The winner of Hard Rock Cafe's first battle-of-the-bands competition is to give three all-expenses-paid performances at the Hard Rock Cafe in Rome in November.

Fourteen of Malta's well-known or emerging bands will compete against each other starting on September 5.

The local Hard Rock Cafe aims to follow other Hard Rock Cafes around the world which organise similar events.

Each night will focus on two bands, one of which will qualify to the second phase of the competition, for which an eighth band will be chosen out of the seven eliminated.

A semi-final will follow and the final will be held on November 14.

The encounters of the first round have been appointed by means of a draw in the presence of all the participating bands.

The bands Spooky Monkey and 497 will open the competition on Thursday followed by Kers and Skyn on September 10, and Batteries Not Included and Soul Searcher on September 12.

The 'battles' proceed with Colourblind and Scream Daisy on September 19, Corkskrew and Tiara on September 26, Bitterside and Soul Domain on October 3, and finally Crosswalk and Mnemonic on October 10.

The performances will start at 10 p.m. and each band will give a 45-minute show.

Four judges, all with good working knowledge as well as an appreciation for all types of music, will each be entitled to award a maximum of 40 points and will judge the participants mainly on stage presence, crowd interaction, originality and musical ability.

In addition, the public present on the nights will have an allocation of 80 points in votes, one vote allotted for every Lm2 spent at the bar. Entrance to the event is free.

"With such an attractive line-up of bands and such a stimulating objective to strive for, the competition is expected to create intense curiosity not only among rock music enthusiasts but also the general public," HRC marketing manager Sandro Debono said.

The HRC Battle of the Bands will be aired on a weekly one-hour TV programme on Net TV, starting on September 11.

Further information is available from Sandro Debono on tel. 21 521658 or 7946 7967.