Battle of the Bands

By David Salazar

On August 13^th 2009, many musicians from different schools were summoned to play in our school’s Battle of the Bands. The rules were simple: each band had 15 minutes on stage, during which they could play as many songs as they could plus set up all the necessary equipment. If any band went over the time, their sound would get cut off and they would be disqualified from the contest (as was the case with many bands). The line-up for the judges was Paul Posterino (from our English Department) and two of the members from the alternative metal band, Akasha (who later closed off the event).

The first to conquer the stage were Voltage, who played their choice of punk rock. Afterwards played Avalon (heavy metal) who suffered from technical problems with the sound, which made got them a few minutes off the clock. They asked the audience if they wanted them to keep on playing anyways and after the crowd’s positive response they kept on playing, only to get their sound cut off and become banned from the contest.

Some other highlights from the event include: Oda Ska’s music which made the crowd dance playfully in the “slam”; Ilusión A Contraluz and their unique style of alternative rock music; the drummer from Los Cantafeos, Marco Zamora, who never had taken any drum lessons but did really well with his performance; Los Noindicaotros who consisted of a dozen members and a wide array of instruments including tambourines and glockenspiels; amongst others.

But from out of all these, only the top three ranked high enough to win the prize money: 10,000 colones for the third place (which means they got back the inscription money), 20,000 for the second place and 40,000 for the first place.

Ænamical ranked in third thanks to their skillful technique and complex solos, characteristic of progressive metal. Their influences include: Tool, Dream Theatre, Symphony X, WarCry, etc. There were many doubts amongst their members before going on stage because, unlike every other band, at the moment they had no vocalist in their line-up (consisting only of Emerson Castro & Raphael Huddleston on the guitars, Ernesto Garcia on the bass, Lucio Barquero on the keyboards and Jose Hernandez on the drums). Nevertheless, they proved they had what it takes and took home third prize.

On second place was Pensando en Blanco featuring Jose Pablo on the bass, Franco on the drums, Eduardo singing and playing guitar and Maria Rebeca on violin and on vocal duties. They weren’t very much to the liking of the crowd, as most of the viewers would rather sit away from the stage and talk to their friends; but the judges saw through this and realized all the talent the audience was letting go to waste, earning them a spot on the winner’s circle.

But the band that proved to be the best of all was Stoner who made both the audience and the judges acknowledge their victory. The band consists of Pietro Malavasi on lead guitar, Julian Godoy on the bass, Federico Madrigal on the drums and Mauro Ramirez singing and on rhythm guitar. They played two cover songs (Come Together and Knocking on Heaven’s Door) and two original songs of their own, titled “Orugas en el Culo” and “Just Dreaming”.

After the battle ended, Akasha went onstage to give an excellent performance as is expected of them. “Descriptar”, amongst other of their songs made the whole audience (and even the remaining judge who wasn’t onstage at that time) go crazy and start moshing and head-banging to the rhythm of the music. At the end of their show, the band stayed around for a while talking to some of the members of the competitors in the battle to give them some advice and congratulate them.