News from August 29 to September 6

14 bands from the city and the region are participating in this year’s BandXOst contest

This year’s BandXOst contest entrants have been announced since Monday. A total of 53 acts will perform in the nine qualifying events, five of which are out of competition. They all have one goal: the final on November 26 in the Grabenhalle in St.Gallen.

Among the participants are 14 acts from the city of St.Gallen and the region; namely the following:

Three of the acts from the region have already performed on September 24, in the first qualifying event. This takes place on “Dä Drei Floor” in Herisau. On stage, Bear Pit, Batuhan Kanay, Kolladderall and Adenite will be on stage.

Bear Pit is placed in the direction of intellectual punk rock. The St.Gallen group generally sticks to simple, catchy melodies coupled with socio-critical and sometimes self-deprecating lyrics, according to the contest’s website. The website also reads that the group is ushering in a new era: one of freedom, solidarity and morning beer.

Batuhan Kanay, on the other hand, does not commit himself to a fixed musical style. He tries a lot and experiments with beats and vocals. The St.Gallen self-penned songs range from pop to R&B to exercise, whether in German, English or Turkish.

Kolladderall, an experimental hip-hop duo from St.Gallen, will also be on stage in Herisau. The duo – consisting of Yung Romua (rap) and Yung Randstei (rap and production) – came together because both members were interested in alternative rap music. Kolladderall transferred these influences to the Swiss German language. They keep their influences as much as possible: from industrial punk to cloud rap and hyperpop. In less pretentiousness: noise in dialect.

Adenite is a rock band related to Gossau who released Extended Play Recto Verso last year, including the songs Two Hearts and Mrs. Hurricane. The quartet consists of Steven Cherry, Pascal Wohlwend, Tobias Roos and Nico Wehrle.

Then Maurice Letterman and Gakuseii McFly will have their turn in the qualifying event of “Staircase” in Rorschach on October 8.

Maurice Letterman – real name Moritz Lieberherr – is a singer-songwriter from St.Gallen, born in 2000. He discovered his passion for singing and composing as a child and also took piano lessons, according to the website. During his time in high school, he began to spend every free minute with music.

Stephan Meier aka Gakuseii McFly was born in Canton Aargau, grew up in North America and has been living in the city of St.Gallen since 2017. He started rapping and producing beats in 2003 and has since participated in various talent shows. In the bandXost it does not compete.

On October 15, Smorrms from St.Gallen will compete in the qualifying event at the “Eisenwerk” in Frauenfeld. Smorrms plays metal and is an instrumental solo project by guitarist David Mühlethaler. In November 2020, “BAT”, the first EP with seven songs, was released. In the meantime, new songs have been created that deal primarily with chaos and gloom. Together with his longtime musician friend Jérémie Gonzalez (drums), Mühlethaler brought the project to the stage for the first time in July 2022 at Ebrietas in Zurich.

The newcomer band St.Gallen Acube will play at the Kulturforum in Amriswil on October 22nd. His musical style is cross-genre: a mixture of pop, rock, psychedelic, soul and jazz. The members write songs together. According to their own statement, the band is defined by their own style. They express this through the different characters in the music.

The artist collective 2kmafia – which includes members from St.Gallen, Rorschach and Gossau – will also perform on October 22; but in «Camäleon» in Vaduz. The six young men make hip-hop and rap music. They have been making music together for over two years and their songs tell the story of everyday life for young people in St.Gallen. In the tracks they deal with all that concerns them; from dreams of hardship to the euphoria of “being young”.

On October 29, Manu & Fau$tino, a Stadtsanktgaller-Gossauer duo, will play in Zak in Jona. Whether it’s hip-hop or R&B, Manu and Faustino are ready for any genre, according to the bandXost contest website. The message of the songs: Hood stereotypes and love stories. The lyric bars are Manu, Faustino is responsible for the melodic transitions.

The band Xyrus from Rorschach will also be on stage in Jona. The six musicians breathe new life into the energetic alternative metal of the early 2000s and present the genre in a new guise. They participate in the competition outside competition.

Kronov, Mutual Friend and UNLSH will have to wait longer to make their qualifying appearances. They will perform at the final qualifying event, November 5 at the “Gare de Lion” in Wil.

Kronov expresses motivation, ambition, positivity, humanity and a lot of sensitivity in his hip-hop and rap music. It is very important to him that he writes his own lyrics in order to authentically express his own views on life, according to the short portrait on the bandXost website. Kronov’s real name is Julian Konsulov and he was born in 1999 in the city of St.Gallen, where he still lives today.

Hardly any information can be found online about mutual friends. Just this much: According to the organizers, the artist is from St.Gallen and makes pop music.

UNLSH is a five-piece rock band from St.Gallen with the participation of Wittenbach. In their songs, the band asks existential questions and talks about hate, love and insecurity in this world. This is conveyed by thorny voice, heartbroken roar, atmospheric piano playing and a good portion of guitar. (arch)

All qualifying events are free to enter and start at 8pm Doors open one hour earlier, at 7pm More information about the contest and participating groups is available online.