Emergenza

Knuckles of Frisco on Emergenza Benelux 2011

Emegenza is an international music festival for up-and-coming bands, with concerts in more than 150 cities around the world.

History

The first Emergenza Festival was the result of an idea of a group of musician friends in 1991. In 1992, the first ever Emergenza Festival in Rome was held to 245 people. Five months later, the audience grew to 3,000. Likewise, the increase of participants yielded in the festival's first ever compilation album. From 1993 to 2003 Emergenza recorded 54 compilation albums, both live and studio works. In 1995 the Emergenza logo was created.

On January 7, 1996, The Gibus Club in Paris hosted the first ever Emergenza concert outside of Italy. 113 bands enrolled, expanding the presumed 7 gigs to 23 gigs. The following year the festival expanded to England where 2,500 people attended the first Emergenza European Final at London Astoria. In 1998, Emergenza was invited to take place at more exclusive clubs.  

In 2001, the festival crossed over the Atlantic Ocean to Montreal. The Canadian region of Quebec becomes the first of many North American locations. In 2002 five cities host Emergenza and by 2003 over 700 bands play 190 gigs in the first ever U.S. season. The following year, 2,876 musicians take part in the U.S. to join 16,000 European and Canadian counterparts. In 2005, 70 North American cities take part in the festival, a huge jump from just four years before.

The Emergenza Festival spread to both Japan and Australia in 2006 with shows in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Tokyo. Later, Perth and Brisbane were included to Australia's list. Between 2008-2010, The Czech Republic, Slovenia, Russia, and New Zealand began participating in the festival. Emergenza’s next market priorities are China and Korea.

How It Works

After enrollment, bands begin to compete in shows organized in local venues. Every band has a 30-minute set. There are elimination rounds throughout the season, which provide bands the opportunity to advance and play in clubs with international reputation.

The audience selects all the bands going through the preliminary rounds. The vote is open to the crowd and they vote as many times as they like for as many bands as they like. All bands, musicians and fans alike will see the open vote. In the case of regional and final concerts, there is a professional panel of judges.

All national winners play at the international final in Rothenburg, Germany at the Taubertal Open Air Festival. The trip, accommodations, and local transportation is fully paid by Emergenza festival. During the 3 days of the Taubertal Open air Festival, the finalist bands have the chance to share the bill and the stage with many successful and famous bands and play in front of 30,000 people.

The "Best Band in the World," as voted by the jury during the International Final, will then get a full production, a tour, music instruments, and other technical material. The finalist band members voted as "Best Drummer", "Best Singer", "Best Guitarist" and "Best Bassist" also get instruments and other technical material from the festival sponsors.

International Finals Throughout the Years

International Finalists 2000

Year	Finalist Band	City/Country	Place	Prize	Band Photo
2000	ALTZHEIMA	Karlsruhe, Germany	N/A
2000	ZEN	Rome, Italy	N/A
2000	BIG BANG	Paris, France	N/A
2000	L.D.C.	Luxembourg, Luxembourg	N/A
2000	THE OUJIA PROBLEM	London, UK	N/A

International Finalists 2001

Year	Finalist Band	City/Country	Place	Prize	Band Photo
2001	WILLOWTREE	Stockholm, Sweden	1	WINNING BAND
2001	SINCERE	Brussels, Belgium	2	2ND BAND
2001	MORRIS	Copenhagen, Denmark	3	BEST SONG
2001	SORE!	Hamburg, Germany	4	BEST GUITAR
2001	MINDJUICE	Munich, Germany	5	BEST GUITAR
2001	ATHENAIS	Montpellier, France	6	BEST SINGER
2001	PRIMATE POOKIE	Hannover, Germany	7	BEST SHOW
2001	THAIBNAKKEL	Frankfurt, Germany	8	BEST BASS
2001	DEADLINE	Munich, Germany	9
2001	TIGER FERNANDEZ	Luxembourg, Luxembourg	10
2001	13 AMPSUN	London, UK	11
2001	BIG-TINGSAGWAN	Paris, France	12	BEST DRUMMER
2001	FREE FALL	Dortmund, Germany	13	BEST BASS
2001	330 MLE	Vienna, Austria	14
2001	ZERO TRE	Florence, Italy	15
2001	REARVIEW	Cologne, Germany	16
2001	FROZEN PEAS	Zurich, Switzerland	17
2001	INTRODUSCO	Milan, Italy	18
2001	VARIETY	Karlsruhe, Germany	19	BEST BASS PLAYER
2001	DREW	Rome, Italy	20

