Virginia Leaves, which is composed of (from left) Strides Brown, Mike West, Brian Michals and Glenn Kelly, will perform tonight in the final round of AMP Records' Band Fight in Vancouver.
Photograph by: Cory Ransom , Delta Optimist
Virginia Leaves will be up against three other hopefuls in the final round of AMP Records' Band Fight competition tonight in Vancouver.
"I think we're all feeling pretty good about it. We're just focusing on ourselves and our songs and trying to get the songs tight," said Tsawwassen's Mike West, one of the members of Virginia Leaves, in an interview last week.
The winning band gets a professionally recorded song and full radio promotion campaign with AMP Records, guaranteed radio play on 99.3 The Fox and a feature article in the Georgia Straight.
West said the prize would be a big help to his group and that hearing one of his band's songs on the radio would be surreal.
"We all do this mostly because we absolutely love music, love writing and playing music; but to know that other people are enjoying it as well I think is a big part of it."
The indie rock band is comprised of West, Glenn Kelly, Mike "Strides" Brown and Brian Michals.
The group doesn't mind changing things up on stage during shows.
"Glen will go over and start playing bass and Strides will start playing guitar. I'll sing a song. Glen will sing a song. I think that's part of the dynamic of the band that really works in a live performance."
Virginia Leaves, which released a five-song EP a couple years ago, has spent the last 18 months focusing on new songs for an album.
West said the band expects to have the final product in its hands this week and that the album, titled Portrait, will be available on iTunes.
The Band Fight main event starts at 8 p.m. at Library Square Public House in Vancouver.
For more on Virginia Leaves check out their Facebook page.
