Gentlemen Hall Schools New Battle of the Bands Finalists

Gentlemen Hall On Life Since Last Year's Battle of the Bands Win; Gives Tips to 2012's Finalists

Boston rockers Gentlemen Hall won Billboard's Battle of the Bands last year, and now the reigning victors have offered up some advice to the six 2012 Battle finalists -- Savannah Outen, Doe Eye, Saints of Valory, Take the Day, After the Smoke and Patent Pending -- who will be travelling to Las Vegas to compete for the crown on May 18 Read all about the 2012 competion here, and get your free tickets here. Gentlemen Hall chatted with Billboard.com about their current projects and how life has changed since performing at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards. After offering up advice for the current finalists, vocalist Gavin Merlot even revealed who he's rooting for this year.

Gentlemen Hall

What's been going on with you since winning Battle of the Bands last year?

A lot has changed. We have been working with a company who originally discovered us from the night we played [the Billboard Music Awards at the] MGM Grand, and they have worked with us on placements, they're doing licensing and stuff like that to help us. It's been really awesome. And we have an agent from a booking agency, and we've had management as well, which we had before that but we've been able to stay independent and also build a pretty big team around us so we're in a really good position right now.

What have you been up to musically?

Yeah we've been touring… Right now we just got off a two month tour. We are in the studio recording some new music. We've just been hitting as many markets as we can.

What do you have coming up next?

We're gonna release some new songs, we'll be releasing some new video content, just try to release as much as possible to push art and keep up with an ADD America and a bunch of ADD guys in the band. You know, we gotta keep everybody happy. We're just really looking forward to connecting to people's faces, the live show, it's a huge emphasis for us. We really enjoy playing live, we think that's where people can really experience us the best. The priority for us is going to be touring. But we're really excited to release this new material which to us is a fresh sound for us and is a bit different from what people are expecting. So it'll be cool to be new and then see how people react.

Do you have an album or new single lined up?

Yeah, we're sort of figuring out how we're gonna release it but we'll either have a single or a few singles and then an EP -- it's sort of TBD. We're just in the studio tracking a handful of new songs. It's always a matter of seeing how they sound after the fact and seeing what groove we can put together. Is it gonna be an album, is it gonna be an EP, we don't even know.

Do you have any advice for the 2012 Battle finalists?

I would say do what you do, be confident and present it confidently. If you can get fans down there that will interact and give back, that would be a good look. But most importantly, it's kind of cliché, but to be themselves and project confidently what it is that they think they are. What it is that makes them unique, what it is that separates them from the thousands of other bands that have competed in contests in the past.

Have you checked out at any of the finalists still in the competition?

Yeah, I've definitely heard a few. There's definitely some solid contenders. Is Patent Pending still in the running? I like them -- they've got some cool hooks and they have a nice following too so they've clearly put in the leg work to be a career band.

Who do you think should win?

I'll be rooting for Patent Pending. It seems like they've got their heads on straight and they've done so much touring… They're a hardworking group of guys and they've been at it for a while.

What was it like at the BBMAs, traveling to the battle, etc.?

It was really fun! Everybody at Billboard, really really nice people and we've remained in contact with them, and they're just a really nice crew of people. We were also introduced to people in the industry through them, so the whole experience just became a whole big network so I would encourage bands to take advantage of that.

You've shared the stage with a lot of different artists. Who's been the best artist to play with?

Personally? Well we played with Muse, and that's just like one of the best rock bands today I think, so that was pretty mind-blowing. Billboard set up a show we played with a band called A Place To Bury Strangers, and that was the loudest I've ever heard a guitar amp go and that was pretty sweet. And then at another Billboard event they brought Estelle out, and she's amazing. Estelle and Swizz Beats, two huge influences of ours so that was really cool to see them on the same stage as us.

Watch below: Gentlemen Hall backstage at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards

Check out all the 2012 Billboard Battle of the Bands finalists: