– Press Release

Ernie Ball is proud to announce that online registration for The Battle of the Bands 10 is open from now until May 15 through the official Battle website, http://www.battleofthebands.com

Last year, over 10,000 bands entered the contest for the chance to showcase their music live on the “Super Bowl of Summer tours,” the Vans Warped Tour.

This year, Ernie Ball has stepped up the incentive, offering the top four unsigned bands the opportunity to play live on FUSE TV at the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands showcase party! The finals will be held at a high-profile New York club and will coincide with the Vans Warped Tour after party. FUSE TV is currently available in over 40 million households.

Additionally, beginning this year, 20 bands can earn a spot on the globally distributed Warcon Records Battle of the Bands compilation CD. Songs will be selected based on musicianship, originality, and accessibility. “We are extremely excited to add these new opportunities to the Battle of the Bands,” noted Brian Ball of Ernie Ball Inc. “Our contest is centered around providing bands the ability to play live, only now the range of exposure for these bands is tremendously larger.”

As in years past, Battle of the Bands 10 also gives North America’s best unsigned bands a shot at playing live on the Ernie Ball Stage at the 2006 Vans Warped Tour, June 15 – August 13. A panel of industry professionals will select four bands per Warped Tour stop to play live on the Ernie Ball stage for a total of nearly 200 performing bands.

A breeding ground for the best unsigned talent, Ernie Ball’s Local Heroes stage is a self-contained mobile stage equipped with a 24,000-watt sound system. The stage has featured more than 5,000 unsigned bands, including then up-and-comers Bowling For Soup, Sugarcult, Story of the Year, New Found Glory, Avenged Sevenfold, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Less Than Jake, and more. This year’s Battle of the Bands 10 winners will be sharing the stage with much-anticipated acts including The Fall of Troy, Gym Class Heroes, Throwdown, Forgive Durden, and more.

Additionally, all registered bands are still automatically eligible to win thousands of dollars in rock ‘n’ roll music gear from Battle sponsors in the online voting competition. Fans can vote for their favorite groups at battleofthebands.com from June 15 – September 1. The top four bands will win prizes from Battle sponsors including Auralex, Electrovoice, Krank Amps, DW Drums, Boss, Electro-Voice, Ernie Ball/Music Man, OLP Guitars, Taylor Guitars, Zildjian, M-Audio, and Remo.

To take part in this year’s Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands competition, bands must upload photos, a band biography, and two MP3 audio files to the Battle of the Bands 10 site by May 15. For more details on sign-ups, please visit the Battle of the Bands 10 website at http://www.battleofthebands.com/bb10/signup.php

Since its debut ten years ago, the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands has given the best local bands from North America the opportunity to showcase their talents in the world’s longest running and largest live music promotion in the music industry.