November 20th - 2003
SPOUT - THE TRAP
Academy of Recording Arts
Grammy Showcase Finals
Nashville, TN

Well!  The time had come!.  Out of over 600 artists, Spout had been chosen for the final 7.  We had played in front of a panel of judges earlier in the month to narrow it from 15 bands to 7.  Now you're pretty much representing your genre.  We were the only modern rock act now.  We were up against a country act, a rap-rock act, acoustic folk, and funk/rap etc..  
So yeah..   maybe you're thinking....  how in the hell do you compare a rock band and a polka -funk rap-country artist?

Well, getting 7 bands to sell over 1000 tickets at $10 per ticket is a great way to start.

The crowd was massive.  The place was packed. This is the place that I just saw Staind play recently.  Also, Bob Dylan played there early that year.

Anyway, the night starts off.... they fade the music from soft to heavy.  The country acoustic artists are first.  The crowd is pretty tame.  All artists are amazingly talented!  It was great company to be in.  The country girl's guitar player was Dan Baird, for Christ's sake..  he was the lead singer of the Georgia Satellites (ie.." Keep you Hands To Yourself"). 

Finally, it's our turn.
We were the first artist to actually have people not sitting down. We had a nice little group up there at the front of the stage rocking out with us.  We even had the producers of the event come up and ask us what they should do about it, because he didn't know if it would block the judges' views.  We told him to let everyone do what they wanted and see what happens.

We had a blast rocking out for a couple songs and it was over before we knew it.   Shortly after stepping off stage, we were approached by personal and business managers from the crowd handing us their card. 

The outcome?
The last band of the night took the cake.
They were good.  It was a booty shaking funk rap winner.
Turns out the people who won last year were of the same genre.  The winning artist gets to get back on stage and play another song.  Since they were the last band, there was no set up, change-out, or down time needed...they were able to simply pick the mic back up and start again!

It was a fun experience and looks great on a bio.
hey... we made it to the finals. 
and thanks to everyone who paid $10 for a ticket to see us play for 10 minutes! :)

Back