Part of the mash-up of end-of-semester events, this year’s Battle of the Bands proved to be a great one, showcasing the talents of young musicians that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Set in the Black Box Theatre of the TAC, the Battle produced a good number of students filling the dark room, with some sitting and others standing as the bands performed their tunes. Rob Drago, one of the staff members of the TAC, described the first band that performed, SBSS, as “kinda screamo.”
“But then their lead singer kinda walked off and then they became a lot of fun,” Drago said.
With a great bass and mellow beat, this year’s winners, Yesterday’s Pants, won over the audience with their cover of “Take Me Out,” by Franz Ferdinand, and harmonized it with the Ting Ting’s “Shut up And Let Me Go.” Their first song was pretty fun, but with lyrics like, “We are not today’s band, we are just the best band,” a well played cover gave them the leg-up needed to win.
The Lawn Chair Bombers were probably the most fun and actually interacted with the crowd. The lead singer had a sinus infection, but no one would have ever known if he didn’t say so. They called themselves a ska band and brought together the crowd. Students started dancing around together in the audience. With a song about morning wood and one named, “Hey Mike, Let’s Go Golfing,” the Bombers seemed the least serious of the gang of bands, and in my opinion, the best.
Midhowl was the last to play and placed third in the competition with their screamo/rock/metal style. I’ve never moshed, and I’ve never been to an actual rock concert where people did so, so witnessing it for the first time scared me a little. I was concerned for the patrons that took part, but the music was good nonetheless.
Midhowl’s lead singer Rama Kumar said, “It’s good to see a lot of bands come out and have a place to play and compete.”
Maybe next year they’ll win first place.
