Jeff_I's Blog

"It's pretty sweet that the first time I come to Austin City Limits I get to go for free AND play."

I'd say it's hard to disagree with Josh Campbell's sentiment. The bassist for Homer Hiccolm & the Rocketboys is reflecting on just having played an early afternoon slot at the 2007 Austin City Limits Music Festival. A stellar set and one that wouldn't have existed if it weren't for Dell's The Sound & The Jury competition.

Sound & The Jury took the ages old Battle Of The Bands concept and brought it into the blogosphere, with more than 600 bands from around the world uploading their music for everyone to hear and, ultimately, vote on. As Dell's David Clifton told me, "At the end, the cream rises to the top," and there floating on top of the crop is Homer Hiccolm and the Rocketboys.

"Here's this band from Albilene, Texas," Clifton said "And now they're playing ACL Fest in front of thousands of people."

"It's pretty overwhelming," according to keyboardist Justin Wiseman "Pretty phenomenal, really."

"I've seen so many awesome bands on this (Dell) stage in the past 3 or 4 years I've been going," says guitarist Mitchell Holt "It's just weird to play almost."

Holt isn't exaggerating either, as I've probably been in the same crowd as he, watching Sam Roberts Band, Ghostland Obervatory and the Benevento-Russo Duo in year's past. In fact, just a few hours after the Rocketboys cleared their gear, the Dell Stage was graced by major acts like Peter, Bjorn and John, M.I.A. and The Gotan Project. It also featured sets from Common and The Dececmberists.

The Dell Stage seems more like a launching pad to stardom than a stage.

The Texan 6 piece band had me hooked from note one on Wednesday night. The contest's final 5 bands took the stage at Austin's legendary Antone's. The first finalists, Blue Flashing Light, seemed more intent on mugging for the cameras than playing anything listenable and I could tell I wasn't the only one in the nearly sold out crowd who was worrying about the rest of the night. Enter the Rocketboys to save the day. Their songs feature intricately layered melodies topped coupled with powerful vocals from Brandon Kinder. It all makes for some of the best music I heard all weekend and their tune "Heartbeat" was constantly blasting from our hotel room post-Fest. After their Antone's set, my friends and I left. Partly because of jetlag, but mostly because we knew they would win and we were right.

That night kicked off a whirlwind few days for the Rocketboys (at my count, five shows in four days including multitudes of press obligations) and it never would have happened if it weren't for their friend Jeff. "He's really music savvy and told us we should enter this (Sound & The Jury) contest. He thought we could win", Holt told me.

Holt, who has Boston ties, says the band wasn't as initially confident as their friend but were grateful for his motivation. "I texted him after we won and told him I felt like he should be getting one of these laptops (in addition to playing the fest, Dell also hooked up their winners with laptops)."

If Jeff was plied with free drinks for life from the band I wouldn't be surprised, as all of the guys seem equal parts grateful and gracious at the position they were thrust into. Case in point: On Thursday morning my friends and I stumbled upon Kinder and Wiseman on 6th Street. We introduced ourselves and congratulated them on their Antone's show and their win at no point mentioning I was covering ACL Fest. Flash forward to immediately after their set at ACL. Kinder happened upon me back stage and said, "Hey, Jeff right? How are your friends Dave and Dave?"

Either Kinder has some sort of Rain Main meets Cam Jansen-esque photographic memory OR he's just a good dude in a great band. I'm leaning towards the latter and trust me, it won't be long before you have the names of Homer Hiccolm & The Rocketboys ingrained into your memory.

Homer Hiccolm & the Rocketboys are:

Josh Campbell (bass)
Philip Ellis (drums)
Mitchell Holt (guitar, vocals)
Brandon Kinder (vocals, guitar, piano)
Daniel Wheeler (guitar, aux)
Justin Wiseman (keys)