On Saturday, Feb. 5th, Westside High School hosted Battle of the Bands, a competition between bands after the Winter Formal dance. Five different bands competed to win. The show was hosted by three emcees: Jad Haddadin, Anson Haney, and Charlotte Miller. In between ’ performances, the emcees hosted one-minute challenges in which they would pick volunteers from the audience to participate in a contest to win a gift card, such as a paper airplane making contest. 

At the end of the competition, the audience voted on the winner by means of which band got the loudest applause. The band Railstone won by popular opinion. This method was a good way of determining a winner, but less accurate with determining the total ranking. These are the official Battle of the Bands bands and emcee ratings (listed by order of appearance). 

Bands:

PM Jazz:

This was a solid performance. PM Jazz sounded like something you’d hear playing in a hazy 1920s nightclub. They also featured a sharply dressed conductor who kept everyone nicely on beat. One of the two bassists in the band was visibly grooving and bobbing his head, but the other one looked a little uncomfortable. The performance was getting a little long and the audience was losing its focus until Ted Twit shredded a trumpet solo. The crowd went wild. Overall: 8/10. Loved the trumpet solo.

Railstone:

Railstone was the best band to perform. They performed two songs: “Mississippi Queen” and an original. I actually preferred the original over “Mississippi Queen” because it had more impressive guitar riffs. It was also lyrically better than the lead singer just shouting “Mississippi queen, if you know what I mean,” over and over. Eric Mullen, formerly known as the groovy bassist from PM Jazz, also played bass for Railstone. He made the performance. He had curly rocker hair that went down to his shoulders. Along with all of his jumping and Marty McFly guitar moves, he did this thing where he helicoptered his hair. The crowd went wild. Overall rating: 10/10. Cool guitar riffs. 

Jackson and the Ding Dongs:

Jackson and the Ding Dongs began their performance by saying “We’re here to do one thing and one thing only: lower the bar.” Jackson and the Ding Dongs did not disappoint. Jackson Ingvoldstad, the lead singer and guitarist spent the whole set playing a single riff and meowing loudly into the microphone. Joe Vermillion sat behind him playing a single, uneven beat behind him on a snare drum. At first I was confused, because I thought Hugo Bowden was supposed to be in the band. Then, out of nowhere, he appeared and banged a triangle. He proceeded to run around through the audience banging his triangle. Somehow he managed to not smile the whole time. Overall: 5/10. They did what they set out to do.. Sax,

Sax, Sax, Whacks, and Another Sax:

This was the second jazz performance of the night. Musicians consisted mostly of members of PM Jazz. Everyone was technically competent, but it was pretty difficult to follow up after Railstone and Jackson and the Ding Dongs. They played “Tequila.” It was a fun song and everyone shouted “tequila” at the appropriate time. The only downside was that they lacked the confidence and showmanship of the other groups. Overall rating: 4/10. Felt too much like a band recital and the name was a little too long.

Boxhouse: 

I feel like the true performance began before their set actually started. Isaak Burnet, the lead singer and one of the guitarists, crawled around the stage searching for outlets to plug his amps into. He was wearing fingerless gloves, a leather jacket, and black eyeshadow that ran down his face like tears. The entire band was decked out in punk attire (bonus points for commitment to the show) with the exception of Nick Svoboda on bass who was dressed like a dad who just got a fresh haul from REI. The band sang “American Idiot” by Greenday. I wasn’t totally sure the lead singer knew the words because it was pretty unintelligible, but I think it added to the charm. Apparently the lead singer asked Sam Barrett (the organizer of the event) if he could shout out a swear word at the end of the show. She said “no.” Kind of defeats the message of the song, but at least he was being considerate.  At the end of the show, the drummer broke a drumstick and threw his other one into the audience. It hit Zev Gordman. Serves him right for being on his phone during the show. The drummer then tackled the other guitarist off the stage. Overall: 7/10. Stunning cinematic performance.

Emcees:

Jad “Beatz” Haddadin:

The best emcee by far. He got the crowd stirred up but could also get them to quiet down. My only criticism was that he kept asking for four people to compete in the one-minute challenges and then would only pick three people. Overall: 9/10. 

Anson Haney:

Second best emcee. He had better jokes written into his script than Jad, but it was impossible to hear him because of the audience. He also offered better commentary during the one-minute challenges and was probably the best announcer, but couldn’t rile up the crowd that well. Overall: 8/10. 

Charlotte Miller:

Charlotte was a fine emcee, she was just really hard to hear and should’ve yelled louder. Bonus points because I liked her dress, it was pretty. Overall: 6/10.