A little-known group from Vancouver beat out more than 7,000 acts from around the world in Emergenza. The global battle of the bands began in 1992 as a solely Europe-based competition that has grown to include North America. Canada joined the fray in 2001. The Sessions, a year-old North Vancouver quartet, seemingly came out of nowhere to win this year's contest, the finals of which were held recently in Germany. Guitarist Tristan Martin told the Straight that the band heard about the contest via a message sent to its Myspace page. After winning the Vancouver round, then the regionals in Calgary, the Sessions won the nationals in Montreal in July. From there the band joined 21 other finalists from around the world (7,632 groups from 166 cities in 16 countries participated in the entire event) for the grand finale, which took place in Rothenburg from August 11 to 13.

For its efforts, the band””average age 20””won a spot on next summer's Vans Warped Tour, a custom-made Music Man guitar and bass, and a four-week recording session in Malmoe, Sweden. The musicians will take advantage of the time in February 2007. Meanwhile, they have a number of shows in town, including appearances this Saturday (August 26) at Pub 340 and Sunday (August 27) at the Backstage Lounge. The sessions will also open for Australian act the Presets at the Plaza Club on September 27.

So, if the Sessions, which describe themselves as “indie rock with a British influence” , were good enough to win Emergenza, how come they are still relatively unknown?

“We've played the Roxy, the Plaza, the Piccadilly,” said Martin, joined on speakerphone by lead vocalist Josh Abel. “But I'm sure a lot of people were surprised at how well we did, considering we've only been around for a year. The majority of people in Vancouver our age probably know us. Still, we're definitely a pretty small deal.”