So long, Launchpad. Hello, Rockonsin!
After 11 years that featured more than 600 bands, the Wisconsin School Music Association’s high school garage band competition Launchpad has played its final gig — replaced by a new showcase for young bands called Rockonsin, which has the support of the Madison Area Music Association, Summerfest and Grammy Award-winning producer, Garbage drummer and local music icon Butch Vig.
Like its predecessor, Rockonsin is a Wisconsin-only garage band competition unlike any other in the country. But the age limits are now broadened to include any musician in seventh through 12th grades. And unlike Launchpad, there will only be one statewide competition featuring 12 bands of any genre performing 20-minute sets at Summerfest on the Johnson Controls Stage on June 30 and July 1 from noon to 3:30 p.m. each day.
The winner and runner-up each will receive a 45-minute set at Summerfest’s Harley-Davidson Roadhouse on July 10, plus a professional recording session at Madison’s Blast House Studios. Additionally, one rock, punk or metal band will be selected at the Finals to represent Rockonsin at the Milwaukee stop of the 2016 Vans Warped Tour at the Summerfest grounds on July 26. One band also will be chosen to perform at Waukesha BluesFest on Aug. 13.
Band members must be enrolled in a Wisconsin public or private school or virtual, charter or home school, but they do not have to be part of a traditional school music program. Bands representing all musical genres are encouraged to apply, and the band application period closes April 30. Registration is free at rockonsin.org.
Once a band signs up, it will be asked to submit one video (a smart phone or a hand-held video camera will do the trick, Graham says) of the band performing one original song or one cover. A panel of music industry professionals will review that performance, and bands selected to play Summerfest will be notified by May 15. Each of the 12 bands selected to perform at Summerfest also will receive two Shure microphones.
But there will be no regional-level competitions, as there were with Launchpad, which helped — well — launch the music careers of Madison West graduate Gabe Burdulis and the all-female Fox Valley-based band Eminence.
“It took over four months to find the right name,” says Dennis Graham, producer of Rockonsin and Launchpad. “But we found a great one — we’re actually surprised it wasn’t taken — and married it to some awesome branding.”
Madison artist Jerod Gibson created the Rockonsin logo, featuring a milk-bottle guitar neck with strings dripping milk. Other Rockonsin-related images include a turntable playing cheese vinyl and a cow flashing the sign of the horns.
“Music means everything to me, and it’s great to see Rockonsin encourage and recognize young Wisconsin garage bands that want to play their music and give these young musicians an opportunity to showcase their talents by performing at Summerfest,” says Vig, one-time owner of the world-famous Smart Studios in Madison who recorded a video message for Rockonsin that hit 1,000 views in its first seven days.
