Style & Culture |

Local musicians rock to the finish in Battle of the Bands

By Laura Bouchard

Posted on Monday, February 12th, 2007, 12:00 am

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SEE YOU LAETUS - Hard rockers Laetus perform at the Battle of the Bands in Memorial Union last weekend.

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The Battle of the Bands took place Thursday, Feb. 8 in Memorial Union. There was a turnout of about 100 to 150 people, much less than the expected 500. However, those in attendance enjoyed free pizza, hot dogs and soda while jamming out to the music. The five local bands – Pushing Zero, Duck and Cover, Jacks Wild, Lateus and ROOST – played for 25 minutes each, with raffles and giveaways between the sets.

Pushing Zero, a hard rock band, were first up. The next act was the punk band Duck and Cover, who played a few original songs and some cover songs such as Smashmouth’s “All Star.” The third group was Jack’s Wild, a jam band with a touch of blues and rock, who performed some of their energetic originals. They were followed by the alternative band Laetus. Closing the night was ROOST, a jam-rock band who played a few original tracks and a Strangefolk cover.

There were seven judges – five Sophomore Owls and two outside judges. According to judge John Brainard, the outside judges “acted mostly as the crowd’s input” which the Owls considered when making their final decision. The elements they were looking for when choosing the winning band were musicianship, how the members of the band fed off of each other, stage presence and whether or not the band incorporated the audience and pulled them into the performance.

The judges said that it was a close vote, because all the bands were very talented and put on a good show. However, the biggest factor was that the band had to “play for the people.” If a band didn’t seem to accomplish that, it knocked them down a notch.

The winner that fulfilled the judges’ and audience’s standards was the four-man band Pushing Zero. The members of the band are George Skala on guitar and lead vocals, Adam Hauk on lead guitar, Jason Loeb behind the drums and Andrew Pelczar on the bass. They all hail from coastal Maine and have been together for nearly four years. Hauk takes classes from UMaine online through the Hutchinson Center, and Pelczar attends the University of Maine at Machias.

The members said they played at Ushuaia before the liquor license was taken away, but the lack of venues in the Orono area has prevented them from playing locally. “We try to get out of the state as much as possible to perform,” said lead singer George Skala. For example, at the end of last year they were invited to an event called MEANYfest in New York City, which was a gathering of about 300 bands, and managed to rock their way into the top seven. They have also opened for numerous bands such as Foghat, Badfish and Paranoid Social Club.

Pushing Zero has a MySpace page where people can listen to music, buy MP3s and keep in touch with the band. Although the band often performs outside the grand state of Maine, Skala said they’d love to come back and play at the university again, so we’ll likely be hearing from them again soon.