Mirror Image

By Gerald M. Gay
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
First place
Mirror Image
(Andrea and Juliet Wilhelmi)
Second place
Monterey
Also participating
The Shaw
Jon and Jeff
The Thesis
Paul Revere
The twin-sister duo Mirror Image was the winner of the fifth annual Arizona Daily Star Battle of the Bands on Friday night at the Rialto Theatre.
Andrea and Juliet Wilhelmi, sophomores at St. Gregory College Preparatory School, beat five other bands and got a recording session as their prize.
Over the last five years, the Battle of the Bands has become a rite of passage for high school rockers in the Old Pueblo, a Super Bowl of sorts for Tucson's teenage musical talent.
If you win, you get a daylong recording session on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus. If you lose, you still get to brag about playing to a packed house at one of Downtown's most celebrated concert venues.
Mason Betz exuded a mixed bag of confidence and nervous energy before the start of the battle.
It was the third and final time that his hard-rock quartet, Paul Revere, would be playing in the popular competition. The 18-year-old guitarist would settle for nothing less than first place.
"We've been practicing tons," Betz, a Flowing Wells High School senior, said while waiting for the rest of his band to arrive for the show. "The same set over and over again just to make sure it's clean."
An hour later, Betz was up on stage, thrashing his way through the song "I Get What I Want" as band mates Austin Keyes, Tony Perry and Tohbi Lundergan kept the pace. They gave it their all and put up some fierce competition as music fans filled the Rialto.
Of the 29 bands that entered this year, six made the final cut.
Among them were a pop-punk group called the Shaw, selected as the "Popular Choice" winner; the progressive-rock group known as the Thesis; and the overall winner, Mirror Image.
Starting with a reggae-infused set by last year's winner, Kool Shades, the bands laid down a series of 15-minute performances, one after another.
Marco Esparza, 15, watched intently in his "Stewart/Colbert 2008" shirt, rooting the hardest for the first competing act of the night, Jon and Jeff. The two guitarists are friends of a friend.
"I was going to come last year, but I got sick," said Esparza, a Basis Tucson student. "I heard Kool Shades was awesome. I wanted to come out and see."
Evangelina Vasquez, 15, came to cheer for her favorite band, the Thesis.
"They played for my quinceañera, and they are really hot," the City High School student said. This was the ninth-grader's second time attending the competition. "I like the way it starts out calm and then everyone gets all tensed up and hyper. The whole thing ends up being so much fun."
- Arizona Daily Star

"High School sophomores wowed judges with 'girl power' and gorgeous voices"
Kevin W. Smith
KSMITH@AZSTARNET.COM
2008 Battle of the Bands results
• First place: Mirror Image.
• Second place: Monterey.
• Third place: Paul Revere.
• Popular Choice Winner: The Shaw.
• Text message voting winner: Mirror Image.
On AZNightbuzz.com
Hear Mirror Image's song "Miserable Thing" and watch a video of their day on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus.
The Web site also has a full recap of the 2008 Arizona Daily Star Battle of the Bands, including video, a slideshow and more.
Up next for Mirror Image
The band says it wants to start performing more, and so far has a few things lined up:
The duo will perform on "Locals Only" at 8 p.m. Monday on KXCI (91.3-FM).
Mirror Image will also play the Solar Rock festival March 29 at Himmel Park. The sisters also plan to perform at the 2008 Tucson Folk Festival, May 3-4.
Judges' comments about Mirror Image:
"Absolutely stunning vocals. I love the mellow, jazzy style."
— Leila Lopez, local folk artist
"This very impressive duo managed to match the great vocal harmonies of their competitors, but upped the ante by incorporating more interesting and intricate guitar interplay."
— Don Jennings, host of "Locals Only" on KXCI (91.3-FM)
"Awesome vocals. Both seem like very natural players."
— Jake Bergeron, drummer for The Deludes and founder of Mudhouse Records.
"Very mature!"
— Adrienne Lake, blogger on AZNightbuzz.com
"Their style is surprisingly un-high-school-ish — the playing and singing could have come from the fingers and mouths of 35-year-olds. Mirror Image definitely wins the title of 'Most Likely to Succeed.'"
— AmoChip Dabney, local musician and two-time Grammy nominee.
Here's some of what Mirror Image won:
• Free entry into the national John Lennon Songwriting Contest.
• Recording session onboard the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus.
• Apple iPod Shuffles.
• $500 gift certificate to the Chicago Music Store.
• One Godin guitar.
• 1,000 custom CDs.