International Finalists 2002

Year	Finalist Band	City/Country	Place	Prize	Band Photo
2002	MUNSHY	Paris, France	1	WINNING BAND, BEST GUITAR, BEST DRUMMER, BEST SINGER, BEST LIVE SHOW
2002	KEROSIN	Berlin, Germany	2	2ND BAND, 3RD BEST DRUMMER
2002	STONE PARK	Stockholm, Sweden	3	2ND BEST DRUMMER, BEST ORIGINAL SONG
2002	DIRECT LINE	Montreal, Canada	4	THIRD BEST DRUMMER
2002	ORANGE MARMALADE	Zurich, Switzerland	5
2002	NERS	Bologna, Italy	6
2002	UNCLE ROCK	London, UK	7	SECOND BEST GUITAR
2002	THE GRAND	Copenhagen, Denmark	8
2002	VERDRENGUNGSKUNTLER	Hamburg, Germany	9
2002	JAY KOD	Brussels, Belgium	10	BEST BASS
2002	ITCHY POOPKIDZ	Mannheim, Germany	11
2002	DESERT RAIN	Dortmund, Germany	12

International Finalists 2003

Year	Finalist Band	City/Country	Place	Prize	Band Photo
2003	NERVOUS NELLIE	Stockholm, Sweden	1	WINNING BAND
2003	DEAD BY CHOCOLATE	Bologna, Italy	2	2ND BAND, SECOND BEST GUITAR
2003	LA SUITE MOSQUITO	Barcelona, Spain	3
2003	NO RADICAL CHANGE	Florence, Italy	4	THIRD BEST DRUMMER
2003	MUFF	Hannover, Germany	5
2003	SIRUPOP	Vienna, Austria	6
2003	SLAVE TO THE SQUAREWAVE	Toronto, Canada	7	SECOND BEST GUITAR
2003	TOUPÈ	Southampton, UK	8	BEST BASS, SECOND BEST DRUMMER, BEST SHOW, BEST ARRANGEMENTS
2003	KLEM	Paris, France	9	BEST DRUMMER
2003	SUTRAPUMO	Copenhagen, Denmark	10
2003	ELIKAN DEW	Berlin, Germany	11
2003	INBORN	Luxembourg, Luxembourg	12
2003	REVOC ON	Milan, Italy	13
2003	JOVE	London, UK	14	BEST SINGER
2003	BIST	Munich, Germany	15	BEST BASS PLAYER, BEST KEYBOARD PLAYER
2003	INERTIA	Rome, Italy	16
2003	BROKEN PICTURES	Montreal, Canada	17
2003	FLANGERS	Montpellier, France	18
2003	BSK	Zurich, Switzerland	19
2003	DUKE	Bordeaux, France	20	BEST GUITAR, SECOND BEST BASS
2003	CRAVE	Madrid, Spain	21
2003	SLEEPING SUN	Ruhrgebiet, Germany	22	SECOND BEST GUITAR
2003	TOADSTOOL	Genoa, Italy	23
2003	MAHOUT OPERATOR	Frankfurt, Germany	24
2003	ADRENALIN	Cologne, Germany	25
2003	MAECHTIG	Hamburg, Germany	26

