Little bit country, little bit rock 'n' roll

On Saturday night, the battle has been fought with rock and a new champion has emerged.

Cassavettes, a four-person rock band, won the second annual Battle of the Bands at afterHOURS on Saturday night.

"It was really surprising," said the band's only Northeastern student, Glenn Yoder, a middler journalism major and managing editor of The Northeastern News. "I mean, we're friends with a lot of the bands that were in there and we know there is a lot of good talent out there so I can almost attribute the victory to the crowd's response. It made it a little more special and we are very thankful for that."

The event was hosted by the Council for University Programs (CUP), the Music Entertainment Industry Student Association (MEISA) and WRBB, the campus radio station. As winners, the band members received a year's subscription to www.Sonicbids.com, a Web site that helps bands promote and submit press kits on-line to promoters, agents, managers, publicists and others, as well as passes to the annual three day NEMO Music Festival in September.

Performing Saturday night was tiring to Cassavettes, who had played in New York the night before and didn't get back into Boston until sometime between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. said Yoder, who plays guitar and keyboard for the band in addition to singing.

"As far as the victory goes, the crowd's energy was essential to awakening us ... so we are very, very grateful for that," he said.

When Cassavettes took the stage third after the all-girl metal band metal band Jaded, Yoder said although he and his bandmates had forgotten their leather pants at home that night, they would try to put on a great show.

People began clapping to the beats of the band's first song, and soon the audience was dancing. With the last song, "It's Gonna Be Alright," yells and claps filled the room.

The event had four finalist bands and a wild card band that were chosen over a two-night elimination period.

"We had a great time those two nights … and [Saturday was] a fantastic night: Students get to be exposed to great music because all the bands are impressive and phenomenally talented," said Andy Sellars, CUP Concert Chair.

The judging criteria included creativity and stage presence. Bands also had to have a 20 percent Northeastern-student representation in its group.

Each band had 20 minutes to perform with most playing four songs, aiming for quality over quantity.

The night began with a hard rock performance by the band Sanction, from Los Angeles, who also served as the judges for the competition.

"We were looking for a combination of music ability and stage presence; we want[ed] to make sure the bands can keep the crowd's attention," said Dusty Schaller, drummer of Sanction.

First up was the Johnny Mazcko band. With a mix of blues and alternative rock, the wild card contestant played covers of songs like the Black Crows' "Hard to Handle."

Next, Jaded took the stage in leather pants, short tops, fishnet gloves, tattoos and smokey eye make-up. The girls began with song capturing the energy of KISS and Ozzy Osbourne and continued their performance by playing the guitar on top of afterHOURS counters and behind their heads.

"I got a flyer in my mailbox and came to check it out," said Alex Alvanos, a sophomore biology and physics major. "[Jaded] was great; it was impressive. I really enjoy coming to shows like these."

Moxie Fever and its suited-up players performed fourth with a mix of Weezer lyrics and Hives attitude.

"I thought this was really good, all the bands were very talented and it's nice to see the crowd sticking around 'till the end," said Matt Divito, Moxie Fever's lead singer.

The last band to take the stage was the Left Handed Thieves. The Thieves' first tune brought back the hard rock sounds heard earlier. The quartet mixed vocals with soft to hard melodies reminiscent of Green Day, helping the audience keep interest after nearly three hours of performances.

Although Cassavettes were surprised with the win, the band is grateful to its fans, said guitarist/vocalist Mike McCullagh.

"Every band deserved to win; I didn't even think we'd make it to the top three," he said. "But it's great to know people like and care about our music as much as we do."

- News Correspondent, Samantha Porter contributed to this article.

Editor's Note: News Correspondent Samantha Porter had no previous contact with the editor quoted in this piece. Managing Editor Glenn Yoder did not read or edit this article prior to publication.

• Facebook Comments
• Site Comments

Be the first to comment on this article!

Add comment


I am not posting spam. I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.

Enter the characters in the image above:

log out