The OU Society of Professional Journalists presents: Battle of the Bands / April 26, 2012 / The Union

By: Nadia Kurtz, Staff Writer
Photos By: Nadia Kurtz

Tonight at The Union, a little friendly competition was in the air.   The local bar was hosting a Battle of the Bands between Ohio University’s own Friends In Distraction and The Lost Boys.  The two bands have totally different styles, but they both kept the audience rocking until the end.

The Lost Boys dominated the first act, opening with a beautiful “Amazing Grace” cover played by Ben Leeson on the accordion.  When Mitchell Toler and Kyle Stansell joined in singing in perfect harmony, you know the show is about to be good.

The band of Ohio University freshmen formed only last quarter.  Since then the multi-talented musicians have put together an impressive repertoire of original songs along with a number of well-arranged covers.  The band has been seen at The Front Room and Donkey Coffee and performed their first official show last Friday alongside none other but tonight’s competition.

After their impressive opening, things began to go slightly awry.  The sound was muffled and the microphones were screaming.  As cringe-worthy as it was at first, The Lost Boys  easily masked the awful sound with their upbeat tunes.  Mitch gets the crowd moving with his original “My Hearse” while Ben is on the keyboard and Kyle joins in on the chorus with his signature falsetto.

Kyle then performs his only original of the show as front-man while Mitch comes in with his sporadic guitar solos and jumping all over the stage as usual.

Next, we begin to see some variety.  Kyle moves to the back on the cajon drum and sings background harmonies while Ben takes the front.  His husky yet melodic voice hushes the crowd with his original, “Noise.”  Then the band goes into some of their catchier songs and gets the crowd clapping along to “Redundant Days” and “My Confusion.”  At this point, Ben is on the ukelele which adds a tinkling melodic effect.  Kyle then comes in on the accordion for their second to last song, “Crumbling.”  This song slows things down a bit.

It does not last long, however, as The Lost Boys close their set with the crowd-favorite, a cover of “Shout.”  By the end of their act, the band has the crowd dancing and screaming the words to the song.  The Lost Boys were definitely a hit.

Next up was a slightly different band both musically and content-wise.  Friends In Distraction are folksy, crazy, and somewhat obscene lyrically.  But who doesn’t like a band with a rebellious side?

The three-member band has been playing together since last quarter as well, with sophomore Dan Baker as their frontman, freshman Garrett Hood on lead guitar and freshman Dylan Sams on the djembe drum.

The band starts off their performance with an upbeat cover of “Your Gonna Go Far Kid” originally by The Offspring.  The start to act two is quite shaky as the sound is back to being awful and you can hardly hear Dan singing.  The trio, or rather Dan, puts on quite a show, however, as he runs all over the stage like a mad-man.

The band is pretty much a combination of folk and rock and are continually upbeat.  Dan goes into an original called “1993,” the sound is adjusted, and then they're rolling with Dylan going to town on the djembe.  They reel in the crowd with some audience participation, and then transition into a lengthy ballad called “Nester.”

Then the band plays a song called “Caked.”  If you have been to Front Room for open mic night, I guarantee you have heard this song.  Dan invites anyone who knows the lyrics to the stage and the crowd goes nuts.

The next song is quite different.  Dan switches over to a midi controller and Garrett takes the mic.  Next is a cover of “Oh, Comely” by Neutral Milk Hotel, which slows down the overall pace of the show.

The mic goes back to Dan as he invites a childhood friend to the stage and sings about his hometown, New Jersey, in an original called “Colonia.”  The band closes the show while the crowd is clapping along and obviously wanting more.  Unfortunately though, the show is over and a decision must be made.

It was difficult at that point to come up with a winner.  The show had been pretty consistent as far as excitement from the audience went.  Both bands were totally different in style but really revved up the mood and had a lot of versatility.  As both bands and the audience anxiously awaited the announcement which band would win the five hours of free studio time (which is the winning prize), the verdict came: and the winners are The Lost Boys!

The crowd went wild, of course, including Friends In Distraction.  The Lost Boys graciously took their award and offered to split the five hours between the two bands.  I think it is safe to say the night was a success.

What rock competition? High Schoolers just want to have fun!

It has been almost three years since I last stepped foot into Athens High School, and that was my 2007 graduation. Out of sheer curiosity, the need for content for a feature article and Saturday boredom, I finally returned with my two siblings (who go to the school) and boyfriend to see how the then-freshmens are utilizing their last semester as impending graduates.

Battle of the Bands took place in the school's small auditorium. Its capacity pushes somewhere along the line of 250, but seats were not needed for half the attendees. The whole event was set-up by the school's student council, so the emcees of the night were its two representatives. (My foggy memory renders me unsure as to exactly what positions.) As their between-sets introductions proved, this event was and has always focused itself on the current AHS students. Although poorly rehearsed (if at all), the students seemed to get them. This is also true with tonight's roster of performers, as once again, I felt out of the loop during certain instances of the night.

On the contrary, I don't see anything wrong with it, because this was the most spirit-filled, enthusiastic Battle of the Bands I have ever seen. Seriously, where DID all this enthusiasm come from?! Each band, regardless of how good they were, managed to cover the floor with spectators. In return, the spectators flailed their arms, shamelessly sang along and pushed to the front to touch their classmate's hand and warm their hands in guitar solos. During the second half of the show, I grimaced every time a wave of bras catapulted their way on stage. I didn't want to know from WHO they came from, but I was in panic when one made its way towards me. There are two cops in patrol. I am an adult. I'd rather not deal with them at a high school event.

This entry would be novel-worthy if I went into every detail of the night. Some highlights include a "freestyle" rap interlude after The Remedy's cover of Weezer's "Say It Ain't So," in which awkward attention directed itself at the freshmen when half of the audience pointed and screamed, "Freshmen! Freshmen!" Two and Fro, the freshmen-filled second act, blew away everyone with their instrumental talent, taking on licks and solos of "Foxy Lady" by Jimi Hendrix and incorporating a classics-influenced original called "Baby, You're Smokin'." The metal-established act T.M.P. stole my wretched heart with an Iced Earth and Megadeth cover. It was also ladies night, as most took over the acoustic performances and played varieties from Paramore, The Veronicas, Taylor Swift and The xx.

Like the Athens' music scene, most bands performing that night shared band members. Some of the bands played to perfection, while others emulated the end project of practicing on Rock Band. The night capped off with the residential Andrew W.K. cover band "Who Knows?" They have an original called "Keep It Up," which was eerily similar to anything Andrew himself would have composed. After party-chants, a bursting piñata filled with candy and Magic cards and an impromptu, experimental set, it was the funkified Mauve Avengers who took the first prize: four-track recording in the ACRN studio, plus a spot in an ACRN-hosted show.

-Rika Nurrahmah, Senior Writer