Daylight Broadcast

Jun 16, 2009 (The Orange Leader - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A local band traveled to the West Coast this past weekend with dreams of fame and glory and came away victorious at a weekend music event.

Local rock band Daylight Broadcast, which consists of members Canaan Barborek, vocals; Josh Comeaux, pianist; Cade McKay, bassist; Randall Garrett, drummer; and Justin Babineaux, guitarist, recently performed in Los Angeles as part of a national competition. And the band won.

The five Orange area residents have been performing together for the better part of a year. The group decided to take a chance on a new national contest, Campus MusicFest, which is an off-shoot of the well known Campus FilmFest, earlier this year and let its music do the talking for them. It did.

"We didn't expect to even come close to winning this thing," Babineaux said. "We competed against seven other bands from across the country. They were from places like New York, Boston, Seattle, and Georgia, and they were all really good." The men of Daylight Broadcast signed up for the Campus MusicFest competition, which was sponsored by AT&T, Gibson Guitars and Apple Computers, in late-winter. The group created a biography and downloaded songs to the competition website, which allowed fans to vote for bands prior to the regional contest, or semi-finals, in Austin in early-March.

"We were kind of late getting signed up, but we ended up being the highest rated band in our region," Babineaux continued. "And a committee representative called us and invited us to perform against three other bands from the region in Austin." The five young men have been friends for many years. All graduated from Little Cypress-Mauriceville High School, except Comeaux, who attended Community Christian School in Orange.

To be in the Campus MusicFest contest, the band members must be enrolled in a college or university and represent the school in their area. All five of the Daylight Broadcast members attend either Lamar University or Lamar State College-Orange, so they represented the Lamar University school system.

Babineaux said event organizers paid to fly the band to Los Angeles last Friday morning, so the group could participate in the red carpet gala of Friday's opening of the Campus FilmFest.

"There were so many famous people and media there," Babineaux said. "I saw Christian Slater and Pat Oswald. When we were walking on the red carpet to enter the venue, all of these media people were taking our pictures and asking who we were and why we were there. We were blown away by the whole experience." According to Babineaux, the judging for Saturday's final round of competition was split into three segments -- text votes from fans, previous rating from the contest website music and charts page, and the opinion of four judges from various media outlets and record companies, such as Fox Entertainment and Warner Bros. Records.

After the text message voting round, Daylight Broadcast was in second place behind a female solo artist. However, the group's number 1 regional ranking put them in a good spot for the final round of scoring from the judges, which was based off Saturday's three song performance.

"We were the only band of the seven performing that didn't play the songs from our profile in our set," Babineaux explained. "Instead, we decided to go with three songs we have just written in the last month-and-a-half. We think these are our three best songs, and they just flow together, so that's why we did it. Maybe that is what helped." The band's live performance obviously put them over the top, at least from what the judges decided.

"The judges said they liked our spirit and our songwriting," Babineaux said as he started to laugh. "Plus, they said we represented the area we come from well. We were all just wearing button-up shirts, jeans and cowboy boots, so I guess that's what they meant." Prizes awarded to Daylight Broadcast, for winning not only the regional contest, but the national competition too, include an iMac computer, plus extra hard drives, Apple TV, Pro Tools, Final Cut Studio software, a custom CMF Epiphone Guitar and iPod nano's for each member of the band.

The group was also told it had a video shoot.

"They told us afterwards they would pay to shoot a music video for us," Babineaux said. "But we are going to a wait a while before we shoot a video and do things right." With the prize-winning equipment in hand, Babineaux said the band will start working on demo material immediately and hopes to record another album by the end of the year. The group just released its seven song E.P., "Home is Where You Make It" in May.

"We are our hardest critics," Babineaux continued. "And we thought we played a really bad show. Every one of the other bands sounded great and were top-notch. I just can't explain the feeling we all had when we found out we had won. I don't think any of us have slept yet since we got home early Sunday morning." The band will perform a free show on July 13 at the Star Bar, located on Crockett Street in downtown Beaumont, as a way to thank you to everyone who has supported the group over the past year.

"We are all looking at this band like this might be our last opportunity at really making it," Babineaux said. "But we want to stay true to our roots and our friends. We want to get to know everyone, but we want to do something different from everyone else. We're all best friends in this band, and we'll enjoy it the whole way, no matter what happens." For more information about Daylight Broadcast visit the band online at www.myspace.com/daylightbroadcast.

Tommy Mann Jr. is a reporter for The Orange Leader. He can be reached at 409-883-3571, Ext. 2619 or tmann@orangeleader.com To see more of The Orange Leader or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.orangeleader.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Orange Leader, Texas Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

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Daylight Broadcast is truly one of the best bands I’ve heard in a long time and most definitely a band to watch! What’s most amazing about this them is how young they are. They remind me of a ‘Foo Fighters meets Jimmy Eat World‘, but what really gives them their maturity is their elements of Death Cab For Cutie and older U2. Also, I think that Randall’s hi-hat work is worth mentioning because it lays down an incredible rhythm for the rest of the band to work over. His originality reminds me of young Stewart Copeland.

In ‘Hell or High Water’ they sing YOU SAID IT’S OVER / YOU SAID IT’S OVER…that really stands out as a ‘calling card’ for this band. The lyric itself is very strong and I think (if performed correctly) would sound like things are falling apart; and that is exactly what Daylight Broadcast does at that point in the song - they fall apart. The vocals go a little haywire, the drums start to fall apart, and yet it’s done with such calculated perfection that it sounds like things are falling apart together. Even though the vocals are falling apart and doing weird slides, there is still a perfect harmony going on all the time.

Daylight Broadcast are not just band members but also really good friends. That comes through in their music because it just ‘feels’ like there’s a real trust among them as they play. They’re one of those bands with members who really listen to one another while they are playing their music. The fact that they are a 5-piece (and not a 4-piece) makes all the difference in the world.

If label like Fueled by Ramen had any sense at all they would take a serious look at Daylight Broadcast. They are a band that definitely has Pop radio hits! - Broadtexter.com

There are plenty of Halloween-themed live music parties to attend this weekend and it kicks off in downtown Beaumont on Oct. 30 when Daylight Broadcast headlines a costume concert at The Barking Dog.

Hailing from Southeast Texas, the band has been playing together for more than a year now and recently competed in the nationwide Campus MusicFest this summer. The band played in Los Angeles and won all sorts of prizes. Daylight Broadcast has the sounds of Forever the Sickest Kids with a hint of Hawthorne Heights.

Their first album, "Home Is Where You Make It", is available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon.com, Rhapsody, and Napster. According to bass player, Cade McKay, the sophomore album has been recorded and will be mastered soon.

Visit Myspace.com/daylightbroadcast for band information and future shows. Appearing at the Barking Dog along with Daylight Broadcast will be The 94's and The Get Down. Cover for the all-ages show is $5 (in costume) and $7 for the normal dressed patrons.

-Chad Cooper
The Examiner's SETX Entertainment Guide
Oct. 30-Nov. 5, 2009 - The Examiner