Attention all rockers, Battle of the Bands, taking place on December 12, is a chance for students in local bands to show off their musical stylings to fellow students, friends and family.
This year, the event will also be held as a fundraiser, sending some of the proceeds to the JDRF and to the Academic Team.
“We plan to have a minimum of five bands performing this year, and as long as one member of each band attends GNHS, the band can still enter the battle,” said co-sponsor of the Academic Team Evelyn Amelio.
A new feature to the battle is during intermissions students like senior Rhett Walker have the opportunity to play a few songs on guitar to entertain the crowd while bands are setting up. There will also be academic rounds between bands with some music trivia for prizes.
“The Battle of the Bands was done as a senior passion project last year. This year, it is being taken over as an Academic Team fundraiser. I am the co-sponsor for Academic Team, and we needed to do some kind of a fundraiser. I wanted to step up and run the battle so that we could keep that event going,” Amelio said.
There are a lot of impressive bands this year like Graylake’s own Havenway, consisting of bassist Brody Balousek, guitarist Andrew Casher, drummer James Gordon, and lead vocalist Alexus Jones.
“We have been together for almost two years now. We describe our music as Hard Core and Progressive Rock. Most of the songs we play are originals we came up with, but we do covers every now and again,” says junior Brody Balousek of Havenway.
Bands eagerly prepare for the upcoming battle.
“We’ve been preparing for this for quite some time now. Since we’re in the process of recording an album, we’ve been practicing all our songs for about a month or two,” said senior James Radtke, a member of Slam Funk.
Most bands that become popular start out in high school, and the Battle of the Bands is an opportunity for new and old bands to get out there.
“One band has been together for a few years already and others have just been together for under a year. Sometimes bands form just to play at the battle. It will be interesting to see how it all unfolds,” Amelio said.
This year they might also have a few special guests returning to the stage.
”I don’t want to say for sure, but I am hoping that I can get Exit2Enter to come back and do a reunion show at this year’s battle. It all depends on if everyone will be back from college in time. I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” Amelio said.
Admission for the event is five dollars. There will be refreshments and band merchandise may also be sold. Students are still free to sign up for the battle or as solo guitar artists in the dean’s office.