NAMM at Night: Battle of the Corporate Bands and Fashion Show

by Lynne Margolis.

Though Summer NAMM is unquestionably a music gear industry gathering, this year’s Austin show featured some music makers from decidedly unmusical entities – such as investment firms Deloitte and American Century, and a hospital pharmaceutical management company (Houston’s Complete RX) – competing in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum’s seventh annual Fortune Battle of the Corporate Bands.

The third of three regional playoff rounds, the NAMM-cosponsored event was held Saturday night, July 28, at The Hang, the trade show’s party space at the Austin Convention Center. Cheering sections adorned with band T-shirts mingled with curious NAMM-goers who showed up to check out the action. Each band had to have at least 50 percent of its members employed by the company it represented, and they were supposed to be just weekend warriors – no professionals. Each band – or company – pays a $200 entry fee (the money goes to the Rock Hall’s educational programs), plus travel expenses. Two winners from each playoff round, plus a couple of wildcard selections, will participate in the finals October 5 and 6, 2007, at the Rock Hall in Cleveland.

Giant red lava lamps, supplied by cosponsor Lava World International, bubbled on either side of the stage as the six bands played short sets. Three judges – Morgan Ringwald of NAMM, Ed Bailey, vice president of brand development for the Austin City Limits TV show, festival and other enterprises, and this writer. We were asked to simply give each band a score from one to 10; we didn’t have to rank them in typical categories such as stage presence or song selection. Well, we didn’t have to rank them in those categories separately, but we sure had to consider those aspects when delivering our actual scores. And as usual, it wasn’t easy.

The night started with MixOMatic, a four-piece from consumer electronics company Crutchfield. Their schtick was to mash songs like “Purple Haze” with “I am the Walrus” or combine the Doors with Elvis Costello. They were just about what I thought the entire night might be: middle-aged guys indulging their rock 'n' roll fantasies. (Not that there's anything wrong with that; heck, one of the sponsors is Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp.) I will admit we judges were underwhelmed.

That wasn’t the case with Soul Focus, from American Century Investments in Kansas City, Missouri. All but two members of this 11-piece band (including a French horn!) work or worked (two are former emplyees) at the company. Soul Focus made the finals in 2006 with a deep talent pool and some serious funk. This year they took on bold choices such as Tower of Power’s “What is Hip?”, Chicago’s “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”, the Spinners’ “I’ll be Around”, the Dave Mason/Traffic classic, “Feelin’ Alright” and Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish”. On my scoresheet, I noted, “They really could quit their day jobs.”

Soul Focus performs at the Fortune Battle of the Corporate Bands during the 2007 Summer NAMM Show in Austin, Texas. Photo courtesy of NAMM.

Complete RX’s entry was the Complete Wrecks, a younger band that chose tunes like Bad Company’s “Feel Like Makin’ Love”, to which they added the occasional reggae riff. Not bad, but not knockouts. Next up was Trainwreck, sponsored by Bridgeport, Connecticut-based Calzone Case Co. They opened with “Lady Madonna”, then did every single note of Elton John’s epic “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” before segueing into Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”. We were impressed, but could have done without the Billy Joel song, “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”, even though it was a complex, well-executed choice. It looked like they might have a shot – until Deloitte Consulting’s Unrestricted Entity took the stage.

Another large, but tight band with a just-cocky-enough young guitarist, Unrestricted Entity served the Black Crowes’ “Hard to Handle” right off the bat, followed by Counting Crows’ “Rain King”. (As far as we know, no bird fixation was involved.) They earned points for choosing “Long Train Runnin’” from the Doobie Brothers’ still-good era. I could have done without the vocalist’s version of “Baba O’Riley” --which, thankfully, did not contain any attempts to mimic Pete Townshend's windmills. But the eight-piece band totally nailed “Superstition” with a fabulous sax solo.

Members of Unrestricted Entity performing at the Fortune Battle of the Corporate Bands during the 2007 Summer NAMM Show in Austin, Texas. Photo courtesy of NAMM.

By this time, we judges thought we knew who our top two might be. Then we heard Juniper Network’s Full Mesh, which had a repertoire at least partly based in this century, and a loose-but-confident lead singer who did great with the Raconteurs’ “Steady, as She Goes”. He handled Jet, Foo Fighters and Sublime equally well before launching into the almost-inevitable Led Zeppelin/“Rock and Roll” finish (dollars were actually bet that it would come from the last band).

The scoring did not prove as easy as we thought. As last year’s winner, Australia’s Suit Tie Hi-Fi, performed, we compared our ballots, which showed we unanimously picked Soul Focus for first place. Facing a tie for second place, we vacillated for a while before selecting Deloitte’s Unrestricted Entity. They didn’t invite us to the party they had afterward at a local barbecue place, but that’s all right. We’d still vote for ‘em again – in this round. We’ll just have to wait and see how they fare in October.

While the corporate bands were duking it out on the Hanger stage, Tascam, Guitar World, and others, sponsored a get together called Showdown at Stubb's (Austin live music and restaurant venue) that featured music enteratinment and the Coffin Case Fashion Show.

Coffin Case Fashion Show model with Reverend Guitar. Photo by Mary Sledd.

Coffin Case Fashion Show model with Miniature Coffin Case. Photo by Mary Sledd.

Pair of boots at the Coffin Case Fashion show. Photo by Mary Sledd.

Mother Truckers playing at the Showdown at Stubb's. Photo by Mary Sledd.

Shacho Rocks performing at the Showdown at Stubb's. Photo by Mary Sledd.

The Tascam team at the Showdown at Stubb's. Photo by Mary Sledd.

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