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The Daily Tar Heel

7 Local Bands to Battle for Bragging Rights, Studio Time

Battle of the Bands, which takes place at 8 p.m. today in the Great Hall of the Student Union, pits band against fellow band in a race not only against each other, but against the clock.

"It's a fast-paced, high-energy performance," said Maneesha Agarwal, co-treasurer of the Campus Y, which is sponsoring the event along with the Carolina Athletic Association. "Each band gets 20 minutes onstage -- that includes walking on, plugging in their instruments, playing and getting everything offstage," she said.

Battle of the Bands will be in place of this year's Homecoming concert, which CAA officials could not arrange because of scheduling problems.

The proceeds of Battle of the Bands, a part of this year's Homecoming festivities, will go to the Campus Y, which counts the event as its major annual fund-raiser.

Seven local bands will try to master the rigorous structure of the event -- Vibrant Green, Flux, Guns Go BANG, Eyes to Space, Spencer Acuff, the B-Sides and Let Down.

The bands' styles are primarily rock, according to Agarwal, but range from the self-described folk rock of Spencer Acuff to the keyboard rock of Eyes to Space.

"It's a great opportunity for anyone who's looking to find out more about the local music scene," Agarwal said.

To keep the audience entertained, four additional featured groups will perform while the bands are switching sets, Maneesha said -- Kamikazi, Bhangra Elite, Achordants and Loreleis.

To the victorious band go many spoils, in addition to the requisite local bragging rights. The top three bands will choose between prizes like a package of gift certificates to local music stores and five lower-level tickets to the UNC-Davidson basketball game.

The most lucrative prize, perhaps, is 10 hours of free studio recording time at Osceola Recording Studios in Raleigh, an appealing prospect to band members such as Dave Spencer of Spencer Acuff.

"If we win, we're going to get to add another song to our album that's coming out in December," Spencer said. "If it happens, it happens, but hopefully people will get excited about our music either way."

Judging the event are three representatives from WXYC and one from local radio station 96.1 Rock. The winning bands will be judged on a variety of criteria ranging from their ability to play to the crowd to their tightness as an ensemble. Even though winning is an appealing prospect for the bands involved, they say the foremost reward is exposure and enjoying their time on stage.

"We decided we're just going to get up there and play the best that we can," said Dylan Thurston, the drummer of Eyes to Space.

"Competition can be healthy but self-destructive. We just want to have fun," he said.

Battle of the Bands tickets are available in the Pit, at the Union Box Office and at the Campus Y and are $5 in advance and $6 at the door for students. Non-student tickets cost $7 in advance or $8 at the door. Call 962-2333 or e-mail battleofthebands@unc.edu for more information.

The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.

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