School of Rock: From The Basement To The Stage
Sacramento State’s Battle of the Bands Gives Local Musicians a Chance to Prove Themselves
It’s 7:00 p.m. and eight groups of musicians are gearing up to take the stage in the Sacramento State University Union Ballroom. Vocal chords are being stretched, knuckles are being cracked and the handful of hopeful musicians are aspiring to mesmerize the crowd and become “the next big thing” in popular music. With the flick of a switch, amplifiers buzz to life and each member of the first act take a deep breath as they strut onto the ballroom stage. This is the Sac State Battle of the Bands and even if none of the artists that perform go down in history next to such Sacramento Headlining acts as Deftones, Cake, and Dance Gavin Dance, the Sac State event still gives them the opportunity to promote their music and play for an audience. For musicians, that’s the next best thing.
Put together by the Sac State Unique Program, the Battle of the Bands is a yearly event that gives local musicians the chance to shine and compete with their fellow locals for title of Battle of the Bands first-place winner. Followed by the winning title is a $500 Guitar Center gift certificate, an opportunity to perform on Good Day Sacramento, an interview with KSSU student radio, and a spot on a Sac State Wednesday Nooner concert. Just in case winning the competition isn’t motivation enough.
The great thing about this event is that Unique and Sac State give an open platform for local musicians to make their voice, and music, heard. In our society these days it can be hard to get anyone to pay attention to artists that don’t make the top 40 charts, so the fact that Sac State gives locals a chance to prove themselves is a notion of hope not only to musicians themselves, but to people who have an eye on up-and-coming artists. Not to mention that the Battle of the Bands is free, which can make it seem more enticing to those who otherwise wouldn’t attend such an event. Darian Gaultney, singer of Sacramento rock band Average League, spoke about his experience performing at the Battle of the Bands.
“Any time you can go check out a local band and support them and it doesn’t cost you anything, it’s cool. Bands play just to be heard, we’re not looking for a huge paycheck. Most people just want to have their moment and hopefully people dig it.”
Average League was the Battle of the Bands winner in 2015 and the band felt grateful for the chance to come back to Sac State this year and perform for more people in the student union.
One of the best parts about the Battle of the Bands is that it’s not limited to any one genre. Bands in the style of funk, hip-hop, indie, pop, metal, and more have the chance to perform. While not every musician in Sacramento flocks to this event, it just goes to show the amount and variety of musicians there are in this city.
“Sacramento as a city and a scene has been such a blessing to grow up and learn in.” Said Christian Burnett, drummer of Sacramento emo/rock act Ease. “It’s not perfect and people give it a lot of flack, but I wouldn’t trade it for anywhere else. I’m amazed at the people that listen, share and ultimately support everything I do.”
For local musicians it can often feel like no one is listening and no one cares at times but giving them an opportunity to showcase their musical talent must be important for Unique to keep the event going annually. With other kinds of popular events happening year round, it’s good that Unique still keeps an ear open for up-and-coming talent. The nice thing about talent is that it doesn’t come with any age restriction.
The Battle of the Bands is filled with musicians from all walks of life, from those on the younger side to more seasoned artists. The only requirement is that one member of each band must be a Sac State student (with a few exceptions). During the event, the bands are observed by a panel of three judges and depend on cheers and applause from the audience to rate their performances. While it can be nerve-wracking for any musician to be judged on this kind of platform, it also gives bands an opportunity to let loose and command the crowd — if they can. Some musicians see the stage as a place where they can be free to lose themselves in the music. Others might feel the pressure that performing in front of an audience brings. Either way, this competition gives them a chance to put their best foot forward.
“This was our first ever competition! We’ve had other events where we sold tickets playing at bars in other groups, but this was our first ever band competition.” Said Ellwood Allen, member of 2016 BOTB first place winner Actuality. Actuality, an instrumental jazz-funk four-piece, had only been a band for about six months prior to winning first in the competition. Allen continued on to say,
“It was dope to see all the other musicians get down. Each band set the bar pretty high, so it was competitive but it was really fun.”
The group is ecstatic to be able to share their music on Good Day Sacramento and come back to play at Sac State in the spring.
