The Global Battle of the Bands 2009 World Final at the London Scala on April 27th 2010 featured national final winning bands from every corner of the globe. The World Final was delayed due to snowstorms and the volcanic ash almost delayed this rescheduled date.
The bands competing came from Italy, Australia, Belgium, Japan, Norway, England, Kazakhstan, Israel, Montenegro, Ukraine, Romania, China, Netherlands, Scotland, Serbia, Nepal, Malaysia, Canada, Iceland and Germany to compete for the GBOB Best New Bands in the World title.
After an entertaining evening of truly fantastic performances it was a shame that only one band could take the title - and that honour fell to flamboyant punk rockers Rustic from Beijing, China (pictured). They were the unanimous first place choice of the judges with Endless Dark from Iceland in second place and Explicit Licks from Norway in third.
The Global Battle of the Bands is a yearly challenge open to bands of all genres with the top prize being US$100,000 in band development: one week in a London recording studio, a 10-date UK tour and US$10,000 in cold hard cash. The competition is open to all genres and in China in 2009, nearly 100 bands signed on to take part.
Rustic first won the Beijing final on 20th September 2009 and then went on to win the China final in Hong Kong on 7th November 2009. Before winning the world final, Rustic had already pocketed a Gibson SG guitar, free Dragonair flights & accommodation to Hong Kong as well as a mini-tour of Hong Kong.
The World Final judging panel comprised of Mads Hauge (co-writer of Natasha Bedingfield's US smash "Soulmate", more recently Mads has co-written and produced the #1 hits "Mama Do","Boys & Girls" and "Cry Me Out" for Pixie Lott). Alex Revenco (Romanian rock journalist who recently interviewed AC/DC in the States and also Senior Editor for "Jurnalul National" newspaper) and Kjell Haune (Norwegian composer & producer and first Norwegian composer to have two of his own musicals produced in London's West End.)
Rustic's story from their preliminary heat performance all the way to them winning the World Final was filmed by niurenku.com and will be released as a documentary later on in 2010.
"For Beijing and China, Rustic's win has firmly opened the eyes of the live music scene." - Chris B, China National Director of GBOB
In 2010, the world final will be held in Kuala Lumpur in December 2010. Heats for China bands will open by July 2010.
