Tag: music

Last-Standing.com is the web site for a local Battle of the Bands. I meant to just highlight it but as this is an ANGRY BLOG, I have to be pissed about something.

Two sins

• It uses Flash. And it’s their way or the highway. If you have a device that doesn’t like Flash then you’re shit outta luck. Why is there no equivalent to the ALT tag for Flash? Navigate to that page without Flash and the only things you can do are click on the ‘friends’ links at the bottom and handily email the designer with some invective. I have plenty of devices which CAN handle Flash but I don’t choose to handle it on my Nokia N800 for instance. And for those of us who use iPhones – well – you’ve just alienated us completely. I’m not saying anyone should abandon Flash, but this sort of thinking – that everyone is on a Flash-capable, high-speed connection to the Internet is frankly stupid and annoying.
• It resizes the browser window. There’s a plaintive text caption at the bottom where we are whimsically asked to view at 1024×768 or more and to blame the designers for that. Fine, if it’s not looking the best at the 800×600 I keep my browser window at, I can always resize to fit the content. My Mac even has a little green button on every window to ‘resize to content’. Except that this web site forces your browser window to resize to fill your available screen estate. That’s simply obnoxious. Especially as my laptop screen is 1680×1050 – there’s no need to take up all of the damn screen. Grrrr.

But anyway – my gripes aside.

The heats for this Battle (war?) are:

• 05.08.08 | Ossia Music, Belfast
• 15.08.08 | Share Holiday Village, Lisnaskea
• 30.08.08 | Strule Art Centre, Omagh
• October | Queens Hall, Newtownards

and:

For the winners, an outstanding reward:
– cash prize
– demo recording at Shabby Road studio
– 100 copies of the demo
– expert advice from those in the music and promotion business
– mentoring
– high profile playing opportunities

Anyone interested in showcasing their band, even just for the experience, should head along to their web site and download the Application Form (Microsoft Word file). There are currently 8 bands registered and there’s room on the site for samples, photos and mini-bios. Contact Paul McMordie for more information