Just because Alec Haavik is a minor celebrity and his band Friction Seven has a weekly gig at the coolest club in town doesn't mean they're too high on their horses to get down-and-dirty and mix it up with the local rockers in an old-fashioned BATTLE! That's right, folks, the Friction posse are gonna THROW DOWN at YuYinTang on Sunday September 27 at 9:06pm, in the 2009 Global Battle of the Bands - Shanghai heat. Ten bands will compete, and the winner will go on to Hong Kong to compete in the China Finals. The winner of the China Finals will go on to London to compete in the World Finals. If you're in Shanghai, PLEASE come to YYT on Sept 27 before 9pm to holler for us, and to cast your vote. Audience votes count for 20% of each band's total score, so WE NEED YOUR VOTE!
Ten bands will compete in the Shanghai heat on the 27th. We are the first band to go on, and each band gets only 8 minutes to play. So if nothing else, it should be an extremely entertaining night!
A chat with the local saxophonist, composer and all-around professor of havoc. Written by Jenn Chan Lyman, for Urbanatomy.com
"The first time I saw Alec Haavik ('Hoe-vick', Norwegian pronunciation) on stage at JZ was one of the moments when I really fell in love with live jazz. If you've seen him on stage, you'll know what I mean. Charismatic and wacky, you can barely tell Alec apart from his saxophone when he's whizzing around on stage, shaking his crazy shock of hair to the beat. He's got an energy that not only infects the audience, but his fellow players as well. You can find Alec at JZ on Thursday nights with his Friction Seven, as well as on Tuesday and Saturday nights playing with J.Q. Whitcomb and the JZ Big Band, respectively."
"Over pita, hummus and a cooper's teriyaki salad, Alec and I chatted at Element Fresh for a couple of hours, taking a tour of musical theory and journeying to Haavik's sub-surface. Minds out of the gutter now, dear readers. Full of heart and spirit, Alec's personable-ness translates offstage as he talks about his family and influences. I was also lucky to hear him sing many animated excerpts of his music. He's a committed Shanghai-er and calls this fair city his home. He's also, as he mentioned during our interview, "made of music." After this journey into the mind of Haavik, I think it's fair to say that yes, he truly is."
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