Guitarist and lead vocalist Colin Hanus, left and guitarist Stephen Thompson of the band “Sky Deck” perform at The Bitter Jester Music Fest held at Port Clinton Square in Highland Park. PHOTOGRAPHY BY GEORGE PFOERTNER/JWC MEDIA
HIGHLAND PARK – Nicolas DeGrazia, founder/producer of the Bitter Jester Music Festival, will tell you that it’s not about the combined total of $32,000 in cash and prizes that the bands, as well as members of the audience, are eligible to win at the Grand Finale Concert on July 4: “The real prize is the networking, comradery, and getting to socialize and interact with their peers,” said DeGrazia, who recently rebranded the Bitter Jester Battle of the Bands to the 12th Annual Bitter Jester Music Festival.
“The main reason (for the name change) is that we want to get more people to come to the shows, and the quality of the music is such that we’ve surpassed the stigma of Battle of the Bands, which for many people elicits an image of bands that would be playing in a gymnasium,” he said.
Preliminary competitions for the 12th Annual event were held over four Fridays from June 2 through June 23 in downtown Highland Park’s Port Clinton Square, with one preliminary winner selected each week by a team of five professional musician judges.
The musicians come from all over Illinois and Wisconsin, and at least one member of each band has to be an incoming, current or recently graduated high school senior.
The event is produced by the Bitter Jester Foundation for the Arts, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity, a sister organization to the eight-time Emmy award-winning Bitter Jester Studios. The Battle of the Bands is made possible by generous support from the City of Highland Park.
DeGrazia explained that BJFA selected four additional Wild Card Bands (bands that performed during the preliminaries but didn’t win), and these eight bands will compete in the Grand Finale Concert on July 4.
Audience members record the performance as Sam Poll takes to the drums and guest saxophone player Michael Brook rock on at The Bitter Jester Music Fest held at Port Clinton Square in Highland Park.
“One thing to note is that while the musicians are young, the audiences are not,” said DeGrazia. “We are attracting passersby and families like any other great festival.”
DeGrazia is excited about some of the new prizes this year. For example, Periscope Post & Audio is located on the Cinespace Studios Chicago lot where Chicago Fire, and Chicago PD and Empire are filmed. Periscope Post does all of the audio for these shows and the music recording for Empire on Fox.
“Not only will co-owner Michael Nehs be a judge for the music festival on July Fourth, but Periscope is donating a full day of studio recording time to one of our top bands valued at about $3,500,” said DeGrazia.
DeGrazia explained that for the first time at the July 4th Grand Finale, judges will be awarding MVP awards to individual musicians. The Music Gallery in Highwood will be generously donating a brand-new Fender Stratocaster guitar (valued at about $800) to an MVP guitar player, and one of the judges, Suede from Darwin Records, has donated a $700 Beyerdynamics vocal microphone as an MVP Vocalist Award.
“We will be singling out individual outstanding musicians, because I’ve noticed in the past sometimes there’s a great guitar player or a great singer and the band may not make it to the final round, but that individual should be identified and celebrated,” said DeGrazia. “And what better way to award a musician for good musicianship then giving him or her a brand-new instrument?”
DeGrazia has enjoyed staying in touch with many of the bands throughout the years, “I’ve heard from repeat participants that bands they met from last year or two years ago, met up again or they’re writing music together and that is so cool,” he said.
Bassist Jack Slania of the band “80HD” at The Bitter Jester Music Fest held at Port Clinton Square in Highland Park.
DeGrazia said the winning band from last year, Caroline & the Priority wasn’t able to compete this year, because their lead singer had a breakout solo career, so “they had to hang up their competition hats.” Caroline Baran, 16, now goes by the name ‘KÆYRA, and many of this year’s participants are even younger.
Some examples include: two Wild Card Bands The Magnifiers, with four siblings ranging in age from 11 to 17 and Stellar West, 12 to 16 years of age.
Additionally, the Showcase Band Skydeck includes one 15 and four 16-year-0lds, while the Featured Artist No Results; two sisters from Highland Park, ages 14 and 16, will play while the judges deliberate.
The June 23 winners who will be competing in the Fourth of July Grand Finale include:
- LiveWire ( North Aurora, Batavia, Geneva, South Elgin and St. Charles),
- Audiophilia (last year’s runners-up Williams Bay, Lake Geneva, Eau Claire, Waterford, Elkhorn, Wisconsin
- The Child of Eve (St. Charles)
- Surround Sound (Madison, Middleton, Waunakee, Wisconsin)
Wild Card Selections:
- The Magnifiers (Naperville)
- Elise and the Police (Mount Prospect, Arlington Heights, and Skokie)
- Eminence (Oshkosh, Appleton, Menasha, Wisconsin)
- Stellar West (Romeoville, Naperville, Plainfield)
Showcase Bands: (non-competing bands that will open the concert)
- The Browns (Palos Heights, Hickory Hills, Worth)
- Skydeck (Northbrook, Skokie, Winnetka, Highland Park)
Fourth Fest Band:
- Double Identity (LaGrange Highlands, LaGrange)
The Grand Finale Concert will be held on July 4 at 4 p.m. at Wolters Field, 1080 Park Avenue West, featuring the Louie B. Fresh Food Truck and fireworks. There will be raffle prizes, face painting and a strolling magician.
The celebration will continue on September 3 at Navy Pier when select bands will perform at Miller Lite Beer Garden at Navy Pier.