Leeds music stalwart James Owen Fender decided to host a Battle of the Bands to dig out Leeds’ finest upcoming groups in association with his night ‘Plumpton Presents‘.  It’s been cunningly named ‘The Battle of Plumpton’ and has some quality prizes, such as the winning band getting a track waxed by ace producer James Kenosha, which gets onto a limited edition Plumpton Presents Record (via ADA distribution) and get to play the Beach Break Live 2010 music festival.

The Battle kicked off to a roaring start at the Wardrobe in Leeds, with the Leeds College of Music heat.  Those kids generally require a grade 8 in something to get in, so musical tightness & mad skills were pretty much guaranteed.

I went to the fourth heat which was held at the Leeds Met. One of the bands I know well ‘Gavin Mart & The Saturday Vandals’ was playing so it was great to go along photograph the gig but also be there to support Gav. We managed to get there in time as Barns and I had seen Martin Parr earlier in the evening.

Below are some images of Gav and the guys in action.

Also we caught the next band playing which was DodoDeadDead. These guys eventually won that night’s heat and will play in the final at Oporto on the 3rd February 2010 at 20:00. The other bands playing will be Moody Gowns Charlie Bath and The Luminaries. Go along and vote for your top band. Free admission too. Bargain!