Chatterbox, whose members are (from left) Marc Guillod, Isabella Mowers, Kevin Stevens and Connor Rankin, performs at last year’s Battle of the New Bands.
Who’ll win the Battle of the New Bands competition? Find out Friday, Dec. 6, at the Williams Center Multipurpose Room.
The three student bands that emerged as finalists, from among 10 applicants in the long audition process, will each perform, beginning at 6 p.m. Finalists are:
- Forever Living Young (F.L.Y.), an R&B focused band that’s also influenced by jazz and hip hop;
- Spraypaint Eye Medallion, one of SUNY Fredonia’s first shoegaze bands. (Shoegaze is a genre focused on pedals and pedal boards);
- APHAEHO, a metalcore band.
The winning band will be chosen by a judge panel consisting of a past Music Industry Club (MIC) E-board member, a Music Industry faculty member and an unknown, or wildcard, judge. A consensus crowd vote will factor into determining the winning band. Each member of the crowd is allowed one vote.
Olivia Castigilione, a sophomore Music Industry major from Rochester, NY, is the e-board choice. Assistant Professor Stuart Shapiro is the faculty choice. Who’ll be the wildcard judge will be revealed that evening. Judges receive a rubric to use to determine their respective scores of each band.
“Once all the votes are in and we receive the judges scores, we add up all of the crowd votes, get the percentage of each band based on how many [votes] there are in total, and then we add the percentage to their judges’ score,” explained Music Industry Club President Jazmine B. Torres.
“Whoever gains the highest wins,” said Ms. Torres, a senior Music Industry major from Bay Shore, NY.
The winning band is awarded a slot to perform in a show in the spring semester as well as studio time with a Music Industry Club audio engineer to record their first single.
There’s also a manager winner, based on promotion of each band.
The MIC E-board evaluates managers based on who did the best job in terms of follower counts on social media pages and views and physical promotional work, as well as on their involvement with the band so far. A $50 gift card is awarded to the winning manager.
Ahmani “Sadboymanii” McKoy, the club’s events coordinator, will return to the stage as emcee. The junior Music Industry major from the Bronx, NY, served last year and will also work sound between hosting duties.
“Sadboymanii is a recording artist that has many songs released and has great rapport with the Fredonia music scene,” Torres commented.
Numerous vendors, including FredGrows, Animation & Illustration Club, Recollected, Heart of the Game, Rhythm and Grooves, and Sarah Burke, a fellow SUNY Fredonia musician, will sell merchandise.
Battle of the New Bands is free and open to students, faculty, staff and community members.
A semester-long competition, Battle of the New Bands encourages students on campus to create their own bands or become a solo artist and to involve a manager throughout the process.
“As a club, we try to influence the campus community to get involved not only with the music scene on campus, but off campus as well. This event is usually a kick starter for many students on campus,” Torres said.
Early in the process, interested students learn about the rules and regulations of the competition and also meet the previous year’s winner. The winner of the 2023 Battle of the New Bands was Chatterbox, which includes Marc Guillod, Isabella Mowers, Kevin Stevens and Connor Rankin. The group is managed by Suzy Scaccio. (Chatterbox has emerged as a staple in Fredonia, NY, and Buffalo, NY, where it performed at Milkie’s on Elmwood, among other venues, since their debut at last year’s competition. Chatterbox continues to thrive and will release their first single in January.)
Each band and their manager have three weeks to prepare two original songs and one cover for the actual audition.
The club’s E-board utilizes rubrics during auditions to evaluate the bands, while managers are evaluated based on their professionalism and promotion.
