The Good Ol' Goats have done it again! Thanks to votes from Cranbrook and all over the country, the band has made it to the quarter finals in CBC Music's Searchlight competition.
The annual competition aims to uncover the best new talent in all of Canada - and the Goats are fast proving to be among that coveted list.
On Monday, March 25, CBC announced that the Good Ol' Goats beat out Rosie June from Victoria to be named B.C.'s best new talent.
"I am really excited," said band member Angus Liedtke. "I really appreciate all the support and it's really unbelievable how strong the community is."
Now the band will face Winnipeg band Elton Adams in the tournament-style quarter finals. That means the Goats have come through four rounds with another two to go before they have won the competition.
"It blows my mind. We're just two rounds from winning the thing," said Liedtke.
The Good Ol' Goats is a folk-rock band that consists of Mount Baker Secondary School students Joelle Winkel on shaker and backing vocals, Nolan Ackert on lead vocals, banjo and guitar, Angus MacDonald on mandolin, backing vocals and fiddle, Theo Moore on standup bass and backing vocals, Julian Bueckert on drums and Angus Liedtke on guitar, dobro, banjo, harmonica and vocals.
Their track The Train was entered into the Searchlight competition in early February and has been steadily progressing since then. Liedtke said votes are coming not just from Cranbrook but all of Canada - other bands in the competition are even voting for The Goats.
"It's great exposure. Cranbrook is such a small town and we are far away from all the major cities - we are six hours away from Kelowna and four hours away from Calgary so we can't play many shows in big venues, it's just all local stuff. So this is good exposure for us because the whole nation gets to hear us - including America too," said Liedtke.
The winner of the contest will be featured in a CBC Music video session, paid to perform at the CBC Music festival in Toronto, and will receive $20,000 in music equipment courtesy of Yamaha Canada Music.
You can cast a vote for The Goats once a day until Sunday, March 31 to see them through to the top 4 semifinals.
Go to www.music.cbc.ca/#/Searchlight to vote.