Battle of the Bands features local groups
More than 300 people gathered in the Taggart Student Center Ballroom for the annual Battle of the Bands Wednesday.
The Battle of the Bands is sponsored by the Associated Students of Utah State University.
This year, there were seven bands who participated in the show, Nine Spine Stickleback, Jerry, Day of Less, Faultline, Cinnamon Brown and the Eskimos, Myramyd and TSB.
Jeremy Taylor, a sophomore liberal arts major, is a member of TSB.
“Our band has been together nine years and now we have the same original four band members. We split for a few years to serve LDS missions and we have been back together for about a year,” Taylor said.
Jed Smith, a sophomore business major, is also a member of TSB.
“The Battle of the Bands is just a good opportunity to see a lot of different bands incorporate new sounds. It’s also a good way to market your band because a lot of people come out to see it. [It’s] just a time to put on a good show,” Smith said.
TSB has just put together an album and is trying to get it pressed, Smith said.
The bands who participated played both popular songs by other artists as well as original pieces.
Jerry performed the Beastie Boys’ Sabotage and Cinnamon Brown and the Eskimos played a rendition of Brick House, originally done by the Commodores.
The bands came from local areas including Logan, Ogden and Salt Lake City but the majority of the band members are USU students or alumni.
Quinn Brown, a USU alumnus is now working as a geologist in Salt Lake City and is a member of Cinnamon Brown and the Eskimos.
“It’s just fun to get together and play. We play up to three times a week so this is just for fun. We don’t really care if we win [the Battle of the Bands] or not. All the bands are great and it’s just fun to play in our hometown,” Brown said.
The group, whose name “just kinda stuck” after Quinn Brown was given the nickname “Cinnamon Brown” by an uncle, will be on tour next week Brown said.
“We leave next week to go play in Omaha, Neb., Rockpoint, Ill., and a couple of cities in Iowa,” Brown said.
Tricia Scheele, a senior art education major, attended the event.
Scheele said, “Cinnamon Brown plays music that is really great to dance to. They were really heavy tonight. Their bongos are great and they sound different from a lot of other bands.
“Day of Less had really great energy. You could understand everything they were saying,” she said.
The winner of the Battle of the Bands was Day of Less from Salt Lake City. None of the members of Day of Less attend or have ever attended USU.
Day of Less recently signed their first record deal with a record company in Oregon and this was their first time participating in the Battle of the Bands at USU.
The Battle of the Bands was scheduled to last three hours and ended up lasting more than four hours with more than 50 tickets being sold at the door.
Andy Dilley, activities vice president of ASUSU, emceed the event.
Dilley said, “ASUSU had been working on this for the last month. I think the event was good. I’d like to see more music on campus because there are a lot of good local bands, there just aren’t a lot of places for them to play in Logan.
“The Battle of the Bands is a great way for students to get their ‘foot in the door’ as far as music goes. I am glad that USU offers that opportunity and I would like to see more events like this,” he said.