Dynasty shine at Battle of the Bands

On Thursday 6th March, the band Dynasty ventured to The Stables to represent Vandyke Upper in a Battle of the Bands contest. The band comprises Ewan B-H (Y12) on drums, Fabio B (Y12) on rhythm guitar, Aidan H (Y11) on lead guitar, Amy B (Y10) on vocals, and Holly S (Y12) on bass. It was an incredible opportunity and we would like to tell you all about it, in case you want this to be you next year!

The competition involved 15 bands from local schools, playing two songs each to show off their skills and get the audience joining in. We decided on ‘Shining Star’ by Earth, Wind and Fire because we always have so much fun playing it and it is a really strong song for us to play. We also chose to play an original song called ‘Would You For Me?’ to show that we love to write and compose as well. Both songs had us all singing harmonies and acapella sections, which was really fun to put together.

We had been rehearsing weekly for a few months, and then rehearsed every single day for the two weeks before the event. We really wanted to be confident in what we were doing so that we could completely enjoy the day. Even though Aidan had competed the year before and told us all about the evening, it exceeded all of our expectations in how much fun we had and how incredible it would feel to be on that stage. We arrived at 4pm to soundcheck with the other bands, which we earned good experience from, and the environment was so cool and relaxed. The bands got to share dressing rooms, so we had a great time backstage making friends, connections and talking music!

Finally we got to perform. We played third and were surrounded by so many other talented musicians and performers – it was an amazing honour to perform alongside them on The Stables’ stage. Most importantly, we had fun in front of the audience and shared that moment with them, singing together. However, getting to watch the others perform after our turn was the highlight for me. The audience had so much energy, and everyone picked perfect songs to play and sing along to.

The runners up were Edith Dog, who had an electric harp player, which was awesome to see, and they played amazing covers of ‘Deeper Underground’ by Jamiroquai and Muse’s version of ‘Feeling Good’. However, the overall winner was The Greensands band, who played overwhelmingly cool grungy originals and both places were so well deserved.

Overall, we had so much fun and gained so much inspiration – we were even approached afterwards and offered a summer festival gig in Ampthill. Thank you for reading and we hope to see you there!

Written by Holly Skerrett (Y12)