Osoyoos-based rockers Falcon Suite are entered in the CBC Searchlight competition. To proceed to the next round, they need to garner enough votes on their song “I Want The World To Know.” Voting takes place at www.cbcmusicsearchlight.ca. (Contributed photo)
By Vanessa Broadbent
Osoyoos Times
People in Osoyoos already love local band Falcon Suite, but now the rest of Canada is getting the chance to catch the bug as well.
The group is competing in the annual CBC Searchlight Competition and needs the public’s support to help them move on to the second round.
Brian Dragseth, guitarist and singer, said band members have bounced the idea of submitting a song for the contest for years, but things didn’t work out until this year.
Now they have a full roster of members, more songs written and means to record them.
“We’ve been talking about it for the last couple years and every time we hadn’t gotten around to recording.”
The song they chose, “I Want The World To Know,” was written four or five years ago by band member Shane Swift and encompasses Falcon Suites’ acoustic-reggae-ska sound.
Swift had the lyrics and melody and Dragseth added the guitar riffs, and the group recorded the song at the end of January.
The public will be able to listen to and vote for the song via the CBC Searchlight website, cbcmusicsearchlight.ca.
The top 100 songs – 50 selected through voting, 50 selected via judging by CBC Music producers – will move on to Round 2.
Voting for the first round remains open until Feb. 14 at 11:59 a.m. local time.
Round 2 voting is from Feb. 20 to Feb. 26, and the top 10 performers chosen will move on to Round 3 where the judges pick a grand prize winner, announced on March 7.
The winner gets to perform at the Juno Awards and CBC Music Festival, and a recording residency at the National Music Centre in Calgary.
However, the band joined the competition mainly to get a broader audience. Many Searchlight participants end up getting air time on CBC platforms.
“It was more to get exposure,” Dragseth said.
And that’s already happened, at least locally. “I Want The World To Know” has been added to the play list on Osoyoos’ CIRO Radio.
• Read more: Local singer-songwriter releasing album of piano-based songs
But the band is up against some stiff and diverse competition – hundreds of artists have entered the contest.
“There’s a pretty big range of talent,” Dragseth said. “It’s neat to see that people are putting their stuff in, regardless of how good they are or how much music they do.”
Regardless of the outcome though, the band is simply doing it for the experience – anything else would be a bonus.
“We goof around a lot and don’t take ourselves too seriously,” Dragseth said. “If we’re not having fun there’s no point in doing it.”
To vote for Falcon Suite, visit www.cbcmusicsearchlight.ca, click on “Artist Entries” and search for the band’s name. Votes can be cast once per day.