Whitney Allen, Saxophonist of Actuality and first-year CSUS transfer student, said, “My favorite thing was hearing other people play live. I love live music and it’s really exciting to see other musicians do their thing. I really liked seeing another female musician up on the stage in one of the other bands playing guitar and singing, that was really cool for me.”
The varying genres of the Battle of the Bands competition keep the event fresh and interesting, and 2016 was no exception. Included in the mix were heavy punk/rock trio Malaska, space rock four-piece Atlas Park, the groovy jazz beats of Actuality, and the youthful pop punk tones of Nevergood who brought to the stage one of the most surprising moments of this year’s show.
To conclude their three-song set Dennis Furio and Vincent Silva of Nevergood ran off stage, only to return a few seconds later sporting just their underwear and socks to play a 15-second rendition of Blink-182’s “Built This Pool” in true punk rock fashion.
“They were my favorite band of the night! I love that song.” Attendee Carmen Jimenez said excitedly. She added, “My boyfriend brought me to the show and I’m really glad I went. Those guys were really nice. All of the other bands that played were fun to watch too!”
Though not a Sac State student, Carmen was glad to attend the event. The Battle of the Bands is open to the public and not limited to students only, which is beneficial for both the performers and audience to have fun and enjoy the music. Despite BOTB’s one student band member rule, Nevergood earned the opportunity to perform in the competition by chance. Furio and Silva, neither of which a student at Sac State, set up their equipment in the Sac State quad in front of the library a few months ago and started playing songs until they were told to stop.
“After security told us to stop playing, the leader of Unique talked to us. She told us she liked us and offered us a spot on the Battle of the Bands. It was actually our first time playing a real show in front of a set audience.” Said Furio. “For our last song, I just figured we needed to get naked to set ourselves apart from the rest of the bands. We’re only a two-piece right now and we don’t have that perfect sound yet so I was thinking of things we could do that’d be different. We just didn’t want to get one hundred percent naked so we wouldn’t get in trouble.” Nevergood’s act of disrobement certainly earned them a good amount of cheers from the audience.
Bringing musicians together is what this kind of event is all about. Almost every successful musician today started at the local level. While it does take hours, weeks, and years of extremely hard work to “make it” in music these days, musicians appreciate all the help they can get just to be able to perform songs that mean a lot to them. The importance for bands to establishing a local following is vital, but in Sacramento the opportunities have been changing and some have said disappearing altogether. Many local all-ages venues in and around Sacramento have been closing, or changing the way they operate to accommodate larger national acts instead of smaller, local groups. The opportunity Sac State offers with Battle of the Bands shows support for up-and-coming bands in the area.
Not every musician wants to be the next Drake or Green Day. Many just want to have their music be heard and appreciated. For busy college students it can be especially hard to find the time to scope out the right people and venues play for. That’s where Sac State comes in to offer a helping hand and for bands that haven’t had the chance to play their music live, this opportunity is as good as gold. Bringing musicians of all genres and audiences together creates an exciting atmosphere for almost everyone involved. Gaultney of Average League said,
“One of the coolest things about playing shows in general is meeting other bands trying to do the exact same thing you’re trying to do. For the most part everybody just wants to jam and have a good time, so it’s cool to be around that at Battle of the Bands with so many different kinds of bands playing their styles of music.”
Nooner concerts happen on the Sac State campus fairly often, but the Battle of the Bands takes place in December. Students who are in bands and are interested in performing must submit their band information to Unique by September, so there is plenty of time to prepare for the show. The Battle of the Bands is a great way to support student musicians and local bands, and for the whopping price of free, it’s an event that shouldn’t be missed. Some of the musicians that perform at this event may go on to play Coachella or Vans Warped Tour or tour through Germany and Japan. For many, that’s the dream but it all starts somewhere. That somewhere might be the Battle of the Bands or it might not be. Either way, Sac State gives musicians the chance to take one step closer to making their dreams a reality.
Cameron Leng is a Journalism student at Sacramento State planning to graduate in the spring. He has a passion for music and entertainment and hopes to pursue a career covering such subjects.
