540 replies to this topic

[Stinger97]

I attempted to search for an existing thread, but couldn't find one. I really hope I'm not duplicating.

Anyway, here's the synopsis of the show, courtesy of Rolling Stone -

The American Idol-inspired The Next Great American Band, which seeks to find exactly what its title promises and reward that TV-viewer-approved outfit with a record contract, will premiere in October on Fox. The show is produced by 19 Entertainment, the masterminds behind the mega-successful Idol and So You Think You Can Dance, and mirrors the singing competition in several ways: National auditions have been held to narrow down the applicant pool, and judges will choose ten semi-finalists who will perform music from a different genre each week. Also like Idol, the judges (who — along with the show’s host — have yet to be announced) will offer guidance to American voters, who will ultimately decide the winner.

The main dissimilarity between Band (which is still the series’ working title) and Idol is that bands will be allowed to perform original music if they choose to do so. The top three groups will ultimately compete against each other to win a recording contract. Band will kick off with a two-hour episode on Friday, October 19, and follow with weekly hour-long shows every Friday at 8 PM.

And the judges and host were announced today, courtesy of Zap2It -

FOX has tapped a pair of chart-topping musicians and a pair of personalities from the other side of the planet for its next musical competition.

Goo Goo Dolls singer John Rzeznik, percussionist and band leader Sheila E. and Ian "Dicko" Dickson, a music-business veteran who's lately acted as a judge on "Australian Idol," will serve as the judges for "The Next Great American Band," which debuts in October. Dominic Bowden, the host of "New Zealand Idol," will perform the same duties on "Band."

The worldwide "Idol" connections for Dickson and Bowden are not coincidental; "American Band" is a production of 19 Entertainment, the folks responsible for all "Idol" incarnations worldwide.

Like "Idol," "The Next Great American Band" will challenge groups to perform in several different styles as it searches for the top unsigned band in the country. The three judges will narrow down the field to 10 finalists who'll perform live each week, playing a mix of their own music and cover tunes. Viewers will have the final say in who stays and who goes.

Rzeznik and his fellow Goo Goo Dolls have sold more than 10 million records over the course of their career, hitting a peak in the late 1990s with songs like "Name" and "Iris." The group has a greatest-hits album due in November, smack in the middle of "American Band's" scheduled run.

Sheila E. has played with the likes of Prince, Lionel Richie and Marvin Gaye in her career and had a pair of No. 1 dance singles in the 1980s with "The Glamorous Life" and "A Love Bizarre." She's currently on tour with a project called C.O.E.D. (Confessions of Every Diva). Dickson has been in the music industry for 20 years, primarily as a press and promotions agent for bands like Oasis, the Jesus and Mary Chain and Pearl Jam.

So, is anyone interested?

Edited by Stinger97, Aug 27, 2007 @ 10:12 PM.

[dreamy]

This could be fun.

I can't wait for the week where they make them do 'wedding band' music. Punk version of Hava Nagila, anyone?

[Nutjob]

I'm interested, because it has promise to deliver a variety of genres among the contestants. Plus, it's always a plus when a band can play original music. I'm sure I'll be watching.

[Stinger97]

I'll admit that I had no interest in the show until the judges were announced. Trent Rzeznik, Sheila E., and Dicko? Such an odd combination, but they promise to be entertaining. I wonder if Sheila E. can pull off the inane chatter and babble of Paula Abdul from American Idol. Can't say I'm worried about Dicko being able to fill the Simon Cowell spot, though - he's proven to be quite the nasty bastard on Australian Idol.

The fact that the show is premiering on a Friday makes me think Fox isn't truly pulling for this to be a hit. I would have thought that because of the backing from the folks at American Idol, the show would be another jewel in Fox's reality music show crown. So why the death-slot?

Edited by Stinger97, Aug 28, 2007 @ 3:37 PM.

[Wildcard28]

What do they consider a band? Is it a group of singers (ala En Vogue or N' Sync) or a group that also plays their own music? I hope it's either one or ther other, because if it is a mixture, the groups playing their own music are going to be at a significant disadvantage.

[Stinger97]

There's a list of eligibility requirements on the show's website that states that a band must consist of at least two members and at least one must play a musical instrument. No a cappella groups will be considered. And I guess that makes sense - if groups could get away without playing instruments, it would be American Idol instead of American Band.

[Arabesque]

This show begins tonight. I can't decide if it's going to be a modest hit or an outright failure.

I also can't decide if I want to record it. Part of me wants to, but the other part does not want to get burned out on an AI-type show before the looooong season of the real AI begins. (Especially when I'm already watching the AI-ish Sunday Best on BET.) And the first three episodes are two hours long.

Anyway,here's what Uncle Nigel has to say about it:

Nigel Lythgoe, an executive producer for both series, just wants viewers to give "American Band" a fair shot. He's willing, even eager, to say that "Idol" contestants suffer by comparison to the band hopefuls.

