Hoboken Rocks at Annual Music Awards

The brightest stars in the Mile Square's music scene gathered at Maxwell's Saturday night for the third annual Hoboken Music Awards. The awards, which highlighted winners in several categories, also featured live performances from many of Hoboken's most popular bands.

The awards began in 2009 when Dave Entwistle, producer of the People's Open Mic concert series, wanted to unite and promote his fellow Hoboken musicians.

“There's good talent here that's under the radar,” Entwistle said. "We want to get them as much exposure as possible."

Entwistle later added a partner in organizing the awards, longtime music journalist Stephen Bailey.

“I was at the first awards, and I thought this is exactly what this town needs,” Bailey said. Bailey, also a musician, owns D's Soul Full Cafe, which helps sponsor the awards.

This year the awards were held at Maxwell's, the legendary bar whose backroom has hosted famous musicians such as Bruce Springsteen and Nirvana.

“It's great to be able to support these local acts, and to have them play on the same stage as all the bands who have come through here,” Maxwell's manager Rob Bonella said.

The awards offered recognition in categories including Outstanding Band, EP, Album, Male Solo, Female Solo, Scene Contributor, People's Choice and Video.

The judges included disc jockeys Lindsay Klein of WDHA 105.5 and Brian Phillips of web-based WRXP, Dan McLoughlin, owner of Garden Street Music, Tris McCall, a writer with the Star Ledger, and Steve Shelley, drummer with the celebrated alternative rock group Sonic Youth.

Stephie Coplan and her band the Pedestrians won the People's Choice award after a late push of fan support gave her an extra 400 votes. Over 2100 people voted overall.

“This award means more to me than any of the other awards would have, because this is a symbol of how people feel about us,” she said.

Coplan, who plays keyboards backed by bassist John Hebert and drummer Shane Considine, performed earlier in the night, including a catchy song with some local color called “Heartbroken in Hoboken”.

“Why is this whole town just one square mile, did no one think of all the forced conversations and smiles?” Coplan sang.

Adam Bird, lead singer of Those Mockingbirds, who were nominated for Outstanding Band, said that any event that gives bands more publicity is a good thing.

“The music industry has changed so much,” he said. “Bands are either struggling or they're superstars. We need to get back to supporting that middle class of bands.”

Both Bailey and Entwistle said that Hoboken artists must overcome a particular set of challenges to achieve success.

“The only way to get heard is in New York City,” Entwistle said. “But no one knows they're from Hoboken. This is our way of saying, 'we're from Hoboken, and we're good'.”

Bailey called music in Hoboken a "fragmented scene". He said there aren't as many venues now where bands can play than there were during the 1980's.

“There aren't too many places to play anymore,” he said. “But, the bands are still here.”

Entwistle said many of the bands nominated for the awards are still unsigned, and that next year each of the award categories will have signed and unsigned divisions. He also said that enough people had attended this year's awards to suggest that he consider a bigger venue next year. Maxwell's was packed, and many latecomers had to wait for others to leave before they could get inside the back room.

In the meantime, Entwhistle said he hopes the awards show Saturday night ushers a prosperous year for the Hoboken music scene.

“If a band can get signed, or even if we can help them find 25, 50 or a 100 new fans, then we've served our purpose,” Entwhistle said.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2011 Hoboken Music Awards, including (Outstanding) EP – Waking Lights; Album – The Milwaukees; Scene Contributor – Lea Noelle Simone of the Pier Sessions; Video – The Nico Blues; Female Solo – Karyn Kuhl; Male Solo - Khaled Dajani; People's Choice – Stephie Coplan & the Pedestrians; and Band – Stuyvesant.