Music • Bands
competed for $500 and other prizes
at Friday’s Battle of the Bands.
Jeremy Eichenbaum / Online Forty-Niner
Local bands compete
for money, prizes, recognition
By
Kyle Cavaness
OnlineForty-Niner
Contributing Writer
Musical diversity and originality won out over volume and stage presence Friday
night at Cal State Long Beach’s Battle of the Bands.
CSULB Program Council, student-run radio station KBEACH.org and the Long Beach
Union Weekly newspaper sponsored the event. The final eight bands that performed
Friday night were whittled down from 29 original candidates who auditioned
for judges from the three organizations.
“
We wanted to make sure that there were as many bands from as many genres as
we could get a hold of,” said Patrick Dooley, editor-in-chief of the
Union. “We didn’t want 30 indie-rock bands, or 20 prog-rock band.
We picked the groups that best represented [their] style.”
First-place winner John-a-Dreams was not easily labeled—judge Joan de
Albuquerque, associate director of bands at CSULB, labeled them as—“quasi-’80s
sounding”—but said the band made up for it with instrumental prowess
and passionate playing. Led by the feverish keyboards of Doug Carter, John-A-Dreams
impressed the judges by incorporating many different influences and making “happy
music,” according to judge and Associated Students Inc. president Jaime
Pollock. The group drew a partial standing ovation at the end of their two-song
set, and strong scores from all of the judges.
The judges based their scores on several subjects, including musicianship and
stage presence. The panel of five judges—which also included Jeff Jarvis,
CSULB’s Director of Jazz Studies; Chance Decker, Director of the Beach
Pride Center; and Dave Edwards, Student Union Director—gave each band
notes and their score at the end of each set, which was often accompanied by
cheers from the crowd if they agreed, and boos and catcalls if they did not.
Second-place winner Boris Smile brought an eclectic sound to the Battle of
the Bands; a violin replaced the groups’ usual female vocalist, “because
she had to work at Starbucks,” according to lead singer Wesley Chung.
The group played three songs; “Cheaters Never Prosper,” “The
Talk,” about the birds and the bees talk between a father and son and “Emergencies.” Chung
attributed his lyrics to personal experiences, especially “Cheaters.”
“
I was [upset] with people cheating all the time,” he said. Edwards called
the band “a little weird but a whole lot of fun,” and all of the
judges liked the originality and humor the band brought to the stage.
The eight bands competed for $500 and several opportunities to play at the
Nugget next semester, though the prizes were secondary to the publicity and
recognition the bands received.
“
These guys are here for the exposure, [which is] really great about tonight,” Dooley
said.
The other groups at Friday night’s show also received enthusiastic responses
from both judges and fans. Several
groups, such as Chasom and Miss Leota, had members run out into the audience
to encourage participation. All eight of the bands have Web pages that can
be found through the Program Council or the KBEACH.org Web site.
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