ragnarok Pub Fest. I don’t clearly remember the names of the originals they played and although I found their brand of melodic metal slightly overdone, I was still pretty entertained. The vocalist sounded brutal and the guitarists were spot on with their riffs. On my list, they scored big points for crowd involvement, something the other bands missed out on.

Warlock, the band that hit the stage after Purple Blood were all over the place from the word Go! The guitarist seemed to be plagued with technical problems, the drummer missed beats and the backing vocals were either missing or off key. The music continued in the vein of the typical-post-modern-melodic-metal which, as I’ve mentioned before, was overdone that day and they finished their set list without raising too many heads.

Shankar Ihsahn Floyd, previously known as Hammerfellows was the last band to compete. The band was made up of only IITM students and it was evident they were there to just have fun. Their set list consisted covers by bands like RHCP and John Mayer Trio. The guitar tones were a little fuzzy but fitted the entire retro theme that the band was trying to portray. They ended their setlist by played Superstitious (Steve Wonder) and continued jamming it up as the judges tabulated the marks and announced the results.

Final Results
1st Place: Purple Blood (Trivandrum)
2nd Place: Frank’s Got The Funk

Best Guitarist: Babu Vivek (Purple Blood)
Best Drummer: Hudstin (Frank’s Got The Funk)
Best Bass Guitarist: Satish (Frank’s Got The Funk)
Best Vocalist: Kaushik (Shankar Ihsahn Floyd)