Battling it out for the Best

Music is a huge part of student life at CC, and Battle of the Bands proves to be no exception

Spring semester at Colorado College is filled with many things: 80-degree sunshine, “golf” on the quad, count-less tank tops for sale inside the Worner Center, dreams of the upcoming block, snowstorms, and an event that used to hide out in the Morreale Carriage House where no one could really ever fit to enjoy it: Battle of the Bands.

But this year, the epic competition in which the winner earns a spot on the Llamapalooza stage, was relocated to a far grander venue in the Cossitt Amphitheater. Llamapalooza, started in 1990, is CC’s annual spring music festival that takes place during 8th block on the Worner Quad. Ada Sochanska ’14, co-chair of the Llamapalooza committee, discovered and organized this change of location. She said that many students showed up for this special event in the new venue, even during a cold burst of spring at the end of March.

The band YouJazz performs at a collaborative concert called Shut Up and Stop Making Sense in Cornerstone Arts Center on March 1.

Location wasn’t the only thing that changed this year. The voting process in the preliminary rounds was upgraded from paper ballots to electronic voting, and the talent, according to Phoenix McLaughlin ’14, member of the band YouJazz, took a giant leap as well.

“The bands at the second round were all sounding real good,” McLaughlin said.

He and several bandmates pulled together YouJazz last year after being part of the Tiger Jazz Ensemble. That was their first year in this competition.

“Battle of the Bands is naturally one of the higher-profile events for student bands, so it’s never a hard decision to sign up,” McLaughlin said.

YouJazz tied with Funkdozer, a band of first-year students, for first place at the end of the competition.

“Music is the most uncomplicated, pure thing in the world,” said Brian LeMeur ’17, tenor saxophonist, pianist, and vocalist for Funkdozer. “It is pure joy. My favorite thing about Funkdozer is the inextricable link between our friendship and our music. The music relies on our friendship and our friendship relies on our music. To offer an example, our music has a lot of group improvisation: Someone ‘says’ something, and someone else responds, and the ‘conversation’ on stage goes back and forth. Our musical communication relies on our communication as friends.”

As connected as their band is, LeMeur never thought they would make it to the Llamapalooza stage in their first year at CC. He said that he and his bandmates hoped they could play at Llama by their junior year.

“As soon as we started thinking about forming a band, we heard about Battle of the Bands and how the winners play at Llama,” LeMeur said. “We decided that we’d do the competition but didn’t think we’d play at Llama our freshman year.”

The bassist from the band Middle School Dance Party performs at CC’s Battle of the Bands on March 29.

With 28 bands in the first round at the beginning of March, and nine in the finals on March 28 and 29, it was tricky to earn one of the prized spots on the Llamapalooza stage.

“Each of the bands ranged in age and genre, some of them having played together for four years and others having met the semester before,” said Llamapalooza committee member Sam Tezak ’16. “Electronic artists, jam bands, quasi-bluegrass quartets, jazz-influenced groups, cover bands, and even a metal band came out to compete and play for their peers.”

Nic Titus ’15, another Llamapalooza committee member, said that Battle of the Bands is a wonderful opportunity to draw the community together through music.

“During the finals [in the Cossitt Amphitheater], the students who came had a blast and were dancing the entire night,” Titus said. “It was extremely rewarding to see so many people having a great time at an event that required a lot of attention and work. CC students always have a good time when live music is involved, and Battle of the Bands is one of the best events on campus because it allows all the people who are unheard-of a chance to play.”

“I think the music scene at CC is one of the best parts of campus life,” LeMeur said. “There were nearly 30 bands in Battle this year, which speaks to the wealth of talent and passion for music in the student body. I also love the interactions between bands. It’s not competitive at all. In fact, it’s the opposite. We’re all really supportive of each other. We all put the music first, because we know that that is what really matters.”

And just like CC students display their passions in many areas of life, the community’s passion for music is unleashed during this competition.

“It was absolutely such a pleasure to see how many people showed up each night to not only support their friends but to also genuinely listen to the music,” Sochanska said. “The finals were the highlight because the bands were all of such a high caliber of talent that there was not a moment when the crowd wasn’t swaying or more people weren’t coming in.”

More information: www.llamapaloozacc.com