Andrea and Juliet Wilhelmi relaxed Saturday on a comfy leather sofa inside the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, listening to the song they had just recorded, "Miserable Thing," and mouthing the lyrics.
The 16-year-old twins, who perform as a duo called Mirror Image, both wore a glaze of amazement carried over from the night before when they won the 2008 Arizona Daily Star Battle of the Bands.
"It didn't really feel real," Juliet said of Friday night's impressive upset win before an estimated crowd of about 1,100 at the historic Rialto Theatre.
The St. Gregory College Preparatory School sophomores beat out five other local high school acts for the grand prize, which included the daylong recording session on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus.
The acoustic folk duo played four original songs: "Don't Let It Break," "Miserable Thing," "Romeo" and "Naive." The girls split writing duties, and although they are known to cover the Beatles and other acts, they wanted to play their own material for the battle.
Competing in the battle for the first time, Mirror Image edged out three returning bands: The Thesis, Jon and Jeff, and Paul Revere. The sisters were the only female contestants this year and the first all-female winner in the battle's history.
"I was in complete and total shock," Andrea said.
Flashing peace signs, the Wilhelmi sisters walked onto the stage Friday and told the crowd they had come to inject a little "girl power" to the battle. With a set punctuated by heavenly harmonies and gentle acoustic rhythms, Mirror Image was unlike any other act on stage.
"We didn't think we'd get in because we were so different," said Juliet, whose family moved here a few years ago from a tiny town in Montana.
The sisters made the most of their 15 minutes on stage, captivating the judges.
"The girls have gorgeous voices and scored points by personalizing their performance right off the bat with the 'girl power' comment," wrote judge AmoChip Dabney.
Mirror Image competed against high-energy sets from Salpointe Catholic High School's acoustic duo Jon and Jeff, Tucson High Magnet School's ska-rockers Monterey, Flowing Wells High School's hard rockers Paul Revere, University High School's pop-punks The Shaw and Tucson High prog-rockers The Thesis.
On Saturday, Mirror Image chose to record its favorite song, "Miserable Thing," which the twins called fun and different. The duo also starred in a video for the song, shot inside Club Congress.
"They're amazing musicians," said producer and engineer Jacob Voelzke. "They were really sweet about the whole thing."
2008 Battle of the Bands results
• First place: Mirror Image.
• Second place: Monterey.
• Third place: Paul Revere.
• Popular Choice Winner: The Shaw.
• Text message voting winner: Mirror Image.
On AZNightbuzz.com
Hear Mirror Image's song "Miserable Thing" and watch a video of their day on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus.
The Web site also has a full recap of the 2008 Arizona Daily Star Battle of the Bands, including video, a slideshow and more.
Up next for Mirror Image
The band says it wants to start performing more, and so far has a few things lined up:
The duo will perform on "Locals Only" at 8 p.m. Monday on KXCI (91.3-FM).
Mirror Image will also play the Solar Rock festival March 29 at Himmel Park. The sisters also plan to perform at the 2008 Tucson Folk Festival, May 3-4.
Judges' comments about Mirror Image:
"Absolutely stunning vocals. I love the mellow, jazzy style."
— Leila Lopez, local folk artist
"This very impressive duo managed to match the great vocal harmonies of their competitors, but upped the ante by incorporating more interesting and intricate guitar interplay."
— Don Jennings, host of "Locals Only" on KXCI (91.3-FM)
"Awesome vocals. Both seem like very natural players."
— Jake Bergeron, drummer for The Deludes and founder of Mudhouse Records.
"Very mature!"
— Adrienne Lake, blogger on AZNightbuzz.com
"Their style is surprisingly un-high-school-ish — the playing and singing could have come from the fingers and mouths of 35-year-olds. Mirror Image definitely wins the title of 'Most Likely to Succeed.'"
— AmoChip Dabney, local musician and two-time Grammy nominee.
Here's some of what Mirror Image won:
• Free entry into the national John Lennon Songwriting Contest.
• Recording session onboard the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus.
• Apple iPod Shuffles.
• $500 gift certificate to the Chicago Music Store.
• One Godin guitar.
• 1,000 custom CDs.

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- AZNightBuzz.com