Battle of the Bands Update

The Sir Douglas Quintet

Last night we had a first in our ongoing Battle of the Bands on Dr. John's Record Shelf: two unanimous decisions on who will advance to round two. The Sir Douglas Quintet (seeded #10) defeated the Association (seeded #7) in a mild upset in the Southwest Bracket, while the Kingsmen (7) held off Canned Heat (10) in the Northwest.

The Kingsmen

The songs involved were "Mendocino" by the Sir Douglas Quintet; "Never My Love" by the Association; what else but "Louie Louie" by the Kingsmen; and "Goin' Up the Country" by Canned Heat. Even though the judges were unanimous with their picks (thanks to Tom and Sally as this week's guest judges), all paid tribute to the quality of the vanguished bands.

We're now halfway through round one of the competition, and a few second round matchups have been secured: the Sir Douglas Quintet will be meeting the Beach Boys; the Kingsmen will take on the Standells; the Crickets and Shadows of Knight will get it on; and the Remains go up against the New York Dolls. The full lineup of opening matches (by regional bracket) can be found here, here, here, and here. Other groups that have also advanced include The Byrds, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Lovin' Spoonful, the Gants, the Cowsills, the Outsiders, Steppenwolf, and Spirit. The whole competition will continue to unfold over the next few months on my radio show, which can be heard Sunday nights at 5:00 at 90.9 fm if you happen to be in SW Montana (at 90.9 fm).