The Three Wise Monkey’s kicked off Independent Venue Week 2024 with the Battle of the Bands event where Rockstar's of the future battled it out and rocked the stage with their talent which gave them an opportunity to interact with a live, enthusiastic audience. And I've had the pleasure of interviewing the special guest panel Pet Needs (a Colchester based punk band). 

The Venue was situated at the top of three wise monkeys, with eager audience members queuing up ready for an electric night of musical showdown. Heat one starred up-and-coming talent from local bands including Butterfly Handshake, The Four Humours, Planet Nine, Just Noise, Polarcat and the Ooh Las Las. By creating the battle of the bands, it allows young people to indulge in their own self-expression and give them their own platform as “Colchester needs great bands to keep the scene alive, and without sounding cliché, the young'uns are the future!”. 

Over the course of the night each of the 12 bands played two songs each ranging from a rendition of Skyfall by Adele to I Wanna Be Your Dog by The Stooges. Each act was welcomed onto the stage with a sea of enthusiastic fans, with fists pumping and voices singing along to every word. A significant moment of the night was how supportive the crowd was at this local scene and “bands who played the first day returning to support fellow artists the second day”. Another highlight of this fantastic night was that the ITV News came along which “added prestige to the event” and added lots of great publicity for the talent of Colchester. 

Last year the notorious band who came out on top was The Strays who have taken this opportunity and “blossomed into absolute rock stars since”, and as a reward they won a recording at Black Cactus Studio but The Battle of The Bands this year is still ongoing so it's all to play for.