Arts and Entertainment, Slider

Battle of the Band goes off without a hitch

 
A group of people stand on a stage.
The bands, judges and organizers of the Battle of the Bands. Photo courtesy of Alisa Bucchiere

Current students and alumni were excited to bring their talent to the first ever Battle of the Bands over in Northern Essex’s Tech Center on April 13.

The competition was fierce with bands such as Dragonfruit, Neck Dive, Four Symbols & Out of Water displaying their talent and chemistry on stage. The judges deliberated for a while after the bands had concluded playing their sets and named Neck Dive the winner of this year’s Battle of the Bands.

The organizer of this event, Alisa Bucchiere is also the head of the Music program here at Northern Essex and announced each band as they made their way onstage. The winning band Neck Dive not only received bragging right until the next Battle of the Bands but also a recording session in a studio.

When asked how they thought the first ever battle of the band went, Noah Rothgaber who played drums for Four Symbols said,

“I think it went great, I think everyone else did such a good job and I’m very proud of how our performance went.”

A member of the Audience, Cam Whealan who attends Middlesex Community College but tagged along with a friend that goes to Northern Essex was asked how he enjoyed the first ever Battle of the Bands to which he replied, “I thought it was a great time. I saw a lot of talented young musicians up there with a good variety of types of music including a Led Zeppelin cover band (Four Symbols) which I though was really good and I really thought the last band (Out of Water) was especially talented, they had some really interesting musical compositions in there. I think all the bands offered something interesting, a lot of really high energy. It was a really nice time.”

With the 1st Battle of the Bands being a success, they plan to make this an annual event, fun for all students.

The bands and their members were Out of Water, Christopher Drew, bass, Bruce Palmer, drums, Meg Collins, vocals, and Santino DeMonte, guitar; Neck Dive, Cade Dones, bass/vocal, Jasper Smith, drums, and James McNulty, guitar/vocals and Four Symbols, Noah Rothegaber, drums, Sean Smith, vocals, Josh Shultz, bass/piano and Santino DeMonte, guitar; and Dragonfruit, Austin Parent, guitar/vocals, Jackson Bonfiglioli, bass, Shaina Perates, vocals, and Alyssa Fantauzzi, drums.