MySpace/V CAST Battle of the BLANDS Finalists Unveiled

Out of 4,000+ entries, MySpace and Verizon Wireless have managed to choose 5 super-slick, relatively generic, readily-radio-deployable (or mobile, or Web, of course) artists as finalists in the “Calling All Bands” contest.

As I wrote in a ClickZ story last week, Verizon Wireless hopes to appeal to the underground sounds set through the contest, and other efforts like supplementing its indie music library and offering mobile concert footage from SXSW. The winner, to be announced on MySpace March 29, will have a chance to have their song, video, ring tone and ring back tone released on Verizon Wireless. (In case you’re not clued-in, a ring back tone plays in place of a standard ring when you’re waiting for the person you’re calling to pick up.)

As for the finalists, there’s super-snot-sters The Arrival; Unset, a new-metal growly vocals/pleasing harmony hybrid bound to please the Hot Topic shopper set; Berto Ramo, an upbeat, latin jazzy hip hop act; Aroarah, a vocal-driven slick all-chick hard rock band with a metal edge (get it: they are astronomy-loving women, hear them roar-ah?); and Parlour Boys, a dance-y, poppy, emo-y, indie group. (There’s something very Oscar Wilde-esque about that name, Parlour Boys. Something tells me their music won’t age quite as well as Dorian Gray, though.)

I’ll have to pass on the Verizon VCast service for now, at least until they pick the hardest workin’ band in Brooklyn as their contest winners….