Battle of the Bands was held in the Colvard Student Union Foster ballroom on Thursday. Battle of the Bands, put on by the Student Association and hosted by Late Night Events, is a musical competition to determine who will open at Bulldog Bash on Oct. 7.
In Thursday night’s Battle of the Bands, five bands competed for the spot to open for Rock Euphora, Pell and Flo Rida. In order to participate, all the bands had to send in a video link to Music Maker’s Facebook page. From there, students and faculty voted on the bands.
Five were chosen based on popularity. The five bands included: Dylan Davis, Jake Slinkard, Railroad Radio, Pacman’s Disco and Tw!ns. Each band had a 20-minute set, and the judges made their rulings clear around 8 p.m.
Jake Slinkard and his band will be opening for Bulldog Bash. The Battle of the Bands competition was open to everyone, with free drinks and goods from Music Makers. The ballroom was set up with chairs along the outer wall, a stage erected at the front of the room and a judge panel towards the center.
Each band was gathered by Music Makers Productions. Aubrey Pohl, the student director for Music Makers Productions, worked closely with each band. He was also heavily involved in the marketing, set up and the accomplishment of Battle of the Bands.
All the bands had incredibly different sounds, making it hard for the judges to come to a decision. Madelyn Lukens, a volunteer DJ at WSMV, Mississippi State’s radio station, became a judge about an hour before the competition.
“Watching live music is my favorite thing to do,” Lukens said. “It was scary at first [judging,] but now I’m just really excited about the bands.”
Lukens and the other judges scored each band on originality, performance, energy on stage and talent. Each band was scored out of a possible 10 and each judge was able to write a comment about each band. After each set, the judges would give the band comments.
Jake Slinkard, front man of the winning band and old classmate of Pell, said that after having their drummer unexpectedly leave for Alaska, the band had one week to find a new drummer, practice a lot and find a vibe they all felt comfortable with.
The band is currently recording their first EP, which will be out shortly after Bulldog Bash.
Slinkard also thanked everyone, and said that they, “look forward to rocking out with everybody and having a good time.”
“I’m just excited to be out there, playing for the Starkville community, the people who voted for us, just the people who have made us who we are,” Slinkard said.
The actual bash will begin at 2 p.m. on October 7 in the Cotton District. This year, the bash will kick off with Maroon Market, a small market of artists and local talent.
The Famous Maroon Band, cheerleaders and Bully will lead a Dawg Rally at 6 p.m. The concerts will begin around 7 p.m.
Tickets are free to any MSU student. This will make 17 years of Bulldog Bash at MSU. 35,000 people are expected to join the crowd at this year’s bash.
