Countdown to Battle #4: An early preview

We still have a little bit of time to prepare for Battle #4, which will begin at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 8. As always, you can contact one of the members of your favorite band to purchase tickets. Or you can use PayPal to buy directly from us by going to this page.

While I'm pulling stuff together to start getting you previews on the Battle #4 bands, I thought I'd take the time to drop a few audio samples on you.

At least three of the eight bands on the bill do have some music for sale at Bandcamp and elsewhere. If you're not familiar with Bandcamp, you can purchase albums or single tracks for digital download directly from the bands. In many cases, the bands allow you to pay whatever you think is fair.

First up is King James and the Killer Bee. The St. Louis band has a full-length album, an EP and a single posted on its Bandcamp page. Here is the single from January 2013:



One Day, an alternative band out of Granite City, IL, is represented with a 2011 EP titled Believing is Everything. Here's a cut:



St. Louis power-pop group The Faded Truth released a three-track EP, This is My Life, in February. Have a listen to the opening cut:



Another hard-rocking outfit out of St. Louis is Revence, which released a four-song EP in January to go along with a full-length issued in 2011. A track from the EP:



Also on the bill for the August Battle are The Banned, Jam Central Station, L84dnr and Jimmy and the Chets. We'll start dropping band introductions into this space later in the week.

See you in August.