Three Utah bands will battle it out to win viewers votes on ABC 4’s TV show “Good Things Utah” Monday through Wednesday in a contest hosted by Utah’s Next and sponsored by Highway Records.

The three finalists, Auburn, Finally Friday and Justin Williams, have made it to the last round of the contest after hundreds of hopeful bands sent in their demo tapes. Of those hundreds of tapes 30 were selected to be quarter-finalists.

Judges then chose 10 semi-finalists, all of which played in the N. Eldon Tanner Building April 8. With the combined ratings of the judges and audience, three artists were selected to compete on television.

Jon Dayton, general manager of Highway Records, said the narrowing down process was far more difficult than they had imagined.

“The judges had an incredibly difficult decision,” Dayton said. “We were not expecting such an amazing concert with such phenomenal performances from such young musicians.”

Krista Maurer, director of publicity and media relations for Shadow Mountain Music Group, said the process of whittling down musicians turned out to be much more difficult than she had anticipated.

“We were absolutely floored with the amount of talent in the submissions we received,” she said.

Maurer said the purpose of this competition is to encourage the local music scene, as well as to scout out talent for her company’s label. She said it provides songwriters and musicians with the opportunity to cultivate their talents by giving them the performing experience and exposure they need.

“We feel there’s incredible value in doing competitions like this,” Maurer said.

Eric Malizia, last year’s winner, said performing in the concert was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

“There aren’t many other opportunities like this around,” Malizia said. “I loved getting the chance to play in front of people. It really tests what you know and what you do.”

Viewers can vote online for who “Utah’s Next” should be at www.utahsnext.com. The winner will be announced live on “Good Things Utah.”



Copyright Brigham Young University 14 Apr 2005