We are into Round 2 of NYS Music March Madness and our field is down to 32 bands from across New York State! This friendly tournament style competition throughout the month of March, bringing new bands you should know about to your attention.
These are bands you might not know about, but should know about. Recommended for inclusion in our field of 64 by the NYS Music staff, we hit every corner of New York State, from Long Island to Buffalo, The Catskills to the North Country and all points in between, NYS Music March Madness is a great way to discover a new and upcoming band and show your support and love for bands you see often. Established bands who have gained a massive audience are not included in this year’s competition, instead the bands who are on the cusp of greatness are the stars of this year’s March Madness. There was only room for 64 but we made some great choices and picked a wide array of genres to bring to you this year.
We’d like to thank The Hollow Bar and Kitchen, Buffalo Iron Works, Funk n Waffles and The Waterhole for sponsoring a regional bracket this year. These venues represent the best of what New York State has to offer and celebrate music while inviting local and touring bands to perform for growing local scenes across the state.
Second round matchups in the Iron Works region include:
Stellar Young (Indie) vs Funktional Flow (funk n jam)
Blind Owl Band (jamgrass) vs King Buffalo (stoner/psych rock)
Sophistafunk (funk hip/hop) vs Lucky Jukebox Brigade (Indie pop punk)
Sly Fox and the Hustlers (blues funk rock) vs North and South Dakotas (bluegrass/folk/y’allternative)
Funk n Waffles second round matchups are:
Waydown Wailers (roots rock) vs Last Daze (alt)
Castle Creek (blues rock) vs Subsoil (psychedelic hip hop)
Folk Faces (folk jazz) vs Dirty Smile (rock)
Bump (rock) vs Annie In the Water (acoustic rock)
The Hollow Bar and Kitchen region has:
Sprocket (jam) vs Second Trip (rock)
After Earth (metal) vs Let’s Be Leonard (jam)
Mister F (prog jam rock) vs Funknut (funk/soul)
Northern Faces (indie) vs Linear North (garage rock)
The Waterhole region brings together these matchups:
Root Shock (roots reggae) vs Super Killer Robots (rock)
Chris James & Mama G (Ameribeat) vs Unknown Woodsman (funklove)
Space Carnival (slippery disco) vs Big Mean Sound Machine (Afrobeat/dance)
The Lawn Sausages (garagepunkschlockglam) vs Formula 5 (funk jam)
Second Round voting begins at 12 noon EST on Friday, March 11, and closes at midnight on Sunday, March 13. The Third Round begins at 12 noon on Tuesday, March 15 with the remaining 16 teams. Vote now for your favorites and discover some of the great up and coming music that New York State has to offer!
The Skills’ set was driven by the band’s enthusiasm for sharing the stage with a band they listened to throughout the 90s and undoubtedly for the first large show they’ve played. From start to finish the crowd was impressed by a band who made it clear that they were genuinely having fun on stage. After a set of all original tunes, The Skills broke out their own version of “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” which they recently recorded as a single. Though they were the opening act, their performance put them at a level where they could have been mistaken as a co-headliner instead.
Over the past two decades, Gin Blossoms have been a staple in ’90s playlists with their albums New Miserable Experience and Congratulations I’m Sorry peaking high on the charts and each achieving Platinum status. Since the band’s 2002 reunion following a five-year hiatus, Gin Blossoms have recorded two studio albums and continued to tour.
The original Woodstock took place in 1969 in Bethel and became one of the most famous music festivals of all time. There have been two other Woodstock anniversary festivals in the past, Woodstock ’94 in Saugerties and Woodstock ’99, held in Rome, N.Y., which came to a rather disastrous end with rioting, fires and police lines.
