Last-Chance Band Comp Exhumed Returns To Sydney

If you’ve ever bemoaned the success of someone younger but clearly less talented than you, you’ll be chuffed to know that Exhumed – the last-chance band competition that gives never-weres a shot at glory – is coming back, finding all the best unsigned, unrecorded, unheard and previously unloved bands the country has to offer.

With the express purpose of providing a platform for “bands that play for their friends, at fundtraisers, at street fairs and school fetes”, Exhumed was created in 2012 by 702 ABC Sydney Afernoons presenter James Valentine.

"Across Australia, there are thousands of people who take their music seriously,” Valentine explained in a statement. “It's their thing. It's their passion. They’ve been playing their whole life. During the day they're chemists, teachers, truck drivers, accountants, business people, plumbers. But at night they learn songs by the Rolling Stones, The Stooges or Radiohead.

"This is not for young hot things on the way up. No professionals, no music teachers, no wedding bands, no reformed ‘80s charts-toppers. This is about recognising that there’s a lot of great, passionate, inspired music making going on purely for the love of it.”

Entries for Exhumed 2014 will open this Monday, July 28. Band members must be older than 30, in a group of two or more members, and – this is key – amateur. Has-beens and wannabes need not apply – this is strictly for the small fries.

Finalists will receive airplay on 702 ABC Sydney, as well as a spot at the Exhumed showcase at Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL Club on Thursday, August 28. The winner will be judged at that showcase, so you can expect the finalists to be firing on all cylinders that night, and receive a band photo shoot and a support slot opening for an as-yet undetermined but guaranteed-to-be-well-known Aussie band.

Head to the ABC’s website for more information about Exhumed 2014.