JAINA BERARDI
Special to The Leader
The annual Battle of the New Bands competition was held by SUNY Fredonia’s Music Industry Club in the Williams Center’s Multi-Purpose Room on Friday, Dec. 2.
Each year, the competition begins as a mixer, where musicians gather to hear the rules of the competition and meet one another to form a new band with an accompanying manager. Each artist must not have collectively performed as the entity they auditioned as prior to the competition.
Once a band is formed and a manager is chosen, they are separately judged. Managers compete to create the best public image for their bands, through the creation of social media and physical promotion. The bands are judged on their live performance quality, uniqueness of sound and songwriting, as well as stage presence and professionalism.
This year’s judges were Fredonia’s music industry professor, Ed Croft; the frontman of Edelwood Creek and the runner up for the 2021 Battle of the New Bands, Hunter Lares; and Fredonia-based drag queen, Queue Queer.
Auditions for this year’s battle were held on Nov. 11, and the three bands to make it to the final round were Asteroid Day, Amphobia and Cosmic Pearl.
Before each of the bands’ sets, DJ Majik kept the music going with a playlist of their respective inspirations to get the audience ready for the vibe of the next performance.
The first to perform was shoegaze band, Asteroid Day. Managed by Ava Sargente, Asteroid Day is fronted by vocalist and rhythm guitarist Zachary Carter, with Sterling Brownell on lead guitar, Parker Walters on bass and Cebastian Spisak on drums. Their set consisted of several original songs, including “Maple Ave,” which memorialized the culture associated with the now-closed local music venue, North Pole Strip Club. They also covered Bruno Mars’ “Runaway Baby.”
Next up was the amphibian themed band, Amphobia. This punk band, managed by Tobias Buechler, blends hard-hitting guitar riffs with infectious keys played by the two vocalists, Jayden Campbell and Sydney Feinsilver. Amphobia also consists of Liam Ebers playing bass and Andrew Springer on drums. For their covers, they performed Turnstile’s “Blue by You” and “Out of Rage” back-to-back.
The last performance of the night was Cosmic Pearl, managed by Olivia Castiglione. The frontman, Kemuel Cuffy took the audience through a futuristic story for the duration of their set with neo-soul rhythms and vibes, providing smooth and warm vocal runs while backed by Evan Donnelly on guitar, Brian Shin on bass, Felixander Kellogg-Williams on drums and Brandon McCallum on keyboard and synthesizer.
Over the course of the night, audience members had the opportunity to cast one vote for their choice on which band should win the competition. After the three bands performed, the crowd votes were added to the points for each band on the judges’ score sheets.
The winner for best manager was voted on by Music Industry Club’s executive board and was presented by the club’s president to Olivia Castiglione, the manager of Cosmic Pearl. Queue Queer then took the stage to announce the overall winning band — Amphobia.
Castiglione was given a $50 gift card, and Amphobia was granted a spot on the lineup for the next BJ’s show, which will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 7.
Jaina Berardi, the author of this article, serves as the Events Coordinator of Music Industry Club.