The Birmingham, England section of Emergenza 2003 is well and truly underway. The preliminary rounds are done and dusted, having shaken the foundations of ‘The Old Railway’, Digbeth. Five rounds were held on 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd and 27th March and yours truly was present as compare/ stage manager. I must say, it was an interesting opportunity to view the competition from the other side of the fence, having taken part in the competition last year (‘yours truly’ being the frontman of GEN, the band who won the UK Final). All the frustrations and panics of being a band-member taking part were replaced with even more frustrations and panics as an organizer for the event! The rounds kicked off on Thursday 20th, with two last minute cancellations which left us with only three bands participating. Do the math…they were all guaranteed a place in the next round! The night still ran well and gave us a gentle preparation for the (organized) chaos that was to follow. The round saw Diamond Water Spade, Blueblood and Rubber Puppy (all I can say is ‘hmmmmmm….’) all move on to the next stage. The Friday night saw a real competition develop. The consistency in quality from the bands was excellent, giving the audience a really good night and causing some frantic voting. Mesch, Black-List and No Remote all went through (with the latter winning on the inter-band voting system) but the highlight and clear winners of the night were Dirty Sanchez. The band hale from the Digbeth area and it was obvious as to why they have such a strong fan-base emerging. They are all great musicians and the enthusiasm in their performance really set them apart. Definitely ones to watch. Having recovered from the manic pace of Friday night, I would have appreciated a more subdued round, but what were the chances, eh? Once again, the five bands were all fantastic to watch and varied enough to keep everyone interested. The winners of the night (and rightly so in my opinion) were Planetman, who’s funked up reggae-rock stylings and frequent vocal sparrings left many people slack-jawed. The other two outright winners also had something fresh to offer. Sadness Kills the Superman are straight-up-in-your-face-balls-to-the-wall-ROCK! No doubt about that. And they nearly tore the place apart (and the stage…literally!). However, it was seeing Soniquella again that really interested me. The guys made it to the Birmingham Regional Final last year, and it is clear that they have spent the time since productively. The sound is heavier, the tunes stronger and the energy even more like a tornado hitting your house! It’s been a long time since I last saw them, but it was worth the wait!! The last place was battled out by Eclipse and The Kinells. I would have been hard-pressed to pick between them, but thankfully it came down to the bands voting. The Kinells got the place, maybe due to the fact that there are only two people in the band, but their sound is very full and, well, loud! So after chaos, technical disasters (overcome by Tom the soundman and myself), joy, tears and insults in Italian, we were on to Sunday. Out of the five bands scheduled, once again two pulled out on the night. So everyone won. Again. Exile and The Obsessive Compulsive Disorder both impressed people with their accomplishment as musicians when most of them are in their early teens! Stand out band for me was Severedstate from Rugby. Two frontmen, bassist, guitarist and drummer, all on one stage? We should have seen it coming. The band are intense, technical, tight and entertaining. And dangerous. Well, dangerous if you’re a drum-microphone! During a particularly frantic piece of onstage moshing, one of the frontmen piled into the drums and killed the kick-mic. This resulted in me being a human mic-stand for a song whilst we waited on some Gaffer Tape. The fact that the band never faltered through all of this makes them strong contenders in this competition. Finally, having found the majority o