International Finalists 2004

Year	Finalist Band	City/Country	Place	Prize	Band Photo
2004	MR BROWN	Hamburg, Germany	1	WINNING BAND
2004	LEXXI	Glasgow, UK	2	2ND BAND
2004	LES BREAUVACHONS	Paris, France	3	BEST ACOUSTIC GUITAR PLAYER, BEST VISUAL & SOUND PERFORMANCE
2004	FLUTTR	Boston, USA	4
2004	PETE MÖSS	Montreal, Canada	5	BEST RHYTHM GUITAR PLAYER, BEST SINGER
2004	IDIOTERNE	Madrid, Spain	6	BEST DRUMMER
2004	GLASSHOUSE	Philadelphia, UK	7
2004	EINSHOCH6	Munich, Germany	8
2004	LOST PROPERTY OFFICE	Rome, Italy	9
2004	MELLOPHONE	Århus, Denmark	10	BEST ORIGINAL SONG
2004	RUNNING AGAINST RADAR	Toronto, Canada	11
2004	GRANVISTA	Gothenburg, Sweden	12
2004	ADDICTED	Milan, Italy	13
2004	FEVERTREE	Bournemouth, UK	14	BEST GUITAR PLAYER
2004	EGO	Barcelona, Spain	15	BEST BASS PLAYER, BEST KEYBOARD PLAYER
2004	ALTA PRESSIONE	Florence, Italy	16
2004	MË SAGES	Paris, France	17
2004	PRETTY OVERDOSED	Vienna, Austria	18	BEST DRUMMER
2004	ELFISH	Zurich, Switzerland	19	BEST BASS PLAYER
2004	KLARTEXT	Berlin, Germany	20

International Finalists 2005

Year	Finalist Band	City/Country	Place	Prize	Band Photo
2005	ROCK HARD POWER SPRAY	Århus, Denmark	1	WINNING BAND, BEST ELECTRIC GUITAR PLAYER
2005	NATIVES OF THE NEW DAWN	Detroit, USA	2	2ND BAND, BEST SINGER, BEST PERFORMANCE, BEST GUITAR ARRANGEMENTS
2005	LIK…ID	Paris, France	3
2005	ECHOVALVE	Chicago, USA	4	BEST BASS PLAYER
2005	KIMONO	Berlin, Germany	5
2005	INDRA	Manchester, UK	6	BEST DRUMMER
2005	PUMMEL	Edinburgh, UK	7
2005	THE NAIVES	Madrid, Spain	8	BEST ORIGINAL SONG
2005	BAND CALLED PHARISEE	Chicago, USA	9
2005	SIXTEENTH SOLID SPREAD	Barcelona, Spain	10	BEST RHYTHM GUITAR
2005	STONEFIELD	Cologne, Germany	11
2005	THE PERFECT GUARDAROBA	Ancona, Italy	12
2005	BLUSH	Basel, Switzerland	13	BEST ACOUSTIC GUITAR PLAYER
2005	SEVEN STORIES	Montreal, Canada	14
2005	SKA'N'SKA	Stockholm, Sweden	15
2005	KILL THE NICE GUY	Florence, Italy	16
2005	LAZURIGHT	Lindau, Germany	17
2005	FAST FRIDAY	Luxembourg, Luxembourg	18
2005	HINDOSLEM	Vienna, Austria	19	BEST BASS PLAYER
2005	CHUGGA-CHUGGA	Paris, France	20

International Finalists 2006

Year	Finalist Band	City/Country	Place	Prize	Band Photo
2006	THE SESSIONS	Vancouver, Canada	1	WINNING BAND
2006	THE NEW BRAND	Copenhagen, Denmark	2	2ND BAND, BEST ORIGINAL SONG, 2ND MENTIONED DRUMMER
2006	MY BABY WANTS TO EAT YOUR PUSSY	Munich, Germany	3	3RD BEST BAND, BEST DRUMMER, BEST SINGER, 2ND BEST BASS PLAYER, BEST RHYTHM SECTION, BEST ELECTRIC GUITAR PLAYER
2006	BERTO RAMON	Chicago, USA	4	BEST VISUAL & SOUND PERFORMANCE
2006	CONCUBINE	Tilburg, Netherlands	5	MENTIONED DRUMMER
2006	SUJETO K	Valencia, Spain	6	MENTIONED BASS PLAYER, 2ND MENTIONED GUITAR PLAYER
2006	THE ECHOES	Dallas, USA	7
2006	VERSE OF TREK	Bordeaux, France	8
2006	SON	Cologne, Germany	9
2006	HUMANO	Granada, Spain	10
2006	BAWDY FESTIVAL	Paris, France	11
2006	THE GREED	Stockholm, Sweden	12	BEST RHYTHM GUITAR, 2ND BEST DRUMMER, BEST GUITAR ARRANGEMENTS, MENTIONED GUITAR PLAYER
2006	CABIRIA	Milan, Italy	13
2006	CAPTAIN CUTTHROAT	Boston, USA	14	2ND BEST DRUMMER
2006	LAMENT	Leipzig, Germany	15	BEST ACOUSTIC GUITAR PLAYER
2006	DEAR CATASTROPHE	Dublin, Ireland	16
2006	DAILY BLOWJOB	Florence, Italy	17
2006	ILL SYSTEM	London, UK	18
2006	VILE CONUNDRUM	San Francisco, USA	19	BEST BASS PLAYER
2006	KID AT THE BACK	London, UK	20
2006	FLASHMOB	Basel, Switzerland	21

