Septembre Russell
Two years have passed since a Battle of the Bands competition has taken place on campus.
This year’s participants have fulfilled the preliminary requirements, and seven bands are registered and confirmed to perform in the competition at 8 p.m. April 30 in Ice Auditorium.
Musical Event Chair senior Renata Tirta said the objective of the contest is to place emphasis on bands instead of orchestras or ensembles.
“It’s going to be a fun night,” Tirta said. “It’s important to show the diversity between the bands we have on campus.”
The structure of the competition differs from the previous Battle of the Bands event, Tirta said.
“This year the prizes are a bit bigger, so there is a lot more at stake,” she said. “Because of that, we have a more established set of rules.”
Competition rules require that the majority of each band’s members are current students, a time limit of 15 minutes, original songs must take precedence over covers and participants may only perform with one band.
Battle of the Bands will be judged by a panel in areas of musicality, originality and performance energy, Tirta said. Audience response will be included in the judging process for fairness because, as Tirta said, the event should not be a popularity contest.
The winner of Battle of the Bands will receive eight hours of studio time in a local recording studio, she said.
“It is nice to do something on a larger scale that’s out of the ordinary [and] that is getting a lot of people excited,” Tirta said. “It’s good to see that it’s bringing out new people into the Linfield musical event circle.”
An all-female band named Killer Whale is among the competitors. Senior Amy Shoemaker and juniors Leah Julius and Joy Nelson are the members featured in the band. Nelson said she does not think the all-female aspect of Killer Whale will set it apart, but she said she thinks it is interesting.
The band members have played music together for the duration of this semester, Julius said. They have known one another for at least two years, and each has performed in Cat Cabs separately, Nelson said.
“We all listen to very different types of music, so it’s very interesting, I think, when we get together,” Julius said.
For the competition, the Killer Whale set will include a unique blend of indie, acoustic and folk-oriented music, Nelson and Julius said.
“I certainly hope that it will become an annual event,“ Tirta said. “I hope people will come out and support the presence of music on campus.”