Battle of the bands to include high school groups
November 13, 2008
By Laura Geggel
On the eve of Nov. 15, seven bands will battle for a trophy, while their high school classmates jump and jive to their tunes. The showdown will happen in Si View Metropolitan Park District’s gymnasium from 8-11 p.m., where students will participate in the first Battle of the Bands sponsored by the park district and the Kiwanis Club.
The band Maggie and the Death Cats came to the Si View gymnasium to plan for the Battle of the Bands. Guitarist Wade Smith, left, stands next to drummer Chris Hindmarch and vocalist Jordan Bullock, who is wearing a pair of 1945 WWII Swiss Army aviation goggles. Not pictured is guitarist Walker DiTrani.
“I said, ‘Let’s do it for the teens,’” said Kiwanis member Wendy Palmer, whose daughter Alisha attends Mount Si. “You know how bad the weather is. In the summer they can go to Rattlesnake Lake, but where do they go now?”
When Scott Loos, a Kiwanis member and the finance manager at the park district learned of Palmer’s plans, he asked the district to offer the gym venue free of charge. Palmer also contacted Mount Si High School’s Key Club and asked them to advertise the event and decorate the gym.
About four student bands gathered at the park district Nov. 6 to discuss the setup for the battle.
“In a small-world environment, it’s nice to have a big event,” said junior Jordan Parrick. The guitarist described his band Threnody as “a style of metal, grunge, melody, classical and jazz all rolled up into one.”
Each band will play for 20 minutes. Audioart, a band of young 20-somethings who are too old to participate in the battle, will fill a 10-minute intermission between each show. At the end of the battle, the audience will vote for their favorite artist.
To gain entrance, high school students must show their Mount Si ASB card and pay a $5 entrance fee. The Kiwanis Club will collect the profits and spend the money on other events aimed at teens, such as a masquerade or Mardi Gras party, Palmer said.
Another band, GooberFish, plays folk rock and regularly performs at the Snoqualmie Brewery and Taproom. The band formed after senior Josh Duquette began teaching songs he had written to senior Sam Staten.
Staten said he writes songs in bursts. One of the hardest songs he ever wrote weaves in the story of Lillian, his sister’s young daughter, who drowned in an accident.
“It was hard to sing it. I didn’t want it to be criticized,” Staten said. “I just wrote it because I wanted to make my sister feel better.”
Plus Tax, the only all-female band to play at the event, has already performed at a few birthday parties. They figured they would play about five songs during their 20-minute slot. One of the pieces they plan to perform is only a few weeks old.
Junior Jesse LaTourette explained “the best way to write a song,” is to think of a theme like children or drugs.
“Two of us go upstairs and two of us go downstairs,” LaTourette said. Each group composes a song on the same theme before the band reconvenes and chooses the better of the two.
“We had a song about drugs and what they did to these guys,” LaTourette said.
Another group, Maggie and the Death Cats, thought of their name during a weight lifting class at Mount Si High School. Junior Chris Hindmarch said their music was “bipolar,” and junior Jordan Bullock called their style “chaotic.”
“It’s something that comes out of us after living in a packed up place for so long,” Bullock said.
One of their songs, “Valley of the Lepers,” will be on their Battle of the Bands itinerary.
The students said they were excited to compete at Si View, but they were more interested in playing and having a good time than in vying for the prize.
“I like it,” Parrick said. “I think it’s a good idea to get ourselves out there.”
Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
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