International Finalists 2007

Year	Finalist Band	City/Country	Place	Prize	Band Photo
2007	FIRE FLIES	New York, USA	1	WINNING BAND, BEST DRUMMER
2007	THE NEW HOTNESS	Los Angeles, USA	2	2ND BAND
2007	FÜR KERSTINS LETZTE	Munich, Germany	3	3RD BAND
2007	LA TÊTE AILLEURS	Paris, France	4
2007	MCGOOZER	London, UK	5	BEST SINGER
2007	PARK AVENUE	Milan, Italy	6	BEST GUITAR PLAYER
2007	THE 101's	Tilburg, Netherlands	7	2ND BEST DRUMMER
2007	MONOREV	Bern, Switzerland	8
2007	THALAMUS	Stockholm, Sweden	9	BEST BASS PLAYER
2007	SUNSET DRIVERS	Montreal, Canada	10	MENTIONED GUITAR PLAYER, MENTIONED BASS PLAYER
2007	THE JERKS	Stuttgart, Germany	11
2007	FURYKANE	Paris, France	12
2007	METRO VOX	Chicago, USA	13
2007	MIRRAMAZE	Oslo, Norway	14
2007	NO ONE CARES	Barcelona, Spain	15
2007	4TH STREET TRAFFIC	London, UK	16
2007	STILLROOM	Dublin, Ireland	17

International Finalists 2008

Year	Finalist Band	City/Country	Place	Prize	Band Photo
2008	GLORIA CYCLES	Brighton, UK	1	WINNING BAND
2008	THE MAD TRIST	Maastricht, Netherlands	2	2ND BAND
2008	A MATCH FOR THE CURIOUS	Toronto, Canada	3	2ND BEST GUITAR PLAYER
2008	THE NOVELESTILO	Tokyo, Japan	4	BEST SINGER
2008	THE VANDOLLS	Sydney, Australia	5	BEST GUITAR PLAYER
2008	TEMPLE HILL	New York, USA	6	BEST BASS PLAYER
2008	TAKO LAKO	Copenhagen, Denmark	7	BEST DRUMMER
2008	CROSSED KEYS	Los Angeles, USA	8
2008	THE KING SIZE	Treviso, Italy	9
2008	NAMASTE	Paris, France	10
2008	THE RAN	Helsinki, Finland	11
2008	TASH	Stuttgart, Germany	12
2008	DIE FISCHER	Munich, Germany	13
2008	DROWNING FATE	Frankfurt, Germany	14	2ND BEST DRUMMER
2008	AERIAL VIEW	Nancy, France	15
2008	PXR	Budapest, Hungary	16
2008	KATARSICK	Barcelona, Spain	17
2008	DIZASTRO	Chicago, USA	18

International Finalists 2009

Year	Finalist Band	City/Country	Place	Prize	Band Photo
2009	KID GALAHAD	Gothenburg, Sweden	1	WINNING BAND, BEST DRUMMER
2009	WERNER KRAUSS	Leipzig, Germany	2	2ND BAND
2009	YASEEDEE	Ferrara, Italy	3	BEST BASS PLAYER
2009	THE WALLPAPERS	Paris, France	4
2009	THE REEFS	Melbourne, Australia	5	2ND BEST DRUMMER
2009	GURU GURU	Tokyo, Japan	6	2ND BEST GUITAR PLAYER
2009	THE EXCESS	Munich, Germany	7	BEST GUITAR PLAYER
2009	BACK POCKET MEMORY	Los Angeles, USA	8
2009	LILY SPARKS	New York, USA	9	BEST SINGER
2009	YEAR OF THE DOG	Helsinki, Finland	10
2009	THE VLEGELS	Tilburg, Netherlands	11
2009	KAODIC	Montreal, Canada	12	2ND BEST BASS PLAYER
2009	LEET	Hamburg, Germany	13
2009	THE WINTER KICKS	London, UK	14
2009	GORODSKAYA KULTURA	Moscow, Russia	15
2009	TBA	Prague, Czech Republic	16
2009	CLOCK N' WORKS	Paris, France	17
2009	SUSAN'S RED NIPPLES	Barcelona, Spain	18

