Congrats to our friends and website members the French Cassettes, an amazing young band based out in Ripon.

They’re among 11 bands competing next week in the 2nd Bay Rising, a music competition with $10,000 in prizes at stake.

This small-town band does NOT have a small-town sound. They are smashing heartfelt rock all the way. They won first place at the Hayward Battle of the Bands, a 45-year-old competition, and they were among three bands we picked to play our website launch party in May.

We think they are definitely headed for bigger things.

Here are the details:

Semi-Final #1

Monday, Aug. 4th

Café Du Nord
2170 Market St.
San Francisco, CA 94114

Doors – 7 p.m.
Show – 7:30 p.m.

Line-Up: The Gun and Doll Show, Solis, Adrian Bourgeois, The Frail, Joel Streeter, Dynamic

Semi-Final #2

Tuesday, Aug. 5th

The Uptown
1928 Telegraph Ave.
Oakland, CA 94612

Doors – 8 p.m.

Show – 9 p.m.

Line-Up: French Cassettes, The Dandelion War, The Red Verse, Weather Pending, Scarlet Jones

From the above 10 bands, a panel of judges will choose five to perform in the finals on Aug. 27 at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. These finalists will compete in front of hundreds of fans and a panel of judges to win the grand prize valued at $10,000.

The winner will walk away with five days of studio recording time from Yonas Media; CD mastering and duplication from Charles Stella; two months of artist development from Fuze Management; and write ups in West Coast Performer Magazine, The Owl Mag, and Fusicology.com. All bands competing in Bay Rising will receive advice on advancing their careers as well as other prizes from Universal Audio, FizzKicks.com, Zazzle, InGrooves, and SonicBids.