Nine Vermont-based bands chosen from an applicant pool of 50 graced Middlebury from Thursday, March 31 through Saturday, April 2 for the town’s first annual Battle of the Bands competition. Each night three bands performed at one of three restaurant venues in the town, 51 Main, Two Brothers Tavern and American Flatbread. At the end of the each of the three evenings, one band was selected to move on to the final round of competition on Saturday, April 9. The final bands selected were Bearquarium, Prana and Split Tongue Crow. Bearquarium and Prana are both based out of the Burlington, while Split Tongue Crow, who claimed the Battle of the Bands title on Saturday, April 9. is based in Rutland, Vt. They won the privilege of opening for the College’s spring concert on Saturday, May 7.
Sarah Franco, the chair of the Battle of the Bands committee, who is also the special projects coordinator for the vice president for administration, has been working with Holmes Jacobs, owner of Two Brothers Tavern, and owner of the American Flatbread Danielle Boyce on the project. She said David Donahue, the special assistant to the president, suggested the idea early last fall after Franco sent a campus-wide email asking students and faculty to submit their ideas for future programming at 51 Main. Next, she contacted Jacobs to see if he felt there would be interest in the community to host the event.
“Holmes and I sent a letter to other restaurants and venues, like the Town Hall Theater, and American Flatbread was the only other one that wanted to participate,” she said.
Each night, a different group of three judges attended the performances at the venues. With help from audience votes, a winner was selected.
“It was fun to watch the crowds grow and grow with each passing evening as the battle intensified,” said Jacobs in an email. “We look forward to it ultimately becoming a state-wide celebration of Vermont music that draws residents to Middlebury from every corner of the state.”
Franco said she created a list of people in the community who were connected to music; she reached out to professors, music teachers and DJs, among others, and garnered enough judges for all four evenings of competition. Last Saturday, Tim Spears, vice president of administration and professor of American studies, Matt Jennings, editorial director, for communications, and Ben Silton ’11 comprised the crew of judges.
The judges rated the bands in four categories: preparation, interaction with audience, quality of performance and presentation.
Silton, who is president of the musicians guild at the College and also a member of the advisory committee of 51 Main, said of Bearquarium, the first band of the night that performed at 51 Main, “[They are] really tight. Their music is very smooth and thoughtful.”
A guitarist himself, Silton, looks forward to the event next year.
“Battle of the Bands was a way for people who have a great appreciation for music to come together,” said Franco, who was pleased with how the event turned out, especially considering the final night of competition was a sold-out event.
In an effort to encourage student bands to enter the competition, she hopes to schedule next year’s event so it does not coincide with the College’s spring break, as it did this year. She also plans to accept more bands.
Spears, who hosts a radio show with Jennigs for the College’s station, WRMC, agreed that the night was a success.
“Each space has its own distinct ambience,” he said. “All the venues were very well attended. The event was set up in such a way to guarantee that the crowd would follow the competition from one place to the next, but that was sort of the genius of the event.”
Indeed, many who attended Bearquarium’s performance at 51 Main continued to follow the music for the rest of the night, walking to Two Brothers Tavern to hear Prana and afterwards to American Flatbread for a performance from Split Tongue Crow.
Amy Billints, who attended all three performances, said the event was a “good way for the people to learn about the bands and the businesses.” A resident of Williston, Vt., Billints is a friend of the band Prana.
“The event was awesome,” said Carson Cornbrooks ’11 in an email. “Three bands, three different locations, three hours? Who thought of that? Excellent idea.”
Others also felt the event was an ideal way to bring together community members.
“It is just good for the community,” said Pat McCaffrey, a Middlebury resident who enjoyed dessert with her friend Jim Daly at 51 Main. “It brings people out.”
One of the event’s main goals was to draw attention to downtown.
“One of the things that happened along the way is that you got a tour of our bustling downtown on a Saturday night, and it turns out something was happening,” said Spears.
Cornbrooks felt the same, and said in an e-mail, “I think this is a great community event. It brings artists from all over the state to one place to perform and get their names out there. It also gives us at Middlebury a change to have a different kind of evening, and who doesn’t love live music?”
Tyler Mast, keyboardist for Bearaquarium, appreciated the large crowd at 51 Main and said, “it was nice to see people out here enjoying themselves.”
Large crowds at both Two Brothers and American Flatbread upheld the enthusiasm of the evening. Though each venue offered a different environment, both acoustically and socially, the bands energized all the restaurants.
Krystal Caruso, an employee at American Flatbread, noted the brevity of each 45-minute set, but enjoyed herself nonetheless.
“This whole event is a great way to get three different restaurants involved in one thing,” said Caruso. “It brings a lot of community members in that maybe have not been to these places before.”
Bands battle for spring concert crown
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