Local band to show America that area's got talent

Have you ever wondered if your talents are strong enough to survive the judgments of that opinionated Englishman, Simon Cowell? Well, one country-rock band from Jacksonville is about to find out.

Local group Bitz-N-Pieces has an audition scheduled for the NBC hit America’s Got Talent on February 2, in Charlotte. Even getting this first audition is an accomplishment on it’s own.

“We applied for the show on-line, and were lucky enough to get invited to try out. We’ve already had to sign confidentiality contracts and everything. We can say that we’re going, but once it’s done, we’re not allowed to say how it went so that they can show it on television,” said Jay Mullins, one of the band’s lead guitarists.

Bits-N-Pieces may not have even been auditioning for the show if it wasn’t for the encouragement of Jay’s girlfriend, Candy McChesney.

“A few of the guys in the band were hanging around our living room singing and harmonizing and I said, ‘Ya’ll are too good to just be playing bars. It’s about time we tried for the next thing.’ I looked around on-line for possibilities and stumbled upon the America’s Got Talent website and we got it going from there,” said McChesney.

The guys from Bitz-N-Pieces (Vocalist and Guitarist Grant Smith, Co-lead guitarist Justin Futrell, Bassist Anthony Audet, and Drummer David Carter) will be traveling to Charlotte the night before the audition and staying in a hotel so they will be ready for the next day’s audition, which begins at an hour that most musicians don’t like: 9 a.m. They also have friends, family and fans that are going to be joining them in Charlotte from as far away as Virginia.

“We keep having to call the hotel and add more and more rooms for more and more people that are coming out to support the band. Even the hotel owner said he might go see the audition,” said McChesney.

America’s Got Talent Creator Simon Cowell, who many people know as the tough to please American Idol judge, won’t be the only celebrity judge in attendance at the Charlotte auditions. Also in attendance with their hands on buzzers will be Sharon Osbourne, David Hasselhoff and Piers Morgan.

It’s still not a sure thing that Bitz-N-Pieces will get to face these judges. When they arrive at the audition, a preliminary set of judges will tell them whether or not they think they have enough talent to move to the next level.

But if these producers give the approval, the band will move to the next room and have 90 seconds to perform before the three celebrity judges.

“We’ve already decided that we’re going to go in there and tell all of the judges that we’re just glad to be there. We’re going to be real polite and then try to show them what we got with our song,” said Mullins, who once got to open a show for country superstars Merle Haggard and Alabama by winning a battle of the bands contest.

It’s not clear yet which song the band will play at the audition, but Mullins said that it would probably be an original. However, if asked, the band will have a cover song ready to be played as well.

No matter what happens, the band members have expressed they are proud to bring something positive to the nation out of Jacksonville.

“Lately, we’ve seen the area in the national spotlight for something unfortunate and we want to do something for the Jacksonville that people can be proud of,” said Mullins.

Although their lips will be legally sealed from talking about the show, Bitz-N-Pieces won’t be stopped from singing a show. Their next local performance will be just a few days after the audition. They will be playing Lo-re-lei’s Pub and Grill in Snead’s Ferry on February 15 and 16. Between now and then, Bits-N-Pieces will be hoping that their long trip to play for a short time will bring them big success.