Red Light Romeo

facebook.com/RedLightRomeoVA

Second Place: Avers

Third Place: Rosie Soul and the Rock and Roll Cowboys

Voters love cover bands. Red Light Romeo, a hard rock cover band that knows no stylistic boundaries, has been drawing rabid fans to spots such as Sharky’s in Glen Allen and Outlaws in Petersburg. The band plays a diverse range of covers (see their second place win in that category) and surprisingly, has only been together a year, already scoring 2,600 Facebook fans. Lead singer Andrew Saunders says they're looking to make more inroads into the city at venues such as Broadberry; and he notes that they've played charity events as well for Harley Davidson. Also getting attention is Avers, an original band that grabbed national media attention this year and was featured on the cover of Style’s annual Music Issue. The group not only opened the Foo Fighters show (whose music many of our cover bands play) at the National, but also got props from veteran editor David Fricke of Rolling Stone at a South by Southwest gig. At press time, their anticipated sophomore album was being mastered. Rosie Soul and the Rock and Roll Cowboys issued a public video plea for fans to not vote for them, seeking to put the spotlight elsewhere. But fans showed up anyway.

Editor's note: This entry has been updated to include more information about the winner.