Rhys Crimmin (second from left) & The Toms.
INSTEAD of bronze medals, Rhys Crimmin & The Toms will return home from Europe with an international fan base after finishing third in a world battle of the bands competition final.
Led by Terang-born frontman Crimmin, the four-piece roots group, which only fully formed before its national heat last year, finished third out of the 4000 bands which entered the first stage of the Emergenza International Battle Of The Bands Competition.
Speaking to The Standard from Rothen-burg in Germany, Crimmin said his band, also made up of Camperdown bassist Tom Collins, fiddle player Meagan Thomson and drummer Tom Jones, would continue touring Europe until early October.
“We had an amazing gig in the final on the Saturday afternoon,” he said.
“The crowd was loving it, the area was full of people and everyone was dancing and chanting for an encore in German after our set.
“It turned out that we were the only band that got chanted for an encore, so that was pretty cool.”
After placing third behind Swedish and French bands, Rhys Crimmin & The Toms sold “a box of CDs” and were asked to play again on Sunday as their prize.
“We played a totally different set and the crowd went even wilder. It was a great experience and has given the band a lot of confidence that our music is appreciated in other countries as well as our own. We now tour Europe for seven weeks and we are looking forward to all of our shows.”
Crimmin’s “box of CDs” refers to the band’s new album Reworked, which features lead track The Aussie Song and full-band recordings of his solo work. Their film clip for The Aussie Song has had more than 1200 views on YouTube.
j.pech@standard.fairfax.com.au
