By Emily Crescitelli and Phoebe Hopkins
Staff Writers
The
Though they had nine members—Oliver Higgins, Matt Felten, Jack Flynn, Aaron Doucett, Josh Duclos, Luke Gangi-Wellman, Benj Spound, Peter Fath, and Jake Trombley—the band managed to give everyone their own moment with many outstanding solos over the three songs they played.
Two members of Beat 2 stayed up for the next act, Snacktime. With only four members, Snacktime did not have quite the diversity in instruments as Beat 2, but sounded just as well practiced. Benj Spound, Ian Steinberg, Matt Felten, and Alex Cahillane ended the set with a funny self-titled song sung by Steinberg.
Delaine Winn, Matt Felten, Simon Ross, and Aiden Winn of the next band, f.s.e., really got the crowd going. During their second song, “Fire on the Mountain”, the auditorium looked a bit more like Pearl Street than NHS with most of the crowd in front of the stage dancing rather than sitting in their seats.
“Half the freaking audience is up there,” said sophomore Emily Hannigan-Page. Things were a bit calmer during the next set. The Zane Linehan Experience was not a band in the true sense of the word, but more of a jam session between Zane Linehan and Jack Flynn on guitar and keyboard. Though a great display of improv, it wasn’t a dancing piece and gave the audience a chance to catch their breath before the next set. The members of Great Smokey, Peter McQuillan, Roxy LeBlanc, Travis Weitzman, Francesco Muri, and Mike Parham, were not exclusively from NHS.
This diversity served them well though, as they played three amazing songs. With accordion, a rap, and an impromptu drumming session on pots and pans, Great Smokey was the most original of the bands. The final band, however, was the crowd favorite. Also the hosts of the battle, Nick O’Connor, Rob Schmidt, Demetri Kachulis, and fellow band member Tom Hirsch got the crowd to their feet from the beginning and kept them their for the whole set.
In matching sweater vests and strange head-gear, meninVest Destiny was definitely the funniest of the bands. Out of all six bands, they were also voted the winner of the battle. (Whether or not this can be attributed to their style cannot be determined.) Second place went to Great Smokey, and third was captured by Beat 2.
