Students feel the noise at Battle of the Bands contest
Morgan Hill – In the darkened gym of Sobrato High School last Friday night, an undeniable odor arose from the explosive mix of sweat, hormones and cheap cologne as local bands took the stage to battle it out. It smelled like teen spirit.
Sobrato High students ebbed and flowed to the beat of the drums and wail of the guitar while local talent played an eccentric combination of popular and original rock songs, all trying to earn the Battle of the Band crown.
“It was pretty good,” said 16-year-old Austin Gavin, who attended the performance. “Some of them rocked.”
Opposite of Gray was voted the winner, though other groups such as Sevenson, PTB, A Perfect Nothing, OFD and Unholy Alliance drew kudos from the crowd.
OFD and Unholy Alliance are Live Oak bands and did not compete, but played as guest bands during the event. Live Oak hosted a similar contest earlier in March.
“Cameron of Opposite of Gray, he also played solo, was an entry by himself, and I think he came in third,” said Joey Edgar, 15. “A lot of people thought he was really good.”
The winners of the contest were not necessarily the most talented, but the ones who had the largest effect on their young audience. Teachers judged the event, Edgar said, “not based on whether they liked the music, but more on crowd response to the bands, how many people got into the music.”
The event had more of a rock concert atmosphere than a school dance, with bodies pressed close to the front of the stage during some of the performances.
“If there had been any dancing, it would’ve been a mosh pit,” Gavin said.
The gym lobby filled between performances, but the decibel level in both areas forced students to yell to communicate much of the time.
The crowd, while mostly Sobrato students, was mixed with students from Live Oak packed into the crush around the stage. Though the event got some students’ blood pumping, everyone remained under control, according to Edgar.
“There weren’t any problems, people were pretty well-behaved,” said Edgar. “Sometimes at shows you have a mosh pit, people jumping around getting rowdy, but it wasn’t like that.”
The Sobrato event followed in Live Oak’s long-standing tradition of hosting their own contest to name the best student rock band in town.
Every year, the Associated Student Body organizes the event, an opportunity for the bands to showcase their original material, as well as cover traditional rock anthems or current hits. This is Sobrato’s second year, and it looks as though Sobrato’s ASB hopes to make it a tradition at their school as well.
Edgar, who went to both events, said the Live Oak event is naturally larger, in terms of crowds and number of bands.
“It just makes sense, ’cause they’ve been doing this longer and they have a larger population,” he said.
Sobrato’s battle may grow, also, as the population increases – next year the school will have a full complement of class levels – and interest in the event amplifies.
“With amateur bands, they’re good, I like to go hear them, but sometimes you have to sit through a lot of junk before you get to anything good.”