International Finalists 2010

Year	Finalist Band	City/Country	Place	Prize	Band Photo
2010	HANATOCHIRURAN	Tokyo, Japan	1	WINNING BAND, 2ND BEST BASS PLAYER
2010	WALDO & MARSHA	Århus, Denmark	2	2ND BAND
2010	BARTON FINK	Montreal, Canada	3	2ND BEST DRUMMER
2010	MODERN ERROR	Sydney, Australia	4
2010	PHASES CACHÉES	Paris, France	5	BEST BASS PLAYER
2010	FACTORY BRAINS	Stockholm, Sweden	6	BEST GUITAR PLAYER
2010	WASTE	Bayreuth, Germany	7	BEST SINGER
2010	POP-PORN	Prague, Czech Republic	8	BEST DRUMMER
2010	SIR JAMES	Tilburg, Netherlands	9	2ND BEST GUITAR PLAYER
2010	MANOLO PANIC	Zurich, Switzerland	10
2010	C.A.N.	Paris, France	11
2010	STEPANOV'S STARLINGS	St. Petersburg, Russia	12
2010	BROTHORST	Oberursel, Germany	13
2010	STARDUST	Florence, Italy	14
2010	ENVY ASSURED	London, UK	15
2010	THE MELILLO BROTHERS	New York, USA	16
2010	WEDNESDAY FALL	Barcelona, Spain	17

International Finalists 2011

Year	Finalist Band	City/Country	Place	Prize	Band Photo
2011	Envy	Oslo, Norway	1	Winning Band
2011	LSD ON CIA	Copenhagen. Denmark	2	2ND BAND, BEST BASS PLAYER
2011	RUBY CUBE	Toulouse, France	3	BEST GUITAR PLAYER
2011	S.H.E.	Tokyo, Japan	4
2011	LEBELLE	Melbourne, Australia	5	WOODBRASS PRIZE
2011	EMMECOSTA	Gotenborg, Sweden	6	2ND BEST DRUMMER
2011	CAFE JAZZ	Dresden, Germany	5	BEST DRUMMER
2011	COURS TOUJOURS	Montreal, Canada	8	BEST SINGER
2011	RAG DOLLS	Basilea, Switzerland	9
2011	NO COMMENT BAND	Minsk, Belarus	10	2ND BEST BASS PLAYER
2011	DOWNHILL	Bratislava, Slovakia	11
2011	FILTHY WHISKY	London. UK	12
2011	MATHIEU NEIL	Paris, France	13
2011	KNUCKLES OF FRISCO	Tilburg, Netherlands	14	2ND BEST GUITAR PLAYER
2011	KEROUAC	Dublin, Ireland	15
2011	PROFESSOR GRABOWSKI	Munich, Germany	16
2011	CYRENE	Barcelona, Spain	17
2011	F.O.O.S.	Turin, Italy	18

Showcase Tour

The Best of Emergenza Showcase Tour is a special series of shows featuring the top winners of the Emergenza Festival who are taken on tour around North America and Europe. The B.E.S.T. showcases are incorporated into the Emergenza shows and the selected bands play at the end of the each concert night. In 2007, the BEST Tour had slots of shows at the South By Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas.

Criticism

Emergenza is a scouting agency (in the years signed several bands to Sony Music, Warner Bros. Virgin etc.), a concert organizer, an artist development agency but also a for-profit company that sustains its operations through a revenue model, so it is not a local community no-profit amateur organization. A $70 fully refundable fee is required to enter, however bands receive profit from ticket sales if they sell over 35 of their given tickets in the initial rounds, a task some bands may have trouble completing (though not obliged to do so), albeit it is the same format as most promoters apply in most venues around the world. Some Bands cliam that in earlier rounds the open voting system may be more of a popularity contest than a true representation of talent but the audience do and can vote for all bands if they wished. Some bands who take part see a more sensible system in using judges throughout all stages, with judges of "higher importance" being used through further stages. A large amount of shows are in 21 and over establishments such as Arlene's grocery in NYC and The Double Door in Chicago.

