These past two weekends, The Outpost in Kent has been a veritable fault line on which different sounds have met and clashed together. In the dark, noisy roadhouse several bands have gotten on a stage and played their music. When genres meet, does one rise above the other and claim superiority? Is the winner considered good music, while all of the others are returned to the cutting room floor? I suppose this is where art comes in. I don’t mean the museum type of art where people drink Pinot Noir and talk about Van Gough, but rather that there are certain standards involved and that must be adhered to in order for music to be considered satisfactory.
At The Outpost, judges sat and gave scores to the bands who played. Similarly, the random fans, frat boys, and bar patrons would clap, whether from pity or applause, who knows. Who is to say? Each band has a slightly different sound, but each has its own influences. Bands that have been influenced by Avenged Sevenfold played with others who emulated Les Claypool. That’s the beauty of music. People are not one dimensional, and likewise the music that was at the first two weekends of the battle was incredibly varied. There was something for everyone. Saturday the 20th, there were five bands that were a microcosm of today’s popular rock scene. Eyes Wide Shut played a loud, screaming set, while Eyeshot heralded from pure metal. The Damaged One brought a taste of alternative to its brand of metal, and Post Dream Conspiracy was alternative with a bit of grunge. The final band Signal The Versus, was a mix of pop-punk and alternative rock. Each band served slices of the sub-genre pie currently dominating Northeast Ohio’s music scene.
The atmosphere was lively, with each group of fans supporting its favorite band. Some kids carpooled to get there, while the Tau Kappa Epsilons, the Kent State University fraternity who co-sponsored the event, had only a short sojourn to the venue. The atmosphere did not change much to the next weekend’s battle. There was a slightly smaller crowd, but the bands played with a different flavor. Deviathan brought raw emotion to its set, while the multi-talented Doppler Shift played everything from metal to a rock version of “In the Hall of the Mountain King” for all of the serious music nerds (myself included). Silence So Loud brought an upbeat, alternative, polished set and finally Against the Rising had an alternative, Christian flavor to cap off the night.
So far in the battle, the bands that the crowd has responded to the most have moved on to the finals, which will take place on the 11th of October. Apparently, both the crowd and the judges made their choices as to what music was most to their liking,  and those bands will take the stage again in hopes of coming out on top. Hopefully, even those who don’t make it to number one will continue to make music. The music industry needs variety if it intends to stay fresh, or as fresh as it can be with a certain measure of emulation.
Bands that will be competing in the FTF Concerts “Back to School” Battle of the Bands finals include All That Matters, Derik Kroeze, Post Dream Conspiracy, Signal the Versus, Silence So Loud, and Against the Rising. The finals will be held at the Outpost in Kent, Ohio with doors opening at 6:30 p.m.
I am soooo glad that Silence So Loud made it! They are an amazing bunch of guys and deserve to win!
Rock on guys!