"I can pick out five bands that I can go, `Wow, these guys are tremendous.' You can't do that with the top 12 Idols," Lythgoe said. "We're saying to the public, `Look at this talent and say you don't appreciate it.'"

Way to dismiss your bread and butter, Nigel - but since it's Nigel, how can I be surprised?

Those contenders are pared to 12 finalists on the debut episode. Thereafter, two bands per week will be voted off by viewers — but without an additional results episode a la "Idol," the audience will have to wait until the following week for the outcome.

Also unlike "Idol," which has showcased pop singers from Gwen Stefani to Barry Manilow, there will be no guest acts on "American Band," produced by 19 Entertainment and FremantleMedia North America.

"This really is about the talent," Lythgoe said. Bands also will perform their own songs as well as cover versions of records.

ETA: In another article (an AI blog entry), Uncle Nigel says theme weeks include Bob Dylan week and original music week.

Lythgoe “believes the audience is bored stiff with hip hop and won’t even buy it. If this television program is successfull… the market will open up with it.”

Edited by Arabesque, Oct 19, 2007 @ 1:05 PM.

[daisycat71]

So what happens when Light of Doom becomes Peter Brady?

I liked the singer from Northmont. Maybe he should try AI as a solo singer if he isn't too old.

[Hibiscus92]

The girl group did not deserve to make it through. There was nothing special or remarkable about them - they sounded and looked like an inferior version of every other wannabe girl punk band that has come out the past few years. They were definitely not as "versatile" as they claimed, or hoped, to be.

I thought for sure the group that got the 2nd try was going to make it through - instead, the judges/ producers were only setting them up for more disappointment and dejection, not the often used "sympathy vote". IMHO, they were better than the girl group that DID make it through, but I guess the producers wanted some variety.

BTW, is Sheila E. the spitting image of an older Nicole Scherzinger (of PCD fame) or what? (Although I should probably say Nicole looks just like Sheila E., it makes more sense the other way around.)

Edited by Hibiscus92, Oct 19, 2007 @ 10:38 PM.

[ButterflyRei]

I really liked this show!! They had some great bands and I thought they did a great job with balancing the talent and the bad acts. I really liked Tres Bien, The Clark Brothers, the young rock group and big band.

ETA: I did not think that the one band, Franklin Bridge, was really that good. They were ok but seemed all over the place to me.

Edited by ButterflyRei, Oct 19, 2007 @ 9:15 PM.

[TrentSketch]

I can't remember all of the bands I had heard of before, but I'm starting to think that Nigela and company worked very heavily with record labels and managers to pre-select bands that already had an in in the industry.

I like the judging panel, but I wish they'd go beyond "You're good" comments and actually say something with substance.

[valny]

I can't decide if it's going to be a modest hit or an outright failure.

How about a modest failure? :) I missed the first hour but what I saw it was just ok.

The girl group did not deserve to make it through. There was nothing special or remarkable about them - they sounded like an inferior version of every other wannabe girl punk band that has come out the past few years.

Right there with ya Hibiscus92. I thought for sure they were going to tell them something along those lines. I mean, any decent band can do a Ramones song(love them!) and while it wasn't a carbon copy, I didn't think it was all that special what they did with it. I'm more interested in hearing their original songs though.

There was one country/rock band I liked, they had really good harmonies. I forgot their name, Six something or other.

There were times I thought the judges were going to hate the band but passed them through, like the Bluegrass guys. And there was another one but I can't remember, the judges actually looked distracted watching them but to my surprised they loved them. *shrugs*

The girl who was crying and said Rzeznik laughed at her, did they show her band? Since I missed the first hour, I didn't see the performance.

I'll keep watching.

Edited by valny, Oct 19, 2007 @ 10:13 PM.

[RBK Premier]

I can't remember all of the bands I had heard of before, but I'm starting to think that Nigela and company worked very heavily with record labels and managers to pre-select bands that already had an in in the industry.

Well Ashley Clark of the Clark Brothers had been Carrie Underwood's fiddle player for the past two years. So there's one connection. He's a fairly talented guy though.

[SweetieDahling]

BTW, is Sheila E. the spitting image of an older Nicole Scherzinger (of PCD fame) or what? (Although I should probably say Nicole looks just like Sheila E., it makes more sense the other way around.)

YES!

I wanted the ladies in the sparkly blue tops to make it!!!!! They sound like me!!!! :-D

I'm not really too keen on this show. It's a total sausage fest and that's annoying. I admit the alternative of cheering for Rocket is equally horrifying, but still, I might bite the bullet and love them out of gender solidarity. Franklin Bridge isn't too bad either (racial solidarity)!

I'm picking Six Wire to win it all.

