Battle of the Bands will be held at the high school. It is the annual music contest put on as a fundraiser by the junior class. On April 1st, in the auditorium at 7 p.m., this year’s promising new musical talent will take the stage. Bands will compete for prizes of $75-$100 and a chance to play in this year’s Peach Festival. It is a night where music lovers of all types can come together and see a production by the high school’s student bands.

Students in the school are already planning to go to the competition. Freshman Chris Trajkovski says he has gone to the battle for the past two years and loved every minute of it. “This is my first time going when I’m in high school, so I’m going to know a lot more people, and I’ll know most of the bands,” said Trajkovski. “It will be very cool.”

Before bands can compete, they must tryout for the competition at an after school audition held on March 29. Normally 10 or 15 bands will try out for the eight spots available. Whoever makes the cut will then have 2 days to practice before the battle on that Friday night. Although this quick schedule should provide a healthy challenge for the competitors, some students disagree with the setup.

“A three-day interval is nowhere near enough time for bands to try out, rehearse, and prepare for the battle,” said senior Marty Musiak. “In the past they had a longer time to prepare. This is just asking for bad performances.”

As in previous years, a great number of musical genres will be represented at the show. Whether it’s punk, alternative, hard rock, or ska, it can probably found at the competition. Junior Erik Smith, a former competitor with Holay Molay, is excited to return for another year. “I love music, and I like sharing the fun and emotion with people,” he said. His pop-punk band, which came in second place in last year’s competition, also consists of fellow juniors Tom Kogut, Anthony Potito, and Tony Rovelli.

As well as being excited to perform in the competition, many students simply can’t wait to attend the performance. “Last year was a blast, and this year will be even better,” said sophomore Alex Farr. “A lot more ska bands are entering and I know them all.”

Others are less optimistic about the outcome of this year’s show. Sophomore Paige Kelly hoped that this year would be better than last. According to her, bands last year were “not very good,” but she hopes that more of her type of music will be played, to make it more personally enjoyable.

Newcomers to the Minnechaug music scene include one of the school’s all-freshmen band, The Symptoms. Dave Cross, T.J. Dwyer, Conor Murphy, and Rickey Sobey make up this “strictly freshman band,” and describe themselves as a mix between the Beatles and Led Zeppelin, with a little Third Eye Blind thrown in. Guitarist Murphy expressed the group’s doubts when being compared to former battle winners like Original Copy and The Wingmen.

“They have all been really good, it’s a little intimidating trying to stack up with bands in the past,” said Murphy. “This is really big for us. We’ve wanted to play this show ever since we started going to it, when Original Copy won.”

Other bands are nervous about the style of music they will be presenting. Freshman Josh Florence, of the band The Victim of Desire, said, “We’re worried if the school will like the music we play. It’s an acquired taste.” Freshmen Ryan Bonsall, Chris Tobin, and sophomore Dave Carter make up the rest of his band.

“We play what we feel, and we show emotion by playing hardcore music. It gets the point across,” Florence said.

Although students may disagree on favorite artists, songs, and types of music, most can agree on one thing. As said by Trajkovski, “I like Battle of the Bands because you get to see all of your friends and you also get to hear amazing tunes.”