Battle of the Bands plays to enthusiastic crowds
February 10, 2017
It is that time of the year again. The Battle of the Bands took place on Feb. 3. Several bands are prepared for this competition. It shows friends, family and the community just how hard they have been working.
“I think this year’s competition will be great. I have never been to Battle of the Bands, but I am looking forward to it,” junior Matt Payne said.
Music is a great way for people to express themselves. The audience can get to know the band by listening to their music. Some groups may have played in similar conditions, but any time there is a big live crowd it would be worth playing at.
“I like how they get the chance to play in front of family and friends and it has an incentive,” Payne said.
This year’s competition featured five bands: 40 Below, Educated Guess, Land Whale, Mouthful and The Bungdungz . Every band was confident that they would take it home. Of course this is a friendly competition, but everybody wanted to win this competition. The winner got to take home a $200 grand prize.
Sophomore Joe Weckworth said, “I don’t know, I don’t want to be cocky but I think we have a good shot at it.”
Crowds witnessed the Bungdungz winning the competition and the prize in a close race. Mouthful and 40 Below finished right behind them.
“I don’t really have a background in this type of music, but I still think I will enjoy the competition. Each band works so hard so I think it will be worth the price of admission,” Payne said.
Exposure is a part of playing in a band. Battle of the Bands is a way to get a band’s name out there and draw some interest. Playing for friends and family is not the only perk of performing in Battle of the Bands, the participants can see other bands perform live and learn a few things.
“It’s not about the money, it’s more about seeing where we stack up against everyone else and get our name out there a little bit,” said Weckworth.
Bands come from many different backgrounds. Each band had their own unique sound and style. These influences can be seen through these bands music. These influences come through emotions and feelings the band’s feels or maybe they just like the sound, these inspirations are all around us. Every band had their own style and the crowd loved it.
“We listen to a lot of the classic rock music, so bands like Cream, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the stones and things like that,” said Weckworth.
These bands had been preparing for a while and were excited to give the school a show. This year’s competition lived up to the hype, now it is time for the bands to prepare for next year.
Thomas Johnson • Mar 29, 2017 at 7:28 pm
The lead catches the reader’s attention and Nick did a great job of using the perfect balance between strong quotes and explaining what Battle of the Bands is all about
Adam Johnson • Mar 28, 2017 at 9:07 pm
I went to battle of the bands and I can honestly say that this story did a really good job at matching the mood of the show itself and giving a good glimpse at what the event was like.
Hannah Drake • Mar 28, 2017 at 9:41 am
I did not go to battle of the bands this year but this article gave a very good summary of what happened. The quotes were great, I love all the band members. This article was sort of “Cheerleading”, but other than that it is a great piece of work.
Evan Klein • Mar 28, 2017 at 9:11 am
The introduction is strong and the quotes are compelling there is also an array of interviewees which adds to credibility
Gabe Wagner • Mar 28, 2017 at 9:08 am
Good article about a unique event that our school puts on. Did a good job researching and educating the reader about the event. Also had good interviews from different band members
Gideon Bimpey • Mar 28, 2017 at 8:00 am
I fee like this story could’ve been longer for such a big event. But even though it was short it was still powerful. Great quotes and perspectives.
Maddy • Mar 28, 2017 at 7:53 am
I think the article told how BOTB was in the eyes of not only the students but also the bands that participated. It was well written and hopefully, anyone who read this article who didn’t attend this year will attend next year.
Ben Wicklund • Mar 28, 2017 at 7:46 am
Very nice blend of quotes and facts. Could have built up more suspense and tension by following a band from before and after but good to interview a band member. Good job!
Ryan Berg • Mar 27, 2017 at 9:05 pm
This story was written well, and explained the event nicely. I especially liked that you mentioned the $200 prize for the winning team. I also liked how you explained that bands come from many different backgrounds and can all have their own special style.
Mariah Marsnik • Mar 27, 2017 at 7:27 pm
I enjoyed reading this article. It has good facts that represent good research. I like how Nick wrote about who won and what the prize was, but also that the competition is about more than just winning. The story gets right to the point and gives the reader good information about Battle of the Bands. The quotes are good but the article could have been even better if there were a few more quotes from other band members.
kayla gjerde • Mar 27, 2017 at 7:23 pm
I think there should have been more quotes from people participating in Battle of the Bands. There could have been more information about the songs the bands performed and what the environment was like during Battle of the Bands.
Kevin Thole • Mar 27, 2017 at 6:31 pm
While I always enjoy the storytelling abilities of Nick Gag, I couldn’t help but feel the lead was a little rushed in this story. I like how you interviewed a member of a band and provided good information on what inspires each band. Also I think you should have interviewed people from multiple bands in order to diversify the story.
Hannah Boardman • Mar 27, 2017 at 4:47 pm
This is a great article because of the information presented. There is a lot of good information on the bands and the interviews are very informative. Overall this is a very good article.
Max Korth • Mar 27, 2017 at 4:38 pm
I enjoyed reading this article because it told the story of the Battle of the Bands and how it is more about playing for the people than it is about winning the competition. I think more of a variety of quotes could be used in this article from the different bands perhaps, just to show the different perspectives of the bands in the competition.
Hannah Larson • Mar 27, 2017 at 4:38 pm
The information in the article is very well used to help the reader get a sense of Battle of the Bands (BOTB). The length of the article is great as well, because knowing how big of an event BOTB is in the district, the story could have been very long.
Jared Dean • Mar 27, 2017 at 3:59 pm
I enjoyed reading this article because it not only covered the event but the band members and their interests/reasons for competition. I also thought that you used a variety of different quotes that helped tell the story and show that there is more to Battle of the Band then the first place prize.
Noah Johnson • Mar 27, 2017 at 3:35 pm
Great job with a getting a good understanding from sources both from the crowd and members of the bands. The language seemed bland at times, but wanting to know what the bands thought kept me reading. Phenomenal.
Mira LaNasa • Mar 27, 2017 at 3:04 pm
Good job with this article. Well presented quotes and leaves the reader excited for Battle of the Bands next year.
Mason Urban • Mar 24, 2017 at 3:50 pm
This is a very good article as you had a great understanding of Battle of the Bands and great quotes to help support this story.
Owen Landrud • Mar 15, 2017 at 8:07 pm
With an event of this size the story could have been an extremely lengthy and strenuous to read but the reporter does a very good job with keeping the story concise and to the point while still including some interesting details.
Emmanuel Kamara • Mar 12, 2017 at 12:37 pm
Great way to bring a reader into a story, the story had some really great quotes form various performers . Also i did’t even know there was a grand prize for the winner, shows that you did your research. keep it up.
Ashlyn Aarness • Mar 11, 2017 at 6:10 pm
The lead is good and makes you want to keep reading. The people interviewed were very knowledgeable and their quotes were really nice. The author had good information and a lot of facts.
Jack DeGonda • Mar 2, 2017 at 11:56 am
This story was a great attribution to the pony express for many reasons. First, it talks about a current event in our school that many students are interested in, and maybe if someone forgot to get tickets- this story would suffice. Second, the author has phenomenal linguistic skills, at least compared to some of his counterparts such as Noah Johnson and Mason Urban. Lastly, the structure and chronologic order of this story separates it from the rest making it an obvious choice for the cover of the Pony Express.