The Lottery League has the potential to be either the greatest event the local music scene has witnessed in years, or the biggest clusterf*ck ever to grace the Beachland Stage. Either way, you have to hand it to the Council of Chiefs for putting together this ambitious project.

Here’s the basics: This past weekend, over 130 area musicians entered themselves into a random drawing to create 33 new bands. The only rule was none of the musicians in the new bands could have played with any of their new bandmates in any previous band. The newly formed bands now have two months to work out a ten minute set with one original composition for a showcase at The Beachland on April 12th.

While I wouldn’t expect all 33 bands to make it through to the showcase, a quick scan of the lottery’s results does reveal some really intriguing combinations: Band III with Dave Petrovich of The Very Knees, and John Polomsky (Bare Essentials), Dale Ursic (Homostupids, The X Bolex), and Mike Rodemann (No Peace, Puncture Wound) has the potential to SHRED. While Band XVII which pairs Tony Vorell of easy rockers Expecting Rain with Nathan Bowers of the experimental noise band Tusco Terror, Lawrence Caswell of This Moment in Black History, and Matt Clement (Kong Sauce, Bella Sylva) is one of more unpredictable combos. Other bands to keep your eyes on are Band V (with Ryan Weitzel of Mystery of Two and Sean Djurcic of National Sucide Day), Band X (with members of Roue, TMIBH, and 6 Parts 7), and Band XXII (feat. members of Houseguest, Chum, The Deathers and Sun God with singer/songerwriter Mike Uva).

The full results of The Lottery League can be found here.