Battle of the Bands

For the third year in a row, students packed into the Magnolia Ballroom on a spring night to see their peers compete. Guitars wailed and drums boomed throughout the Battle of the Bands this past Thursday, showcasing their owners’ talents and enthralling the crowd.

No matter the age or musical preference of those in the audience, most bands had a universal appeal. The acts’ styles ranged from pop-punk to hip-hop, from solo guitarists to bluegrass and rap trios to five-member traditional rock bands.

Junior sociology major Jamie Knox and senior management major David McLaughlin, the event coordinators, began planning the competition as far back as September.

“I was really pleased with this year’s Battle of the Bands. Everything ran very smoothly,” Knox said. “It was a very competitive year. I was thoroughly impressed by all of the performers this year.”

The competition was split into three categories this year. Like previous years, both the judges and the audience voted in separate ballots for the best band. But this year, an additional category was added by RSA and Phi Mu Alpha for the “talent acts,” which consisted of a solo artist and two hip-hop groups, and was graded by audience applause. The winner in each category won varying amounts of cash prizes.

The groups represented in the band competition included Titan, Sun Set East, Seconds From Falling, Blind Child, and Merfin’ Me. The talent acts were Daniel Goldberg, NGP and Young Krew.

Titan and Seconds From Falling returned to the competition, as they both participated last year. In fact, Seconds From Falling won the audiences’ vote in 2009. The judges’ choice in 2009, The Stumbling Toads, also returned to play a set while the judges were deliberating on the competing bands.

This year, one band won both the audience and judges’ votes – Blind Child, which consists of Jason Trankle, Emerson Stephens, Mike Thompson and Jess Scully. As winners, the group will have the chance to perform on campus at the RSA finale April 22.

“We all had a lot of fun. The people who arranged it did a great job.” said Blind Child guitarist Jason Trankle, a freshman physics major. “I thought that all of the acts this year were very good and there was a lot of variation in the music that they played.”

Also, rap group NGP won the award for the talent acts.

Sophomore business major Matt Williams played as the rhythm guitarist in Seconds From Falling as well as rapped in Young Krew.

“It was an adrenaline rush playing in a rock group and switching to rap in front of a sold-out crowd,” Williams said.

“This was the first year that we reached maximum capacity,” Knox said. For next year, “there is discussion of holding the event in the fall and having the winner play at the Homecoming concert.”

Though next year’s plans are only discussions at this point, RSA and Phi Mu Alpha are looking for volunteers to help run future competitions.

Posted by Ryan Del Campo on Apr 16 2010. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry