Earlier this year, Taylor Guitars and Elixir Strings® partnered up to give one lucky band or artist the ultimate in guitars and strings. Musicians who had registered with SonicBids.com were invited to TestDrive 2009, a “fan-favorite” contest that would award five select artists with Taylor SolidBody guitars and Elixir strings and cables. One overall winner would be awarded recording time at a marquee studio, offering a chance to show off their musical prowess with their new Taylor guitars.
Out of 2,000 entrants, 25 were voted into the semifinals, and of those 25, five finalists were chosen by the Taylor Guitars and Elixir Strings Artist Relations teams. The five finalists were: power-rockers The Better World, singer-songwriter Matt Duke, genre-crossing band The N Result, modern pop act Kenotia, and energetic rockers Facing Forward. In the end, it was the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based band The N Result that took the top prize. Comprised of members Ross Lippencott (lead vocals, guitar), Dan Bascom (guitar), Bobby Tarantino (bass), Eitan Levine (keyboard), Nate Sankary (drums) and Chase Innis (MC), the two-year-old band has amassed a strong following both on campus at Rutgers University, where most of the band are students, and along the East Coast, including New York City.
“We are so excited to record,” Lippencott exclaimed upon hearing the news that his band had won. “We have a lot of new stuff that’s going to sound really good on our Elixir-equipped Taylors.”
As part of the competition, each band was asked to make a video showing how they were using the products. Lippencott and his bandmates decided to make a full-scale, heist-themed music video featuring their song “Break it Down” off the group’s debut album, Lines.
“We wanted to portray how we felt about having premium products and what it means to an emerging band like ours to get this opportunity,” Lippencott explains. “As it’s something we value so much, we wanted to create a video that was a throwback to the great stories of thievery, like an Ocean’s Eleven or The Italian Job. We actually contacted a museum we know, and they graciously let us use their space. On the wall there were super expensive paintings, and the thought of putting the guitar in a glass case just seemed like such a cool idea.”
At the end of the video, the band added the Taylor and Elixir logos and the tagline, “Don’t be caught without them,” because as Lippencott shares, “as an artist, you don’t want to be caught without a Taylor.”
http://www.myspace.com/thenresult
video: www.youtube.com/thenresult
