Sound Off! finalists old enough to rock the house

Grab your axes, rock 'n' roll fans. The Pacific Northwest's largest annual battle of the bands for musicians 21 and younger holds it finals Saturday night. Now into its seventh year, Sound Off! has long picked winners that have gone on to score record deals and tours. Hosted by Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, prizes include equipment, studio time, radio appearances and live performances (including a Bumbershoot gig for the first-place winner).

"We're really excited about how these local artists can take this opportunity and really run with it after Sound Off!," said Janine Logsdon, manager, public programming, at EMP/SFM.

Renton-based hip-hop group Dyme Def (www.myspace.com/dymedef) entered in 2004 and 2006. Now, they perform two to three times a week in the Northwest and have opened for the likes of Fabolous and Mos Def.

Sound Off! "gave us that feel of performing on a real stage ... like you already made it," said Cody Adams, 21, aka rapper Fearce Vill of Dyme Def. "It helped us build confidence."

Sound Off! was also a big deal for the Lonely H (www.myspace.com/thelonelyh). The Port Angeles hard-rock band won second place in 2004.

"We never imagined we'd ever play Seattle," said lead singer Mark Fredson, 18. "The screaming was piercing. It was probably the best reception we've ever gotten."

They tried out as ninth-graders. Recently, their video debuted on Spin.com, and later this month they'll perform at Austin's SXSW.

This year's finalists were selected by a panel of judges in a series of semifinal competitions in February. Saturday night, these three bands will face the judges again:

New Faces

Made up of students from Port Townsend High School, the three — Kyle Hove, Conor Sisk and Nico Janssen — are the youngest among the finalists (16 and 17 years old) and have been together for only two years. But their influences go back to the '70s and '80s.

The Port Townsend band (www.myspace.com/newfacesband) describes itself as "edgier indie," or "dance-rock with pop influences." They've also been compared to the likes of such popular rock bands as Franz Ferdinand, Interpol and the Strokes.

Originally named Captain Incognito, they moved up to the more mature name of New Faces.

Last month's Sound Off! semi-final competition was so far the biggest show the three have ever played. There were more than 400 in the audience, four times their usual crowd.

"The way I see it, the way we all see it, we already kind of won," said bassist Hove, 16, about getting into the contest.

The Nextdoor Neighbors

Kathy Coté and Jessie Hill were literally neighbors who started jamming in Coté's walk-in closet only a year ago.

They play a genre they call "electro-folk-hop" that overlays folky vocals with spacey hip-hop beats (www.myspace.com/theenextdoorneighbors).

"We were desperately trying to create some sort of new sound, something people can feel, because that's how we listen to music," said Coté, who is influenced by everything from Björk to the Roots.

The two hope Sound Off! will give them the opportunity to tour. "It's hard to find time and money to focus as much as we want on our music, because music costs money, unfortunately," said Coté, who until recently worked three jobs, now two. The 20-year-old currently resides in Olympia and is raising money to move to Seattle. Hill, 19, attends Seattle Central Community College and lives on Capitol Hill.

Man Down Medic

With three siblings, a roomie and a newfound drummer, this Seattle-area band is close-knit — not only in their relationships, but in their sound.

"It's like a big structure, fragile, but if it stays up, it's very powerful," said singer Jacob Anderson about the band's layered music (www.myspace.com/mandownmedic).

The five members are all students, ages 17 to 21; they count influences ranging from folky rock, classical and hip-hop. Together they create "electronic pop rock with strings," said Anderson.

As for the name — Man Down Medic — the words popped into Anderson's head at church when an elderly man had a seizure and an ambulance was called.

The band applied for Sound Off! on a whim, but since their formation last year, they have already performed at several venues, including El Corazón.

"The biggest thing about Sound Off! is getting the exposure from it," said Anderson, a senior at the University of Washington. "The ability for new people to hear about your music."

Marian Liu: 206-464-3825 or mliu@seattletimes.com