Battle of the Bands (BOTB) is a campus tradition like no other. On April 5, seven student bands performed in front of three faculty judges and a sea of adoring fans (the student body). Featuring Chick Flick, Geo & the Oldheads, The Naked Tuesdays, Fool’s Errand, Fall Risk, The Pleasantries and Orchid, the Old Tennis Courts Lawn was the site of a jam-packed experience. Courtney Lassiter ‘27, one of the announcers, explained that BOTB “is a spectacular chance for student bands to show off their creativity.”
Annabel Semans ‘26, the lead singer in Fool’s Errand and co-president of WALT 1610, reflected on her performance. “It’s an honor to perform with my bandmates. More than anything, we have so much fun up there together, and I think the audience can tell. I’m proud of how much we’ve grown in the past year and a half, and I hope we can deliver more original music in the future to keep that up.”
The audience experience rivaled that of the performers. As the music echoed across the lawn, students could be seen swaying to the rhythm, laughing with friends and dancing freely, fully immersed in the atmosphere. “I enjoyed the diversity of genres [brought] by each band (I am an Orchid superfan ‘til I die), and I appreciated that my band was able to play a goofier, less serious set and add to that diversity,” Michael Allen ‘27 of Fall Risk recounted. “Especially ‘El Scorcho.’ Having the opportunity to do something so borderline unperformable was a blast.”
Jess King ‘26, who plays piano for The Pleasantries, agreed that a fun setlist makes the show, with songs like “Treasure” by Bruno Mars and “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk able to easily energize the atmosphere.
What isn’t shown on the surface during an event like this is the dedicated time and preparation it took for tech services and WALT to bring this event to life. “It’s always a privilege to play in a space as nice as the old tennis courts with tech services mixing the audio,” Jayson Rivera ‘27, the rhythm guitarist for Fool’s Errand, explained. “Big props to WALT and everyone involved in making the day go as well as it did.”
Getting to perform in such a public space was great for the bands and the surrounding Davidson community. “This is the second year in a row we’ve had the event in a very public outdoor location, and I love the vibes. It was great to see some faculty, families, and folks from the town show up,” Semans said.
All the bands loved the friendly competition and pushed themselves to play their best. “Battle of the Bands was a really awesome experience,” Enzo Guardado ‘27, the lead guitarist for Fool’s Errand, described. “I had a ton of fun playing and watching the other bands. Their performances really blew me away, I was super anxious about bringing my A-game and putting on a good show.”
At the end, each band nervously awaited the final decision to be announced. Many students were pleased to see a change in the process of deciding the winner, as last year was determined by popular vote. “The panel of professors as judges was an improvement of the format from last year, and it made the decision behind the winner feel more fair,” Allen explained. Guardado agreed. “I thought the change to faculty judges was a great decision. It turned [the event] from a popularity contest to a serious competition.” Semans added that the change helped “expand involvement” in the event.
However, some students disagreed with the idea of there being an overall winner at all. “I would say BOTB is so fun to mess around with and play with other students’ bands all on one stage,” Jack Hill ‘27, guitarist for Fall Risk and The Pleasantries, said. “I do think, however, the competition aspect is a little silly because music should be about expression and everybody being able to be appreciated for it.”
After much deliberation, the winner, chosen by the faculty judges, was Fool’s Errand. “I’m really proud of our performance and was super happy people liked our original song ‘Keep Me Warm.’ We put a lot of work into it,” Guardado said.
Rivera reflected on how special it was to debut their first original. “It was way more terrifying than I thought it’d be, but I think people had a good time!”
Semans explained that Jacob Kim ‘26 “wrote the chord progression, I wrote the lyrics and everyone developed their own parts on top of that. We did it all in the week leading up to Battle of the Bands, but we had a goal and we made it happen!”
Eli Basset ‘28 plays the drums for Orchid and loved his first time performing in the event. “Battle of the Bands was so fun to play at. We had such a great time. It was so nice to see all of the bands together in one place, playing great songs, having a blast, even with the cold. I’m already excited for next year.”
Regardless of the outcome, each band left the event energized and proud to be part of the music community at Davidson. “It’s evident that we’ve reached a golden age of student bands at Davidson, which makes me really happy,” Rivera exclaimed.
Belle Bunner ‘28 is an intended environmental science major from Fayetteville, AR and can be reached for comment at [email protected].
