Okanagan bands get rare shot to take the stage at Rock the Lake festival

A battle of the bands show in Kelowna is giving Okanagan bands a chance at their big break.

Rock the Lake is an annual music festival in Kelowna and this year it’s having a battle of the bands show at Red Bird Brewing on Feb. 28 and March 1 where 10 Okanagan bands will compete for a slot on the festival stage.

One band vying for its time in the spotlight is Where We Wander, and the group’s singer said these kinds of opportunities are few and far between. 

“It’s exactly the kind of opportunity that a band requires. That’s how a band takes the next step is opportunities like that,”  lead singer Jesse Jacobson told iNFOnews.ca. “We’ve been together for almost 10 years. And I could probably think of one other opportunity.”

Last year, Rock the Lake had rock bands like Daughtry, 54-40 and Our Lady Peace. This year’s full line-up is yet to be announced.

Where We Wander is doing battle with the bands Broke Down Trucks, Cawston, CrushXO, Kris Anders Band, Lucky Monkey, None The Wiser, Pickle Juice, Sad Tom and the Noodles and Scarred Soul Empire. Tickets are already sold out unless people have a promo code.

“We’ve got half an hour to go on stage and win the hearts and win the ears,” Jacobson said. “If we can show people how much we’re putting into this and how much we care about it, hopefully that earns some more support for following our dreams.”

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Jacobson and his bandmates Biz Antonishka, Kodi Lee, and Nick Waterman are putting everything they have into winning the contest and getting to the Rock the Lake stage.

“We’re kind of going through everything to make sure that we check all the boxes that are going to give us our best shot,” Jacobson said.

The members of Where We Wander have been friends since they were kids just playing instruments together for kicks.

“I think we’re 80 per cent excited and 20 per cent nervous. We think that being nervous is an important part for things like that. We’re treating this like it really matters to us. So we don’t want to underestimate the other bands, and we don’t want to underestimate ourselves. We’ve got to go in with our best foot forward, and don’t get too comfortable.”

Scarred Soul Empire, Cawston, Sad Tom and The Noodles, None The Wiser and Lucky Monkey are playing on Feb. 28. Where We Wander, CrushXO, Pickle Juice, Broke Down Trucks and Kris Anders Band are playing on March 1.

“If we lose, we’re just super happy that other local talent has the opportunity to do something like this because it’s just so rare, especially in the Okanagan,” he said. “Having festivals here is one thing, and then having festivals with accomplished bands, the fact that one of the local bands gets to play there is fantastic… I just want to say a huge, huge thank you to (Rock the Lake and Red Bird Brewing) for that.”