Bands Battle It Out

By Jennifer Graham
February 19, 2002


Culminating its show with an impassioned violin smashing, the southern-rock band Ten Mile Tide beat out four other groups Saturday night to win Phi Kappa Psi's 12th annual Battle of the Bands competition.

Almost 1,000 spectators packed Toyon Hall throughout the night to hear the five finalists play 30-minute sets, with Ten Mile Tide beating out the hip hop group o.n.e. by a mere two points to capture first place.

"It was probably one of our most successful battles ever," said senior Zach Pincus, Phi Psi?s public relations chair.

Ten Mile Tide won first place with 274 points, o.n.e. placed second with 272, Leonard placed third with 270 and 60 / 40 Breakdown and Blind Man?s Dream placed fourth and fifth, respectively.

Many band members said that they didn?t participate to win. They were more interested in playing their music and entertaining the crowd.

"We really didn?t go in there with the expectation to win anything," said senior Jill Wheaton, the lead singer of Leonard. "We were happy to come in third, but that was just the bonus after getting to be there."

Phi Psi auditioned approximately 15 bands, five of which were chosen for the finals.

Blind Man?s Dream, a rock group making its Battle of the Bands debut, kicked off the show at 10 p.m.

Although the opening slot meant that they would have fewer onlookers, band members said that there were pleased with the reaction to their set.

"We knew drawing the early time slot that it was going to be tough to rally people that early," said band member and senior Jason Luker. "We were super- pleased, though."

They were followed by 60 / 40 Breakdown, another rock group performing for the first time.

Despite technical difficulties - one of the amplifiers broke after their first song - band member and junior Drew Baglino said he was pleased with how the performance was received.

"I thought it was a horrible set, but the crowd seemed to respond well," he said.

Baglino said that the only negative aspect of Battle of the Bands was the sound quality of the venue, a concern voiced by several members of other bands.

"Toyon has horrible echoing, it?s one of the worst places to put bands," Baglino said.

After 60 / 40 Breakdown?s set, the defending champions o.n.e. took the stage, shifting the sound from rock to hip hop.

"We really wanted to get the crowd into our performance," junior Damon Jones said . "That was our main goal, really, to put on a good show for the crowd."

Jones said the group did not feel uncomfortable playing after two rock bands, emphasizing that rock and hip hop have similar roots and that the DJ played hip hop music between sets.

"Last year, we thought that that would be an obstacle that we had to overcome," Jones said. "We didn?t want to compromise our style any."

At one point, o.n.e. encouraged the crowd to take out their cell phones to serve as makeshift lighters and was able to rouse the crowd, asking them to clap, wave and "bounce" during their set.

Leonard brought a rock sound back to the show, performing fourth. This was also its first appearance at Battle of the Bands.

Leonard fans were excited when the band finished their set with a rendition of "Space Camp," a song Wheaton said the group has become known for.

Finally, Ten Mile Tide, a band composed of four Stanford graduates of the classes of 1999 and 2000 and two friends, performed.

Ten Mile Tide competed at Battle of the Bands last year.

Band member Steve Kessler said he was pleased by the audience they had.

"It was surprising to see how many people were still there," he said.

The five judges were social managers and resident assistants from row houses.

"I felt like it could have gone any way," Kessler said.

Overall, Phi Psi brothers and band members were pleased with both the quality of the music and the audience.

"We were pretty much just blown away,? Luker said. ?It was cool to see the different genres, too."

"I really think this is the most talent we?ve had at a battle in all the battles I?ve seen," said senior Chris Montgomery, president of Phi Psi.

The event was organized primarily by sophomores Andrew Davidson and Mike Calhoun.

Junior Kathryn Yu said she was disappointed that music seemed to come second to entertainment.

"I felt like it was skewed more towards showmanship and entertaining the crowd," she said. "I just expected more out of the contest."

Yu also said she was surprised that, out of all the bands, there were only two women who performed. "I kind of got the feeling that it was a male-orientated activity," she said.

Freshman Pablo Schyfter said that he was surprised by quality of the performances.

"I was just impressed by the amount of talent that we have here," he said. "It wasn?t just a band thing, it was also a party. It was fun."

Pincus felt that the success of the evening could be shown through Kessler?s antics at the Battle?s culmination.

"You don?t get too much more rock and roll than a violin smashing at the end," Pincus said.

"It was spirit that moved me," Kessler said.


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