Making the band

Rock star wannabes, listen up. Amateur band contest Wanderband 2015 is calling for your entries.

MANILA, Philippines - These days, it only takes YouTube and Garage Band (the app, not the ratty after-school band your kuya used to be in) to make a rock star. Still, there’s a lot to be said about performing in front of a live audience — it gives any musical act the kind of street cred that no amount of page views can beat.

Thankfully, it isn’t so hard to take a shot at doing just that. To usher in a fresh breed of young Filipino musicians, Karpos Multimedia is once again holding Wanderband. Now in its sophomore year, the competition allows amateur bands to win a chance to be part of Wanderland Music and Arts Festival, an annual music festival that has ferried in acts such as The Drums, Architecture in Helsinki, and Temper Trap to local shores.

Karpos will shortlist 10 entries out of all submissions, and will hold an online poll to further screen aspirants. Five bands will move on to the next round and compete in an open venue, where a single group will get to take home a cash prize and become part of the next Wanderland lineup.

Aspiring rock stars may submit their entries to the Karpos Multimedia office at 19 F. Ocampo Avenue, Manuela IV, Las Piñas City. All entries should include a DVD copy of the band’s video performance that includes one cover and one original song. Only bands without record label contracts and who don’t have members younger than 13 years old are welcome to join. Interested folks should submit all entires by Nov. 30.

It’ll be a tough contest, no doubt, and definitely much harder than putting out a video and tweeting all your friends about it. But going for the easy way is rarely how real music legends are born. Being able to sing your soul out to a huge crowd? We dare say it is. And that’s what makes all the blood, sweat, and tears totally worth it.                                             —Margarita Buenaventura