Last band standing

Battle of the Bands to bestow bragging rights

By Crystal Hohenthaner, Journal staff | Monday, October 13, 2008

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Rapid City is full of musically talented kids, and for the most part, the school system supports these young musicians. They fill the orchestras, bands, choirs and theater classes and can be seen at performances throughout the year.

But what about the musicians who aren’t able to pursue their talents though existing classes, clubs and performances?

They can start a band.

In an effort to support these young musicians, Central High School Players and Advocates for Creative Theatre Students are sponsoring the second annual Battle of the Bands at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, in Central’s Howard Naasz Gymnasium. Tickets are $5.

Susan Rawson, ACTS president and parent of a high school student, said the battle is meant to encourage the kids and raise funds for several groups.

“We want to promote local amateur bands and to encourage local middle school and senior high students to participate in that,” Rawson said. “It is also a bit of a fundraiser. ACTS will use the money from ticket sales for our scholarships for graduating seniors, to fund the summer theater camps that we host in July and to fund ACTS productions.”

Auditions for the battle were held last Saturday in Central’s theater and were open to all high school and middle school kids. Five bands auditioned to fight it out, rock style, along with the winner of last year’s battle, The Commodities, who did not have to audition.

Four of the auditioning bands were chosen to compete: The Outlaws of Poker Flats, Roll On Two, Primordial Flame and Corporate Lemonade Stand.

The fifth band, FROSH, will perform as a noncompetitive showcase band.

Sheldon Hoch, guitarist with FROSH, said his band has been together for about three weeks and will be performing all covers. “We kind of made them into our own songs, though,” he said. “For example, we’re doing the ‘Power Rangers’ theme song and we made it into a kind of heavy-metal piece.”

Among the bands competing, Primordial Flame has been playing together for about seven months. The group started “because we’re talented and we want to put it to a good use,” said guitarist Alex Rensch.

The Outlaws of Poker Flats already has quite a bit of performance experience. “We’re a working band,” said bassist Devin Massopust. “We’ve played all over - Thirsty’s, the Heritage Festival, the YMCA street dance, the West Boulevard Festival.”

The group wrote four songs for the auditions, including numbers about farmers’ daughters, women of the night and buffalo, said Massopust. Bandmate Eric Schlimgen describes the group’s sound as “prairie rock.”

Stephen Nixon, a bass guitarist with Corporate Lemonade Stand, said his group plays all punk rock songs, including his favorite, “She’s Had a Few.” “It’s very punk rock. You know: short, fun to play and very energetic,” he said.

Corporate Lemonade Stand has played together about three months, but Nixon said he has been in bands with many of his competitors. “Yeah, pretty much everyone in this room has been in a band with someone else in the room,” he said.

The real battle begins Saturday night and will be open to the public. Rawson said everyone in the community is welcome, but that the battle also will be “a great opportunity for parents, aunts, uncles and the entire family to come see what their kids are up to.”

Last year, the event brought in around 250 audience members, and Rawson is hoping for an even bigger turnout this year.

“I think it would be great if we had a thousand,” Rawson said. “My daughter is laughing at me. I guess 500 would be good.

Each band will have a 25-minute set to show the audience and the judges what they’ve got. Cover songs are allowed, but the bands that were chosen all have written their own material.

Winners will be announced the night of the battle. Unfortunately, there is not big recording contract available for the winners. However, Joey Lore, Central’s technical director, said the groups will be battling for bragging rights.

“There’s no prize money,” Lore said. “There will be a medal for each member of the winning band that will say ‘Battle of the Bands’ and have the year on it. Just so they have something to remember it by.”

Lore, who helped judge auditions, also said that the competition is going to be “fierce.”

“It’s going to be fierce in the way that there are so many talented kids,” he said. “I don’t want to single anyone out – because all the kids are great – but there are some really great guitarists. It just seems like more kids are picking up the guitar.”

Lore will be behind the scenes, serving as technical director during the battle. He anticipates a “very entertaining evening.”

“This gives kids an opportunity to rock out,” he said. “We want to show the kids we care what they’re doing. Just because they aren’t in band or orchestra class doesn’t mean that the music they are creating doesn’t count. This creates a platform for them to show their talent and pursue their aspirations.”

If you go

What: Battle of the Bands, sponsored by the Central High School Players and Advocates for Creative Theatre Students

When: 6 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 4

Where: Naasz Gymnasium at Central High School

Tickets: $5 at the door; open to the public

Contact Crystal Hohenthaner at 394-8329 or crystalhohenthaner@rapidcityjournal.com.