[Kidranger]

I gotta give props to The Muggs. Those 3 guys are tight as h*ll and ugly as stumps. In the three-ring circus of reality-TV-ville, that's gotta count for something!

[Rosanella]

I had seen some ads and read some shit about this show, but Fux being Fux, made no plans to watch. Ended up stopping as I surfed past and was entertained. I'm not sure about committing though as it would really piss me off if I did and it got cancelled.

[ketchuplover]

Franklin Bridge didn't wow me like they did the judges. light of doom ftw!!!!!!!!!

[plumeria]

The Good:

LIGHT OF DOOM! LIGHT OF DOOOOOOOOOM! fuck'in A!!!*makes metal devil fingers while sticking tongue out*

That? Was funny. Light of Doom, I mean.

The Clark Brothers fucking rocked the SHIT out of that stage. Totally fucking impressed. I'd buy a CD right now.

The Bad:
Dicko, Ryan Seacrest Lite and his fucking annoying, whinging voice, the retarded stage setting and really really bad acoustics

Dicko, let me say that again. DICKO is a dick. What a fucking putz. This guy is trying SO hard to be Simon Cowell 2.0 and he just looks like an ass most of the time. His rudeness was unbelievable. Not funny. Not entertaining. Just retarded. Asshat. I hate that schmuck enough to not watch this dreck.

And the Aussie Seacrest Lite? So very bad. And so very offensive. Why would I want to have an Aussie Seacrest Lite and a DickO when it's the search for the Next AMERICAN Band?!? You mean to tell me these producer fucks couldn't rub two sticks together and find two other options in Hollywood? Seriously?

The Ugly:
Most of the other bands. Oh, and Dicko.

Edited by plumeria, Oct 19, 2007 @ 11:32 PM.

[Hibiscus92]

Well, this show is brought to viewers by the producers of the aforementioned American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance, which also boast blunt, sometimes mean-spirited judges (Cowell more so than Lythgoe), while SYTYCD is hosted by the Cat Deeley (spelling?) who also speaks with an unmistakable accent.

That said, the makeup of this show is understandable (I would go so far to say that it was to be expected).

The Show IS called The Next Great AMERICAN Band, but isn't one of its predecessors called AMERICAN Idol?

[Pinot]

The Clark Brothers were awesome. My husband plays mandolin/fiddle in a bluegrass band and he was up out of his seat during their song. Wow. And there's 7 more siblings at home? I can see the Clarks and Sixwire making it far, maybe even final 2.

ETA: I'm really looking forward to this now! Much better than I expected!

Edited by Pinot, Oct 19, 2007 @ 11:54 PM.

[QueenAnne]

Actually, the chatty Clark said they were eleven in total. So there's eight more at home (!). I wonder if everyone's name starts with an "A"?

[ImissQ]

The host is terrible, the judges bland (sorry Resnik, I still love Goo Goo Dolls!), and the show moves kinda slow, but I enjoyed listening to a lot of the bands. I can't believe Mugg was only three guys, they had such a big complex sound. I think they are cute too, like if the BeeGees went rock.

I hope America doesn't vote one of the lesser deserving punk boy acts to the top, when there is plenty of real talent there. I think that one country-rock band will go far.....especially because the lead guy looks just like Josh Holloway. And same accent. Yum.

Edited by ImissQ, Oct 20, 2007 @ 12:33 AM.

[octodog]

This premise cuts down the freakshow aspect of the whole thing. It's much to hard to have bands load in for an open call. It was cruel to make that delusional mentally challenged clown dude believe he had a chance at fame.

It was also rude for Sheila E to jump on the stage and play with people she plans on kicking off.

I wonder who had the brilliant idea of setting them up next to creepy ass Lake Las Vegas? I'm willing to bet one of the producers owes the casino some money.

Light of Doom have really intense and frightening parents. This is painful to admit, but Dicko was right.

[tvweb44]

Finally, some must-see tv.

Yeah! Detroit represent. The Muggs. Yeah, baby.

Overall, the talent is better than good. I like the classic rock and southern rock sound sound that a lot of the bands had. That rhythmic sound. Needless to say, rock lost me in the 80's when that classic rock style went the way of Jimi and Janis. I would have liked to see some more diversity - too bad the Latin band wasn't good enough to make it. Couldn't help but wonder if Sheila E spontaneous jam session messed up their groove and helped blow their chances.

I wasn't wowed by Franklin Bridge either and I'm not saying that as a "hater" of r&b music, but I mostly love what it used to be back in the day. Philly has produced some great contemporary r&b talents like the Roots, Kindred the Family Soul and J-I-L-L S-C-O-T-T-eeeeeeeeeeee! FB are not at that level to be getting standing ovations. Maybe the judges saw something we didn't get to see.

