UBL looking for Bonnaroo votes

ALBANY — Area musical talent needs your vote for a deserved career boost … and it’s not just Phillip Phillips.

Unbreakable Bloodline, the Albany-based hip-hop/rock fusion band that is drawing the interest of record labels as well as regional music fans, is in the running to secure a slot at this year’s Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, Tenn. But they need support from their fans to earn a shot at performing with such headliners as Radiohead, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the reunited Beach Boys.

“If there are people who don’t know about Bonnaroo, it’s the new Woodstock,” UBL drummer Chad Basko said Monday morning. “There will be between 100,00 and 150,000 people at the festival, so for a musician, it’s the gig of a lifetime.

“To put it in a different context, playing at Bonnaroo for a band is like playing in the World Series for a baseball player.”

Unbreakable Bloodline — guitarist Dusty Ashberry, bassist Ryan Myers, Basko and MCs Jay “O-Z” Osborne, Vernon “Chief Havoc” Cruz and Tiffany “O’She Tyght” Thomas — are a multicultural, multi-genre collective that has been making some of the freshest music in Southwest Georgia for the past 2 1/2 years.

The band “got a late start” in the two-week Bonnaroo competition, which is being held in conjunction with sonicbids.com, but has moved up to 15th position among the thousands of bands that made a bid to enter the voting. The top two vote-getters will get on the Bonnaroo stage.

“Sonicbids helps match bands looking for gigs with promoters looking for bands,” Basko said. “We send them our information and samples of our music (in this case the original ‘Irish Frank’), and if we qualify they put us in the competition. We got a late start and are a day behind everyone else, but we’re getting lots of support.

“You can vote once a day, so we’re looking to add new voters every day through the 16th, plus keep the people who have voted before voting every day.”

To vote for Unbreakable Bloodline go to

http://bonnaroo.sonicbids.com/BandDetails.aspx?b=31662

UBL fans and supporters of local music can vote for the local artists by scanning the provided QR Code with their smart phone or by logging on to the site http://bonnaroo.sonicbids.com/BandDetails.aspx?b=31662. The band’s music is available at www.facebook.com/UnbreakableBloodline.

Guitarist Ashberry encouraged local voters to click on the site’s “share” link so that all of their Facebook friends will have an opportunity to vote for the band as well.

“Everyone who votes is also in the running for two VIP passes to Bonnaroo,” Ashberry added.

The Bonnaroo festival, scheduled for June 7-10, will feature more than 150 musical and comedy acts, including such artists as Phish, Bon Iver, Skrillex, Alice Cooper, the Shins and Ludacris.