Stone Memorial’s third annual “Battle of the Bands,” sponsored by The Panther Tales Players theatrical troupe, will be held on Saturday, Nov. 7, in the SMHS auditorium. The first elimination round begins at 6 p.m., followed by the second round of eliminations at 7:30. A $5 ticket at the door gets you into both elimination rounds.
Eight bands, ranging from traditional rock to heavy metal and country to Christian, promise to bring down the house as each vies for the hundred dollar purse and, more importantly, bragging rights.
Can “Brist” with Jesse and Austin Brist, James Pugh, and Parker Morris, the winner for the past two years, be able to keep their stranglehold on the title?
Perhaps Rafael “Shotgun Fender” Soriano, who has competed diligently in the past two battles with his country acoustics, will wrest the title from “Brist.”
Trevor Harp, a past solo contestant, has formed himself a band called “A Call to Arms” with Freddy Avalos, Donny Vega, and Cody Harris. They plan to drown out the competition with their metal pieces.
Then there’s the “Jeremy Cole Project” with Casey and Josh Green, Kelsey Reph, and Andrew Houston who will rock the audience in the hopes of unseating the reigning winners.
“Tainted Word” with Josh Kemmer, Trevor Long, Michael Lewis, Sam Richards, Travis Kee, Kiah Stewart and C. J. Wichael will show their mettle as they lay out their own metal sound in the hopes of securing the title.
Heather Stover, formerly of “Access Denied,” is striking out on her own this year as she performs acoustic solos with the hopes of claiming this year’s title.
The “Your Mom” group, starring Matt Graham, Brandi Stedam, Justin Parkhurst, and Justin Rhymes, playing a collection of classic, alternative, and hard rock, also expects to take home those coveted bragging rights.
Finally, another returning contestant, “No Regrets,” pits drum soloist Clay Leary against the returning champs, hoping he will wow the judges with his own alternative rock sounds.
Chris Cannon from 105.7 The Hog, Tim Newberry, local musician and guitar teacher, and SMHS’s own Blake Saldana will judge this year’s musical extravaganza. Each band will be judged according to appearance, music selection, performance, and stage presence.
In order for students to qualify for entry into the Battle of the Bands, besides the non-refundable $20 entrance fee, at least one band member needs to be a SMHS or CCHS student, and no member can be older than 20. The contest is open to all genres of music — pop, country, rock, or what-have-you. Also, lyrics and costume need to be school appropriate and approved by the Panther Tales Players theatre club sponsor, Ned Serleth.
If you like music, and you want to see what some of the youth in this county have to offer, drive, run, fly, hop or do whatever you need to do to get to the Stone Memorial’s auditorium this Saturday night at 6 p.m. for the third annual “Battle of the Bands!”