The singer of Light of Doom has a hella sexy voice for a prepubescent. But, he's only 12 so it's..... gonna...... cra-ack.

Sorry that Blackbird didn't make it through. I thought they were good. They only showed a snippet of their performance of their song Chase The Sun so I had to look them up. Blackbird

Rocket is undeservedly there because so the tweens will watch.

Six Wire is a ringer, man. They're too good.

The Likes of You seem to be pretty stellar, too. The lead singer has a lot of sex appeal.

The musician with no arms from Big Toe just rocked my world with his attitude and outlook on life. I appreciated Dickow's honesty with them.

About the the girls in the sparkly blue tops - their music sounded great until they started "singing". They need a lead singer STAT. The rest should just play their instruments.

Heaven Bound was everything that's wrong about just letting anybody sing in the church choir. Folks get delusional.

Edited by tvweb44, Oct 20, 2007 @ 12:55 AM.

[Swedish Chef]

I already hate Light of Doom. Light of Dumb. They're talented kids, but, holy Leif Garrett in Hansen's School of Rock, is their preciousness going to grate on me. Particularly when they outlast more talented, less "cute" musicians.

I thought that Franklin Bridge was kind of all over the place. I did not think their musicianship held a candle to that exhibited by the Muggs and even Six Wire.

I liked the retro guys, Tres Bien, and the Likes of You, even if they have a completely horrible name. (The Likes of You? The Hell?)

The singer from Dot Dot Dot could be Lucas from Rock Star's little, less gravel-throated, slightly more hambone brother.

And I know a couple of ladies who should pack their bags, pre-flight, because they are going to Rocket their way back to their West Hollywood pillow fights (or whatever that shot of them cavorting in the bedroom implied) pronto.

[foci]

I think that one country-rock band will go far.....especially because the lead guy looks just like Josh Holloway. And same accent. Yum.

The resemblence was uncanny. Even my husband, who does not watch Lost saw it.

As a fan of metal I enjoyed the Light of Doom boys. Their moms were totally like the soccer moms I know (myself included), perhaps a bit scary, but completely behind their kids.

[sofa addicted]

I liked the singer from Northmont. Maybe he should try AI as a solo singer if he isn't too old.

Or make some nice bucks modeling; the guy is really handsome. It's too bad that his bandmates just aren't as talented as he is.

I thought it was an entertaining show and I'll watch it again--or at least the first hour of it before I switch over to Friday Night Lights.

[Cherry Wire]

I'm really surprised they couldn't find more girl groups or even groups with one or two girls, besides the suckfest that was Rocket.

Besides them, I really liked just about all the bands that got to the final 12. The Northmont drama was a little unnecessary. And those Light of Doom kids seemed like "School of Rock" meets "Almost Famous".

[TrentSketch]

All right, now that people are naming bands the groups are starting to come back to me.

Obviously, Six Wire I knew of before because they were signed and released some work, which was their own admission.

DotDotDot may have played CMJ (or a like festival) last year, but I might be confusing them with another similarly titled group.

The zombie band I had heard of before (that specific song, actually), but that may be because they might have had an ep or album reviewed in Rue Morgue.

Most of the bands that I recognized (not as a fan, not as a local, but from industry buzz) were in the big montage of talented groups. Some were CMJ/South by Southwest/Other Big Industry Festival bands, others were courted by record labels, a few were already flops on labels, etc.

I'm not saying that some of the bands aren't genuinely undiscovered talent - some of them are, like the Philly band (and that is kind of my area, so shocked to see I hadn't heard them before) with the blended R&B/rock/funk/soul sound that Shelia E went nutso over. It just seems, like most Season 1's of reality shows, the producers are stacking the deck to ensure some good bands get to the semi-finals that have already been deemed marketable.

[FirstAndTen]

First off, I love Dicko. Ever since I downloaded Australian Idol torrents three years ago. He's at least equal to Simon, and possibly a little better. Unfortunately, he left AusIdol after season two (he came back in time for season five), and AusIdol torrents started getting hard to find. So it's great to rekindle my Dicko love.

Second, my prediction for the final two: Six Wire and Light of Doom. Six Wire just has the look of an established band and will win the battle of the country bands (I actually liked the Clark Brothers better, but I think they'll be prematurely eliminated). Light of Doom will get those tweenie votes. They're so cute and so adorable. I can just see 6th grade girls organizing Friday night slumber parties with their cell phones so they can spend half the night voting for Light of Doom (listening to their mp3s at the same time).

Oh, and I wish we saw more of the Van Dells (the doo wop group). They've played the Midwest oldies scene for nearly 30 years. They're really that good; unfortunately their style of rock and roll doesn't make for the "Next Great American Band." I remember seeing them when I was nearly 9 months pregnant with my first daughter. She's now 20.

Edited by FirstAndTen, Oct 20, 2007 @ 6:35 AM.