VALERIE MUSSON
Special to The Leader
Students who are always on the lookout for the newest local music will get the ultimate chance to sample some of Fredonia’s finest musicians this Thursday at the Battle of the New Bands in the Williams Center MPR.
This annual event, coordinated by the Music Industry Club (MIC), gives musicians of all calibers the opportunity to make connections by forming bands with other members. The E-board selects three of the new bands to perform at this event based on their musical, and professional, development as a group.
What makes this year’s battle unique is that the three bands making their performance debuts all have different styles. 42 Eagle is a pop-punk band, Whisky Business has an alternative rock/acoustic sound and Ce JJR specializes in alternative hip hop.
As if hearing three of the best new bands isn’t enough, students will also get treated to very special performances from music industry professor Stuart Shapiro’s jug band, Outofar Trio, and last year’s event winners, New Masons.
The winner of the event is determined by votes, and that band will get the opportunity to perform at MIC’s spring semester event, the Life is Art festival.
A panel of judges will also have the chance to give their input and vote for their favorite band. Among them are Shapiro and music professor Judith Brady.
“The whole concept of Battle of the New Bands is that a bunch of people can come together and have the opportunity to form a band,” said MIC Secretary Mikayla Mendels. “It’s just a comfortable setting where people can start things that they wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do otherwise. We have a lot of different genres and a lot of variety this year. We really support local music.”
Although the three featured bands are brand new, students are sure to see some familiar faces onstage, such as senior Jabari Noel, guitarist of the well-known local band Albert the Fish, who will be performing with his new band, Ce JJR.
Noel said, “We started as an instrumental group. We didn’t want to be a general jam band but something a little bit different. Once we added a rapper, it gave us a clearer idea of what type of sound we’d be looking for. It was more alternative jam rock, but, once we added a rapper, it was more hip hop alternative.”
This event has taken a tremendous amount of planning and is the culmination of a semester’s worth of musical and managerial efforts. In addition to preparing two original tracks and one cover, each band entering the contest had to promote themselves via social media and distribute fliers on campus.
Bands were also encouraged to team up with Sound Recording Technology majors to achieve professional audio quality for their demos. Above all else, the goal of the entire project is simply to gain experience.
“We have the bands, and we also have the managers,” said Mendels. “For people who don’t necessarily want to be in a band, it gives them the opportunity to have manager experience with no strings attached. They learn what an electronic press kit is, they learn how to promote people on social media, they have to make Facebook pages and Instagrams and Twitter accounts, and they have to have all the bases covered. We had a total of six bands enter the contest this year, and three of them were selected to perform as finalists.”
Battle of the New Bands is happening on Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m. in the Williams Center MPR. It is a great opportunity for students to come and show their support for local music.