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| by anne mastny (anne) / cassie conner (cassie) | |
A show at a fraternity house? Huh? Frat guys don’t like good music. Or do they? On September 7, the Triangle Fraternity, a fraternity of engineers, architects, and scientists, located on 2nd and Daniel, held a battle of the bands event. The event featured twelve local bands on two stages for a measly three dollars. What more could you want? Many were skeptical that such an event was being hosted at a frat house. Some even came straight out and said they wouldn’t attend such an event, solely for the fact that the hosts were Greek. Well, that’s a shame for those who were so closed minded. The event was an enormous success, and tons of fun.
The battle was a philanthropy event held to raise money for A Woman’s Fund, the longest standing domestic violence and sexual assault services for women and children in the state of Illinois. It has been in operation for over 30 years providing shelter, counseling, advocacy, education and other important resources to the community in its mission to eliminate violence. They plan to make this battle of the bands an annual event to raise money for A Woman's Fund or a similar organization every year. They’re also expecting each year to be bigger and better. Their goal for next year is to raise at least $2500.
Because the show was supporting such a cause, the men of the Triangle Fraternity decided it should be an alcohol-free event to raise awareness about how alcohol contributes to violence against women. They also wanted to put on an event that women could feel very safe attending and wanted to show everyone that you can have a great time without the use of drugs and alcohol.
This was a noble decision, seeing as alcohol is what brings many people to parties in the first place. Despite this decision, an overwhelming number of people came to support and rock out. Triangle raised about $1500 in proceeds from the door, and another $100 from pizza and pop sales, all of which was donated to A Woman’s Fund. The $500 cash prize that went to the winner of the battle, Spitalfield, came from members of the fraternity. The fraternity also paid for the sound, stage, and lighting set ups. All money raised at the door and from the pizza/pop sales went straight to A Woman's Fund.
Ok, ok…so the event was a success in that it raised lots of money for a good cause, but how was the show? Equally, if not more, successful. There was a very diverse lineup for the stages that night, ensuring there was something for everyone: from 311 covers, to psychedelic jam bands, to pop punk. With the diversity of musical genres, an equally diverse crowd was drawn. It was quite refreshing to see so many different people, all enjoying themselves together at one event. Everyone supported the bands, and rocked out no matter what their style. Perhaps the most surprising of all was Solo Mono’s set. With their hardcore style, I didn’t expect very much crowd enthusiasm, except, perhaps for already-existing fans (myself included). But, to my surprise, most everyone responded quite positively, and rocked out side by side. I found the experience as a whole, quite reminiscent of what we, here at OpeningBands advocate: acceptance and support of diverse local talent. On behalf of OpeningBands, I would like to thank the men of Triangle for putting on such a wonderful show. We look forward to next years.
Here’s a little note passed on from Trevor Donarski, president of Triangle, on behalf of the fraternity: We would like to thank everyone who attended the event and assisted us in raising money for this great cause. We cannot thank the bands enough for coming to play. They were all excellent musicians and great people.
The following is a bit about each band who performed at the battle, according to Cassie:
Pulse Domain - Pulse Domain was essentially a 311 cover band. They both opening and closed with a radio hit from the group. They played a couple of originals in between, but it was obviously that they borrowed heavily from their idols. Echo effects were in heavy usage. They encouraged their friends standing around the stage to "jump around" and also to get drunk which I found pretty tasteless at this benefit that was alcohol free to make people aware of how alcohol contributes to violence against women.
Brass Monkey Crew - Another tribute type band, this time for the Beastie Boys. Unfortunately, these guys could really have used some lessons from Absinthe Blind on how to portray the Beastie Boys in an entertaining manner. I noticed quite a few people walking out during this set. I understand that it was in spirit of the Beastie Boys, but I still think that it was somewhat inappropriate to repeatedly make references to "bitches and hoes" considering the benefactor of the show. Thankfully that night greatly improved after this point.
After Sundown - After Sundown was a solid rock act that seemed to have a lot of energy despite the fact that the crowd was still sparse this early in the night. Many props to them for actually mentioning The Women's Fund.
The Failures - Somehow I had managed never to see The Failures before this concert, but I wish I had seen them before. I think that they are probably the most underrated bands in town. They have the general indie sound and style but they display a great deal of versatility. Vocals range from croons to screams. The guitars go from jangle-y to crashing. As good as I think they were now, I would be very interested in how a second guitar would fill out their sounds. All these qualities in addition to the fact that they had a good stage presence and the fact that they are damn near the hardest working band in town make The Failures one of my new favorites.
The Invisible - I can pick out the influences of several genres of music in the songs of The Invisible: country, folk, jam bands… even a bit of grunge and the Beatles. The vocals left something to be desired, but overall an enjoyable band to listen to.
Spitalfield - Spitalfield played a brand of rock that I call shiny suburb pop. Other bands that fall into this category include The Red Hot Valentines, Plain White T's, and Jimmy Eat World. Accordingly, the kids ate it up. However I have to say that what this band lacked in originality they made up for in pure energy. Their stage presence was great and one of the highlights of the entire night was when the guitarist climbed up the amp stack and jumped into the crowd while continuing to play.
Lorenzo Goetz - This band had a rather psychedelic sound to them typified by heavy droning guitars. Sorry for the short description for this one. It's not my type of music so I'm not really qualified to review it.
Katie and Concrete Cowboys - Katie appears to be a somewhat irate hippy girl with a band. Same disclaimer here as I had for Lorenzo Goetz.
Solo Mono - I'm not familiar with hardcore music at all, but these guys won me over. Their energy was impressive. Their music was explosive. Their enthusiasm broke 2 guitar stings, one on the first song of the set. They grabbed a hold of an unfamiliar crowd and made them have a good time.
Drawing a Blank - A rock group with a smattering of punk and ska. They were probably the most fun group of the night if not in the entire town. The backup vocals are an interesting aspect of this group.
Roscoe Plush - Roscoe Plush has a sort of jam band type feel to them. I enjoyed the use of the keyboard and the melodic vocals, but I and rest of the crowd seemed to lose interest probably due to the fact that it's hard for a laid back band like this to follow an energetic performance of Drawing a Blank, not to mention be the 10th band of an all-day affair.
Swizzle Tree - I wasn't very impressed with Swizzle Tree. They had a very "college rock" type sound to them and were over all fairly mediocre.
Spitalfield took home the $500 prize for best band of the day, but more importantly, A Woman's Fund took home $1500, and some stereotypes were broken down as fans of all genres of music came together at, of all places, a fraternity house.
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