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AXEtremefest High School Band Showcase Wraps Up

Canadian musical instrument retailer, AXE Music, has recently wrapped up the annual AXEtremefest High School Band Showcase for 2006.

This years AXEtremefest Tour had hundreds of students from all over Alberta up on stage performing in front of peers, teachers and family, and helping out the professional sound and lighting technicians who were on hand. Some schools used the AXEtremefest event as a battle of the bands, to showcase talent or as a fundraiser for the school or charities. The equipment, travel and crew were supplied for free to the schools by AXE Music.

“Each and every year, the students and staff involved with this event are completely blown away with the gear that we bring to these events, and 2006 was definitely no exception,” said Rod Harder, Marketing Manger of AXE Music. “This year’s tour featured two complete travelling productions, including two separate crews, with premium sound, lighting and backline gear worth nearly half a million dollars. Everything was supplied by AXE Music at no cost to the schools involved. This incredible experience is made a reality thanks in no small part to the vision and involvement of the equipment sponsors for 2006, including Telex Communications/Electro-Voice, who helped supply much of the FOH audio. This included Midas Venice consoles, Electro-Voice Xi and MTL series PA enclosures as well as P3000 series power amplifiers, Dx series processors and SxA250 powered enclosures for stage monitoring.”

AXEtremefest not only allows students to perform on a professional concert-ready PA, but they also get to see how an event like this is organized and put into effect. All the students involved helped in setting up and tearing down the event. It’s not just the future rock stars who are getting experience, but it’s also the future sound and lighting engineers who get to learn the ropes early on. The AXE sound and lighting crew take the time to teach the students and get them involved in the success of the show.

Harder adds, “Bringing gear like this to a high school concert is something many of the students talk about for months after the show. The ‘thank yous’ are plentiful, and many of these aspiring musicians become interested in pro audio and visit www.axemusic.com to buy the same products they were able to use live at AXEtremefest. On any given weekend, there are hundreds of young musicians across Alberta practicing their hearts out with SxA250 speakers powering their rehearsal PA systems, PA systems that they bought from axemusic.com after using them live at AXEtremefest over the past three years. They know they sound great and they know they’re reliable, that’s why we use them every year. This is why, when people ask us ‘Who brings a Midas console to a High School?’ the answer is we do! With the help of Telex/EV we let the young stars of tomorrow be their best by bringing our best. It’s a simple idea that really works. Letting young artists ‘test drive’ the best gear available means that when they need equipment they will often ask for the product(s) that they were able to use at AXEtremefest, creating loyal customers for life.”

Harder said that currently AXEtremefest is only held in Alberta, but if they could facilitate others to do this in their area, then the event could flourish throughout Canada. High schools in Alberta can contact AXE Music for details of the 2007 Tour.

For more information, contact: AXE Music, Edmonton Store, 11931 Wayne Gretzky Dr., Edmonton, AB T5B 1Y4 (780) 471-2001, Toll-free (800) 293-0983, FAX (780) 479-1443, www.axemusic.com.

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