Entirely student produced and performed, Battle of the Bands is a much looked forward to annual event in the UT music community.
Student productions held the auditions in Reeves theatre last weekend, selecting this year’s bands for the competition.
For UT musicians, the Battle is a golden opportunity to showcase their music for the masses. Many try-out in hopes of creating a fan base and having their music heard.
Senior Jonathan Mojica says he’s “looking forward to performing”. Mojica, Last of the Mojicans band member, performed last year with 20/20 Boulevard at the Party in the Park. Another band mate, Christopher Perry, senior, has previously performed in Battle of the Bands.
The two say they come from two different musical worlds–Perry’s style is more alternative based and Mojica’s is more hip hop. The two represented their band and auditioned with the song “Tangerine Sky.”
Other band mates couldn’t make the audition, but normally, last of the Mojicans is a four man band. With Eric Poitras on the drums and Keith Miller on the bass, the members draw from a wide variety of genres, making for a very unique sound.
Preparing for Battle of the Bands takes “a lot of work and a lot of coordination,” says Perry. “It’s hard making a practice schedule, and I’m a perfectionist.”
Sharing bandmates seems to be common practice in the UT band world.
Formally members of 20/20 Boulevard, juniors Miles Parks and Gordon Bonnett wanted to change their style and try something new. They changed their band name and minus a few of their old members, they wrote some new, very different music.
They auditioned with their new original single “One.”
The soothing melody combined with poetic, rap-like verses made for a beautiful but haunting kind of song.
The chorus was sung by Bonnett, while Parks performed the spoken verses: “My one with the blues. My undying amor.”
Parks describes the song as sounding “as if Radiohead met spoken word.”
“’One is a product of our shared passions and creative wills to inspire ourselves and others to do something different,” says Bonnett.
“Compared to some genres we’re pretty tame on the different or weird meter.”
The song and it’s inspiration happened spontaneously.
“Miles was playing me this cool simple riff on guitar and I had this beat I made up which seemed to fit,” says Bonnett.
“Then adding some more production and a spoken word vibe on the song just tied it together even more.”
Solo artists auditioned as well. Rapper Nick Kane tried out, along with the bands White Noise, The View from the East Coast, T.S.A and Jahguar, a reggae band with an Expendables feel to their songs.
For the audition, Jahguar played a few of their newer songs, “Sun May Rise” and “Fight the Negative.”
You might have seen them perform at last year’s battle. Band members include singer and songwriter Ryan Fitzgerald, Frankie Snyder on the guitar, Jamey Foldhazy on the drums, John Gilhart on the keyboard and Thomas Griggs on the bass. Vocals are performed by Foldhazy, Fitzgerald and Gilhart.
This year’s Battle of the Bands will be on Feb. 17 at 9 p.m. in the Vaughn courtyard. This year more than ever, there’s a large variety of styles represented and most importantly, your fellow Spartans get to share there passion and music.
“I personally don’t care if our music gets on the radio, gives us more likes or if people laugh about it or swoon over it,” says Bonnett. “It’s all about just having fun…that’s all that matters.”
Sophie Erber can be reached at serber@spartans.ut.com.