Renfue

Fast-rising Santa Clarita-based rock band Renfue will headline a special showcase concert at the Santa Clarita Sports Complex tonight starting at 6 p.m.

Renfue will share the stage with Vans Warped Tour veterans Nural and The Material along with four other Santa Clarita Valley-based youth bands.

Fronted by powerful singer Yvonne Marder, Renfue formed in 2006 and exploded onto the SCV music scene a year later, catching the eyes and ears of Higher Level Productions as well as clothing companies, music producers and record labels. Higher Level's Bret Lieberman manages the group under the aegis of Good Karma Music.

Renfue also features Vincent Bledsoe (guitar), Sean Alch (bass), Rob Jones (guitar), Sean's twin brother Shane (keyboards) and Ryan Weitz (drums).

The band has played events such as the 2008 Summer Meltdown festival in Santa Clarita (headlined by Trapt and Stephen Perkins), as well as Hollywood venues including The Knitting Factory and The Viper Room.

Tonight, with record label reps, music producers and a large contingent of Renfue fans and SCV music scene supporters expected to attend, Renfue will showcase songs from their eponymous debut EP, produced and mixed by Chris Collier at Command Studios in Santa Clarita and masterd by Robert Hadley at The Mastering Lab in Hollywood.

Among them will be the single "What You Wanted"; the Travis L. Cook-directed video is already on YouTube and other video sites.

Renfue has also entered the video in The-Signal.com's "SCV Rock Star" contest, which is in the voting phase now through midnight Sunday, Sept. 7.

In addition to voting for the band in the contest, fans are encouraged to request "What You Wanted" on KROQ-FM/Los Angeles' "Locals Only" show.

"Some very big music industry leaders who could help us get to the next level will be at this show," said Sean Alch. "It's the biggest break we've had so far, and we want to take advantage of it. It's important to us not only so we can go out and tour, but also so we can help put Santa Clarita's music scene on the map. We want everyone in the industry to know there is lots of musical talent here.

"So we'd like to see every music fan in Santa Clarita at the show to support not only us, but also every band playing that night," Alch said. - The-Signal

Renfue won first, un:armed took second, and Jessie Seely was named third in the Professional division, while Johnny Strat, Aaron Wong and The FBI Band were first, second and third in the Amateur division Friday night at the SCV Rock Star Night concert finale.

The expert judges who joined the artists and bands, fans, friends and family at the Sports Complex for the all-ages showcase, produced by The-Signal.com's contest partners Higher Level Productions, were unanimous in their choices in both categories.

Judges Craig Duswalt, Joe Elliott, Adam Philipson, Thea Stern and Brian Vasquez met each other for the first time at the concert.

The judges did their first round of voting to choose the finalists by e-mail with the contest producer; there was no communication between the judges.

For Friday night's finals, they watched and listened to the artists perform live, then met in the same room backstage to discuss the performances, and made their choices.

SCV Rock Star's First Place - Professional and Amateur winners each score an impressive prize package including:
* Six hours of recording studio time at the all-new Command Recording Studios in the Valencia Industrial Center;
* A professionally produced performance-based music video courtesy videographer Brandon Blair of Artistry Cinematics;
* Followup press coverage on The-Signal.com and in the print edition of The Signal's Escape section. - The-Signal