Battle of the Bands Success

Battle of the Bands was a huge success! Here's Caleb's article for the LaSalle Post on the event! Thank you to all our volunteers who helped run the event, to the judges who showed up and to our audience who made all of this possible.

The Judges Panel

Talking Violet

Millenia

Among the Rest

Midnight Metro

The Stroll

Abide by the Few

Local bands hit the stage in some friendly competition last week at True Reflections first annual Battle of the Bands.

The event, held at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 255, brought in a crowd of over 200 and raised more than $2,619 towards cancer awareness and research locally. From the minute people walked in, they were completely captivated by the music and by the talent. A lot of walk-ins stayed the whole night as well to see the results.

The six bands playing were Midnight Metro who won the battle, Millenia who won the people’s choice award, Talking Violet, The Stroll, Abide by the Few and Among the Rest. All upcoming local talent from LaSalle, Windsor and Essex County.

One of the judges for the night and LaSalle town councilor, Jeff Renaud, said for a first annual event he thought it went well.

“The local talent impressed me,” said Renaud. “There were quite a few stand out musicians and all the groups meshed and fired in all cylinders.”

Renaud said the community made a positive impact as well with the event and they made contribution count.

“They made a stand and it was very generous,” said Renaud amount the total amount raised. “I, personally, would give my fortune to get rid of [cancer].”

Renaud said his favourite part of the night was one of Midnight Metro’s songs when their lead guitarist rang out a blistering solo over a tight rhythm section.

“I tool forward to working with True Refletions and Jeff Burrows to make this event twice as successful next year,” said Renaud.

The other judges included Miss Galaxy Canada 2016, Jillian Parent, lead vocalist for local metal band Among Titans, Nathan Workman and drummer for the Tea Party and Crash Karma, Jeff Burrows.

Founder of True Reflections and local celebrity, Hailey Trealout, helping these cancer fighters a step closer to being cancer, even if it’s a small step, is a privilege.

“When someone is diagnosed with cancer, everyone they know is diagnosed too,” said Trealout.

Trealout said her family was recently hit with a cancer diagnosis in her grandfather, Barry Kovac. She said the event was very close to her heart as she was planning out the details of the event and making it as big as possible.

One of the things that was asked of the musicians and audience for the night was to write the names of people in individuals lives who had been affected by cancer on a name tag and to where it in honour of their fight. Barry was the name on Trealout’s name tag.

“We’ve been given a peace of mind and it was all because of the support we received from one another and from the amazing medical team who brought us to the cancer free lives we knew before,” said Trealout. “The event was a good opportunity for the musicians and the audience to learn more about how much cancer can affect people.”

Trealout said she was very happy with the event turnout and she already has a lot of ideas on how to improve for next year.