2006 Battle of the Bands winners announced: Ernie Ball.

ERNIE BALL HAS announced the official winning bands of both the live Battle of the Bands 10 Showcase competition and the fan-driven Online Battle. Over nine months ago almost 12,000 bands registered for the competition.

The four Battle of the Bands 10 Showcase winners are: Don't Die Cindy from Panama City, Florida; Karate High School from San Mateo, California; Ludo from St. Louis, Missouri; and Natives of The New Dawn from Grosse Point Woods, Michigan. The winners received loads of music loot and the opportunity to perform before label representatives, prominent music manufacturers, and Ernie Ball/Vans Warped Tour brass during an elaborate Hollywood event.

Taking home thousands of dollars in rock 'n' roll prizes from Battle sponsors, the four winning bands of the Online Battle, which allows fans to vote for their favorite bands on the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands 10 website, are: Karate High School from San Mateo, California; My Getaway from Palm Coast, Florida; These Silhouettes from Cobourg, Ontario, Canada; and The Weakend from Sterling Heights, Michigan.

"We've been so impressed with the amazing talent and drive of this year's Battle bands," said Brian Ball of the Ernie Ball Company. "We're thrilled to be able to give these young rockers a forum to express themselves, the opportunity to be heard by such a vast and loyal audience, and I'm confident that the winning bands will continue to make the Ernie Ball company proud."

This year's Hollywood Showcase was held at the Vans Warped Tour After-party on November 30 at the Hollywood Key Club with special guests Mute Math and Cute Is What We Aim For headlining the show.

In addition to playing for a room full of big music names, each Showcase band received thousands of dollars worth of rock 'n' roll prizes from Battle 10 sponsors, including a $10,000 shopping spree at Guitar Center, an Electrovoice microphone, a Music Man bass and guitar, a DW drum kit, a Mark Bass cabinet and head, a Krank Amplification cabinet, a TC Electronic Vintage Delay kit, a Coffin Cases drum hardware case, an Auralex DST kit, a Modern Amusement assortment of clothes, and, from Ernie Ball, 52 sets of guitar strings and 12 sets of bass strings.

"Winning the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands competition is like graduating with honors from college with a Master's degree in rocking," said Jess Thibodeau of Natives of the New Dawn. "We have much love and respect for all the bands who rocked for a chance at this."

Winners of the Online Battle also went home with a generous share of fun music prizes including Electro-Voice microphones, an M-Audio guitar performance/recording tool, monitors, keyboard controllers, a virtual dram and bass rack and studio pack backpack, Taylor guitars, Zildjian cymbal pack and sticks, Remo drumheads, a BOSS ME-50 guitar multiple effects processor, an Auralex producers pack, an OLP bass and guitar, and, from Ernie Ball, 24 sets of guitar strings and six sets of bass strings.

"Winning the Online Battle is just too exciting," said James Walmsley of The Weakend. "Ernie Ball and the voters have given us new life ... a new pulse. We cannot thank anyone involved in this opportunity enough."

Since its debut ten years ago, the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands has given the best local bands from North America the opportunity to showcase their talents in the world's longest running and largest live music promotion in the music industry. The online contest allows winners to be chosen by the fans themselves.

The Vans Warped Tour, the most prominent live music festival in North America, hit 46 major venues in the United States and Canada and featured, among others, My Chemical Romance, Thrice, Hawthorne Heights, Atreyu, and The Offspring.