Aussie Band ASTRALALIENS Wins”The Battle for Los Angeles”
The Brisbane-based band, the ASTRALALIENS, has toppled 35 of Los Angeles’ best bands, winning the 2009 Grand Final of “The Battle for Los Angeles”.

Held in Hollywood, starting at the now-closed Club Derby and finishing at Crane’s Hollywood Tavern, The Battle for Los Angeles had a pre-selected field comprising 36 of L.A.’s best drawcard bands, that fought out 6 semi-finals, culminating in the Grand Final on Saturday night. The ASTRALALIENS won by a large margin in both the audience’s and judges’ voting.

The ASTRALALIENS are now on their second tour of L.A. clubs, appearing at many of Hollywood’s leading music venues, including multiple appearances at The Viper Room, Key Club, as well as The Mint, Whisky A Go-Go and other prominent venues.

The ASTRALALIENS’ members are no strangers to band competitions, having won several of them back in Australia. They first rose to prominence there by winning the “Bandfest” rock contest in their home city, Brisbane. Soon after, they won the “Best Radio-Friendly Band” title at the finals of “ROCKSTAR…The Real Deal!”, the rock band search held at Dreamworld and sponsored by the Triple M Radio Network, Coca-Cola and Wizard Records. As a result they were signed by Wizard, one of Australia’s leading independent record companies and producers.

Before leaving on their first trip to the U.S. in September 2007, they were  Runners-Up in the Australian Grand Final of the Jim Beam National Band Competition, as well as the Winner of the Queensland State Final of the World Battle Of The Bands contest.

The ASTRALALIENS consist of the brothers Jake Fehrés (vocals/bass) & Mablo Fehrés (vocals/guitar), Eric Slater on vocals and lead guitar, and Chaz Stockham on drums. The front line are all seasoned Karate practitioners, and martial arts katas and the Australian Aboriginal didgeridoo form an integral part of the ASTRALALIENS’ unique stage performances.

Jake Fehres says: “We’ve really begun to take off on this trip to the U.S., getting hundreds of thousands of hits and plays on our myspace page, and pulling good crowds when we play live. It’s really a thrill to come from Brisbane to America and be so competitive with some of the best bands here.”

The ASTRALALIENS are the latest in a long line of major Australian artists who were discovered, produced and launched in Australia and Internationally by Wizard Records. Those artists, including Air Supply, Rick Springfield, Tommy Emmanuel, Marcia Hines, Daddy Cool, have sold over 50 million records around the world. Wizard recently brought another Australian band, Porcelain, to the U.S., signing them to a multi-album world-wide deal with Universal Records, and Wizard is hot on the trail of doing the same with the ASTRALALIENS.

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