21st Century Ox

"Ox pushes in" by  CATHERINE McALOON - Warrnambool Standard 21st Sept., 2000 - ©Copyright Warrnambool Standard  2000 All rights reserved

Winning the Battle of the Bands regional final is the main concern for 21st Century Ox.
“It’s really hard to display the full diversity of your band in such a short time. — Dion Barker
WARRNAMBOOL band 21st Century Ox is set up for a Battle of the Bands regional final berth after taking out the Portland competition. 21st Century Ox competed in the Portland heat The Push competition after missing the Warrnambool event because a band member was absent. In the regional final 21st Century Ox will come up against Warrnambool winners Kozar Blip and second-placed Mercury. It will also meet two Geelong bands and Cause & Effect, which was placed second to 21st Century Ox the Portland competition. Bass guitarist Dion Barker said 21st Century took out that competition after playing a limited minute set, which he said could be a difficult task. “The first few bands actually went over their time limit and got into a bit of trouble for that, it’s very easy to do,” Dion said. “It’s really hard to display full diversity of your band in such a short time. You’ve only really got time three or four songs.” He said picking which three or four songs to play could also be a difficult decision. “The way we picked it was not necessarily our best songs but songs which actually showed our diversity, he said. ”They kind of showed all the styles of music that we play.“ The band’s choices obviously paid off as it beat 10 other competitors to take out the Portland title. The four-piece Warrnambool outfit is hoping to taste success in the recording studio. They’ve recently begun recording their first album. “We’re in the middle of recording a CD at the moment which partly resulted from us winning another competition which gave us recording time for one song. We decided to hang around the studio and do some more,” Dion said. He said the band was relishing the studio experience.  “It’s fantastic, it’s a whole new experience to actually hear back what you are playing and how it actually sounds, you get that real studio feel about it.” “We play it back and go ‘gee, that sounds professional’.” 21st Century Ox hopes to have its first album What Am I Going To Do With All These Portaloos completed by the end of next month. They will play in the Battle of the Bands Regional final in Warrnambool on Friday, October 6.