Hey Monea! from Cleveland, Ohio, took the top spot in Hard Rock Rising: The Global Battle Of The Bands. Fierce competition during every phase of the contest didn't deter Hey Monea!, as they kept their eyes straight ahead and focused on winning. From creatively motivating their fans to vote online to getting airtime on Cleveland morning TV, the band really, really, really wanted to win this thing. And they did!

Four months ago, we put out a call for entries for Hard Rock Rising, our global battle of the bands competition. Partnering with ReverbNation, an online community of over 2 million music industry professionals (artists, managers, labels, venues, festivals/events), Hard Rock took band submissions in 86 markets around the world, with each band eyeing the grand prize of flying to London to play the Hard Rock Calling music festival in historic, and amazingly lovely, Hyde Park.

The road to that grand prize would not be easy, though. We received over 12,000 submissions! 12,000! Think about that. The grand prize winner would have to beat out 11,999 other bands. Yep, that's not your usual, run-of-the-mill battle of the bands competition at your local venue. First, the bands went through an online vote, in which fans determined which bands in each market would play live at Hard Rock Cafe for the second round of the contest. Next, the 9 or so bands with the most votes in each market battled it out live at the Cafes, vying to be the band that would represent their market in the Finals. One band from each Cafe battle, 86 in all, then battled it out in an online vote to determine the Top 10. Once it got down to the Top 10, an industry panel (including Little Steven of the E Street Band) voted on their favorites. Easy, right? Not so much. The competition was intense at every turn, with bands the world over showing everyone that music truly is the universal language and that there are incredible bands everywhere.

But, there could be only one, and Hey Monea! weathered the battles like champs. Hard Rock Rising found its grand prize winner and Hey Monea! will travel to London in July to play the mainstage at Hard Rock Calling! Yep, it's gonna be a great summer.