Battle of the Bands 2024: Resounding Success for Dover Court's Young Musicians

The in-school event was packed out with 15 bands taking to the stage to deliver their versions of an eclectic range of music spanning multiple decades and genres. The spirit of camaraderie was prevalent, and all bands had their eyes on the prize of going through to Timbre+ on Saturday. This left our panel of judges, consisting of Jazmine A from Songwork International, Head of Visual Arts Leonie Cole, and Year 12 student and music ambassador En Li, with the unenviable task of identifying this year's winner, the two ‘runner ups’ and the five special commendations.

All eight went through to the winners' showcase. The three judges were visibly emotional when delivering their verdicts on who would go through to Timbre.

The winning Year 12 band ‘RAM’ came from nowhere. They had been rehearsing in secret in the run-up to the gig; then frontman Vincent broke his wrist days before the show in a rugby match! Against all odds, they blew the judges away with their version of ‘Du Hast’ by industrial metal band ‘Rammstein’. A mini ‘mosh pit’ formed as the audience and students rocked along to the band.

Three days later, a rainy Saturday afternoon at Timbre+ did not deter our musicians, families, friends and staff members from showing up to support our finalists. The huge venue filled up within no time and all eight winners wowed the crowd with their performances. Seeing the Dover Court Community all under one roof, watching our homegrown talent was an incredible experience.

Leading up to the Battle of the Bands, our students received tailored feedback from industry experts at Songwork International, refining their performances and boosting their confidence on stage.

Year 9 musicians Harper and Edward were among the students who benefited from the invaluable guidance and tips on stage presence and more.

"I picked up so many tips and tricks on how to deal with nervousness during the Songwork International workshop. The instructors supported and taught us a lot about stage presence to improve our confidence level. They also guided us on simple things like how to hold the mic and present ourselves, which was very helpful for our performance," said Harper, a bassist in the band Subjective Quality.

The workshop was also helpful for Edward, a drummer in the band Paradox. “The feedback from the workshop has improved my performance as I learnt about stage presence and how to act in front of an audience. It also helped me to improve my beats and starting rhythm,” he said.

DCIS Principal, Mr Richard Dyer was blown away by both the phenomenal shows. “The musical talent was jaw-droppingly great and the stagecraft from the bands was professional, energetic and captivating. There were moments of pure nostalgia, times of spine-tingling harmonies, and blasts of chest-thumping Neue Deutsche Härte industrial metal! You don’t get that with Coldplay,” he said.

Head of Secondary, Mrs Rachel Edwards, echoed these sentiments, commending the exceptional dedication and talent displayed by the students and expressing anticipation for future events.

“The calibre of all the bands who participated throughout the competition was absolutely incredible. The final and the showcase as Timbre+ were fantastic and a testament to the hard work of Mr Ellison supported by Ms Hyland and the staff helpers. Battle of the bands at DCIS was ‘on another level’ and we can’t wait for next year,” she shared.

We would like to thank every team member once again, who made both events possible and promise ‘BOTB 25’ to be even bigger and better!