Southbound comp for SW bands

South West musicians are being encouraged to enter a competition that could ultimately have them on stage at Southbound this month.

The South by Southbound band competition will see the winning act open the festival, followed by the likes of SAFIA, Peaches and Sticky Fingers, over three days.

Clancy’s Fish Pub’s Tom Fisher said this was the first year the competition had a specific South West focus, with the aim for a local to open the region’s biggest music festival.

“It is a fantastic opportunity to perform on a concert-size stage with amazing production, to play to a huge audience, great networking and promotional opportunity and overall would be a lot of fun and memory for life,” Mr Fisher said.

He said the quality of acts from the South West would make choosing the winner very hard.

“Personally as a musician and promoter who focuses on both the city and south with my work and gigs, I find the quality of South West acts to be very good, with some amazing musos I have seen and booked,” Mr Fisher said.

“With the down-south lifestyle there can be a reluctance to push themselves and gigs out of the area and leave the surf behind, so this could really open some doors for the artists down there.”

Mr Fisher said there had been a great response already and said it would be tough to choose the contestants as there had been many great applications coming through.

The South by Southbound Band Comp is open to unsigned artists living in the South West.

Contestants can head to southboundfestival.com.au/get-involved/southbysouth bound/ to enter, with heats at Clancy’s Fish Pub on December 10 and 17 and the final on December 23.