We're AMPED!
By Julene McCoy in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 12, 2007 5:18PM
Tonight is AMPED! Columbia College’s Third Annual Battle of the Bands which is part of an ongoing series that invites participation from area high school students interested in arts and communications majors. Six bands comprised of local students will be competing at Hothouse for the princely sum of a $50 gift certificate per band member and, of course, the bragging rights of being Chicago’s best band!
Chicagoist will be there as a “celebrity judge” to help dash the hopes of those five bands that don’t get the nod. Yeah, we’re still laughing, too. Anyway, we spent the better portion of this morning checking out the bands on MySpace. Here’s the future of rock-n-roll in some of their own words:
The Ivorys hail from Chicago and play original classic rock with a new spin. They have a little tour set up for the summer and will start it all off with a show at the House of Blues with The Redwalls on April 22 or they can be caught at the Double Door with Pop Levi on May 9. A strong contender? They do have a poem by Thax on the ol’ MySpace.
North & Center are out of Lemont and according to their MySpace page sound like an eargasm. Their influences include Franz Ferdinand, Modest Mouse and Arctic Monkeys. That gives us a little idea about how strong that eargasm will be. North & Center are in the second round of the Emergenza Music Festival this Saturday night at The Note.
One Cord Short are a pop-punk band from the suburbs – Riverside to be exact. They are bringing straight-edge back. Be on the lookout for a strong showing tonight because OCS did not like it when they lost the Orland Park Battle of the Bands last August.
Skyline Expression, Thunderbunch and Walrus after the jump.
Skyline Expression list both Plainfield and Naperville as their hometowns and, by far, have taken the strongest stance when letting us know what their music sounds like, “a swirling torrent of rock ecstasy, to put it mildly”. They are a blend of 60s and 70s rock with influences of today. We are a little frightened that Adam will be bouncing around like a crazy monkey man, because we once were attacked by a monkey man while in the shower.
Thunderbunch are young, ruthless, and sticking to the roots of punk – so fucking rock on! They list some fun influences like Fugazi, Bad Religion and Eagles of Death Metal. The Ike Reilly Assassination is one of their friends on MySpace for this quartet out of Oak Park.
Last, but not least, Walrus from Chicago will be vying for the title at this Battle of the Bands. They are a 5-piece who, if we are remembering correctly, have the most MySpace friends. We shall see if that means anything tonight when the crowds are cheering for their favorite.
We can’t wait to hear these ladies and gentlemen live up to their MySpace bravado this evening. Stop by the Hothouse at 31 E. Balbo because admission is free and one of these bands may skyrocket to success and we’ll be able to say that we saw them all the way back in 2007 at Columbia College Chicago’s AMPED! Battle of the Bands.
Hothouse, April 12, 5:00 p.m., free admission, all ages.