Westlake Village, CA – Guitar Center announced store finalists in the 22nd annual Guitar Center’s Drum-Off ( http://gc.guitarcenter.com/drum-off-2010/) October 14. Hosted by Guitar Center (www.guitarcenter.com), the world’s largest musical instrument retailer, the competition is an ongoing effort to support aspiring artists. The selected store winners will go on to compete for thousands of dollars in prizes and the title of Guitar Center’s Drum-Off Champion.

Washington state winners:

• Conrad Real – Seattle, WA
• Alexander Martin – Edmonds, WA
• Nick Pierce – Tacoma, WA
• Nathaniel Vincent Vasquez – North Bend, WA
• Peter Michael Soha – Gig Harbor, WA
• Chris Jordan – Colbert, WA

As a store finalist, they will be invited to advance to a district competition, taking place on November 4 at one of twenty-five Guitar Center locations nationwide. Winners of the district finals will go on to a smaller regional competition, with regional finalists competing for the grand prize in Los Angeles, California in January 2011. In the finale event, each of the five finalists will perform in front of a live audience, opening for a nationally recognized artist and for a panel of celebrity judges.

The grand prize package, valued at over $43,000, includes:

•    $25,000 Cash
•    Custom Drum Kit (Provided by Gretsch, OCDP, Tama, Pearl or DW)
•    Drum Stick, Cymbal, and Drum Head Endorsement Deals
•    Complete Set of Cymbals (Provided by Paiste, Sabian or Zildjian)
•    Roland TD-20SX Electronic Kit & PM30
•    $500 Converse Gift Card
•    Monster Energy Drink Endorsement Deal
•    Feature in Modern Drummer Magazine
•    2011 NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) VIP Experience

The competition kicked off on September 23, with local competitions at each of the 214 Guitar Center locations nationwide. By creating a venue where undiscovered artists can reveal their talent, Guitar Center has been fostering the discovery of talented artists for more than two decades.

Guitar Center’s Drum-Off has jump-started the careers of many drummers over its twenty two years, including Cora Coleman-Dunham and Tony Royster Jr, two Guitar Center’s Drum-Off champions who have gone on to become acclaimed professional drummers (Prince and Jay-Z respectively).  In years past, a number of the world’s best drummers have contributed their talent and support to Guitar Center’s Drum-Off initiative, including: Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Matt Sorum (Guns ‘N Roses, Velvet Revolver), Questlove (The Roots), Travis Barker (Blink-182), Tommy Lee (Motley Crüe), Thomas Lang, Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails, A Perfect Circle), José Pasillas (Incubus), Billy Cobham, Niko McBrain (Iron Maiden), Stephen Perkins (Jane’s Addiction), Danny Carey (Tool), Brann Dailor (Mastodon) and Jason Bonham.

Guitar Center’s Drum-Off is just one of many Guitar Center initiatives created to foster growth and success within the music community, including its annual On-Stage, Your Next Record, Guitar Center Sessions and King of the Blues competitions, among others.

Guitar Center On-Stage is a competition that provides unsigned bands and artists the career-altering opportunity to open for KISS at one of the band’s upcoming North American tour stops. One band from each of more than twenty-two markets across the United States will be chosen to play at each KISS show.  At the conclusion of the tour, KISS will choose the best of the twenty-two bands to receive the grand prize, which includes a $10,000 Guitar Center shopping spree. Now through September 1st, 2010, bands across the country are invited to register at GCOnstage.com for their chance to be selected.

Guitar Center Presents Your Next Record provides emerging artists the chance to win the ultimate career-altering opportunity and record their music with legendary rock stars. Unsigned band, State Line Empire was recently selected to record an EP with producer Mike Clink and have Slash write, record and perform on the artists’ single – www.YourNextRecord.com.

Guitar Center Sessions is an ongoing music education-based initiative that provides musicians with the chance to network and gain insight and knowledge from their heroes in a comfortable and intimate setting. Guitarists from across the United States recently competed for the chance to participate in Sessions with legendary guitarist Steve Vai – guitarcenter.com/stevevai.

King of the Blues is a nationwide search for the next great undiscovered blues guitar player. Guitarists across the country are currently competing for thousands of dollars in prizes and the opportunity to perform at the King of the Blues finals at the House of Blues in Los Angeles and play on the same stage as Grammy Award-winning guitarist Derek Trucks.