Details

Some people say that Emergenza by paying the bands and sharing the revenues with the musicians (and therefore taking some of their profits), is in a way, a 'pay to play' operation. Emergenza does take some profit by organizing the events. Based on an analysis of various forums and interviews, a lack of quality in organization may has been noted in 11 concerts (Out of 1200 concerts produced every year so it's 1% of the total) over the last 21 years (during these 21 years, Emergenza produced a total of 18,439 shows) - five in the UK, three in the USA, and one in each Italy, France and Canada. During these shows the sound apparently was not run well and some equipment was sub-par, including a few microphones cutting in and out and according to one band in Buffalo (N.Y.) where they complained about a low quality PA systems for their gig on February 8, 2008. This however is attributed to the clubs and the team working in it rather than the competition itself. Even if, It may arguable that sound is always and mostly in the hands of the venues and the people who work in it. It is also understandable that If an organization hires a venue and its sound, they would expect everything in perfect working order but in this specific case, apparently, it wasn't so.

The controversy surrounding the Buffalo show is based on the notion that originally, there were to be three shows in a row, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Due to lack of communication on the venue part, the Thursday and Saturday shows were cancelled, with all bands performing Friday, which only totaled six. The required technical meetings were moved from the Wednesday before the show to the Thursday with mail and text message notification to all bands, However one band was traveling nearly two hours to make the meetings because they didn't read the messages sent to them. The bands were informed that instead of Emergenze taking the top 3 bands to participate in Buffalo at a later date, that night would be the local final with the winner going to New York City to perform in the national final. The controversy with this is that the local finals are supposed to be judged, with the first stage being fan voted. Now, the fan votes determine who went to the national final, a different procedure with the last band of the night, who sold the most tickets to friends, winning.

In 2008, there was a talk about the NY finals held at Webster Hall. The bands had been first informed that the finals for the NY portion of the festival would be held at Webster Hall in the main ballroom (this is indeed what happened in 2005-2006-2007-2009 and 2010), and that the winner would move on to compete in Germany. However, few days before the show both Emergenza Organization and the bands been informed by the Webster hall Management that the concert needed to be moved into another room which had a maximum capacity of 600 people. Also, one person claim there were one exposed electrical wire, some unfinished plumbing, no complete sheetrock on the ceiling (just exposed insulation), and a fire alarm pull station that seemed to be unattached to the wall and dangling from the ceiling. The Webster hall management has declare the Venue was in a perfect shape and usable for the gig. After the Emergenza Management complained, the show was, in any case, moved upstairs to a larger room (not the main ballroom), with a maximum capacity of 800 people. This however was in the hands of the Webster Hall who after repeated complaints from the Emergenza staff they still allowed the concert to go on. 11 bands out of 12 declared to be happy with the production. The winning Band Temple Hill went to Germany and Played at the Taubertal Festival winning the prize for the best bassist.

Another concern that is brought forth by 59 bands (51 American and eight Canadian) is the age limit for musicians in some cities - which limits their participation. In many US states and Canadian provinces there are restrictions on musicians, audience or both, who may enter a given venue, be it 18, 19 or 21 years of age. The organization does not deny this claim and justifies it by putting forth the fact that it cannot produce concerts which do not conform to the laws of the region where they are taking place. Upon an analysis of venues which hosted the festival, 49 out of 327 are bound by a government restriction on age of both musicians and audiences and this is totally in control of the owners of the licenses. Furthermore, most "name" clubs in North America are 21+ venues. Most musicians aspire to play in a famous club therefore everybody is bound by alcohol laws and licences and Emergenza has little or no power in regards to this.

• Emergenza Music Festival
• [1] - The Standard
• Knuckles of Frisco
• Emergenza 2004 on The Mag
• Taubertal Festival
• [2] - Australian Magazine about Emergenza 1
• [3] - Australian Magazine about Emergenza 2
• [4] - You Tube Interview with Emergenza Band