Battle of the Bands
Each year, three bands comprised of young musicians compete for the ultimate title of Wildflower! Arts & Music Festival Battle of the Bands winner, taking home a generous prize package including cash and much more! A qualifier round hosting up to 12 bands will take place before the festival at Happy Hippie Brewing Company in Richardson on April 20, 2024. At that time 2 bands are selected outright to compete in the finals at Wildflower! and an additional 2 bands are selected to compete in an online fan’s choice contest for the third finalist slot.
The finalist will then performed in the finals, held at Wildflower! on Sunday, May 19 on the Methodist Richardson Medical Center Stage where a Grand Prize Winner was selected, as well as individual awards given for Outstanding Lead Singer, Guitarist, Bassist, Drummer, and Keyboardist.
How to Enter
- Complete the online application
- All band members must be 21 years old or younger
- Minimum of 3 members in each band
- Bands selected to perform in the Qualifier round will be contacted directly by Wildflower!
2025 application info coming soon!
2024 Prize Package
- $500 cash
- A Saturday night or Sunday set-time at Guitars and Growlers (specific date and time to be determined)
- One of your band’s original songs, produced, recorded, and mixed by Dallas producer J. Michael Smith in his personal studio, Sunland Sound. (Prize includes three mix revisions, but not mastering fees).
- Band Strategy Session with Music Industry Strategy Consultant, Brianna Ruelas
- 3 months of weekly one (1) hour rehearsal time with the Rockstars of Tomorrow Frisco Top Band Coach + an additional hour of weekly rehearsal time in the Rockstars theater space! Plus, the winner’s poster would hang on the Rockstar Pro Wall as the Wildflower Battle of the Bands Winner!!
2024 Finalists & Winners
Mile End Beach
Grand Prize Winner
Endorphin Report
PiNKSLiP
Outstanding Lead Singer
Grace Figueroa – Pinkslip
Outstanding Guitarist
Cale Golden – Endorphine Report
Oustanding Bassist
Mason Schultz – Endorphine Report
Outstanding Drummer
Jeremy Barbera – Endorphine Report
Contest Rules
- All band members must be 21 years old or younger
- Minimum of 3 members in each band
- No foul language, or crude/offensive/vulgar behavior of any kind is allowed on stage, in lyrics, off stage, or otherwise. Absolutely no moshing (audience included).
- Band members are only allowed on stage during their set. Bands or members who go on stage while another band is competing, will be disqualified from the competition.
- Winning bands will be determined by a panel of judges based on musical talent as determined by our panel of judges, crowd enthusiasm, showmanship of band members, ability to follow contest rules and originality of cover song.
- All band performances will be videotaped for possible online contest and/or for use by Wildflower! to publicize the contest.
- Ticket sales or attendance by the band are not a factor in the judging of the winning bands.
Qualifier Round
Saturday, April 20, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
Happy Hippie Brewing Company Tavern in Richardson, TX
- Maximum of 12 bands will be selected to perform in the qualifier round.
- Each band is required to perform a 15-minute set that must include one (1) original song and one (1) cover song of a band in the 2024 Wildflower lineup. The band may choose to play the full cover song or a minimum 2-minute excerpt and are encouraged to interpret/adapt the cover song to their style/genre.
- At the judges’ and producer’s discretion, 2 bands will be selected outright to compete in the finals and an additional 2-3 bands will be selected to compete in an online People’s Choice contest for the third finalist slot.
Finals Round
Sunday, May 19, 2024 at 11:45 a.m.
Methodist Richardson Medical Center Stage
- Each finalist band will be allowed to play one 12-minute set (please note the difference from the qualifier round) set that must include one (1) original song and one (1) cover song of a band in the 2024 Wildflower! lineup. The band may choose to play the full cover song or a minimum 2-minute excerpt and are encouraged to interpret/adapt the cover song to their style/genre.
- Winning bands will be determined by a panel of judges based on musical talent as determined by our panel of judges, crowd enthusiasm, showmanship of band members, ability to follow contest rules, and originality of cover song.
- Festival management reserves the right to approve song choices to be performed at Wildflower!
Contest Partners
Music Industry Strategy Consultant Brianna Ruelas
Leverage the Momentum from your Battle of the Bands Win! Spend an hour with Brianna Ruelas strategizing your next best steps as a band and receive a marketing and social media audit to ensure your communicating your brand effectively.
Brianna Ruelas is a Dallas based Strategy Consultant, Reality TV Music Coach, Online Course Creator, Podcast Co-Host and Best Selling Author to Make Reality TV Your Reality. Most recently, Brianna launched the Reality Singing Show Success Academy and produced the 2nd Annual Reality Singing Show Summit to help independent performing artists prepare for and leverage the reality singing show platform to create momentum in their music careers.
Brianna is passionate about supporting her clients to reality singing show success & leveraging that experience inside their music careers! Follow Brianna on social media @briannaruelasmusic and connect with her at www.briannaruelasmusic.com
Dallas producer and guitarist J. Michael Smith
J. Michael Smith has been a fixture of the Dallas music scene for over a decade and has toured extensively in the United States and Europe with a variety of artists, including Jackopierce, Nelly Furtado, Austin Allsup (The Voice, 2016), Taylor Young Band, and Madison King. Currently based in East Dallas, Smith works as a touring guitarist, a session musician, producer, and mix engineer at Sunland Sound.
