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Of the eight bands that competed at UNM’s seventh annual battle of the bands on Thursday, the winner almost didn’t perform. The Lymbs, which consists of guitarist/vocalist Gage Bickerstaff and drummer Jeff Bell, wasn’t initially in love with the idea of competing.
“Gage doesn’t like to do battle of the bands, but I wanted to play at Fiestas, and this is how we do it, so I convinced him,” Bell said.
Bickerstaff said he doesn’t like the idea of turning art into a competition, but he eventually gave in to Bell’s argument for performing.
“It was definitely a big compromise, but it worked out,” Bickerstaff said.
The seventh annual battle of the bands, hosted by ASUNM Student Special Events, changed its name to Fight for Fiestas this year.
The competition pitted eight different groups and solo artists against one another Thursday night. The reward for the winner was an opening performance Saturday’s Fiestas, an annual music show hosted by SSE. The year’s lineup for the annual music show features Breathe Carolina, Murs, ¡Revíva! and DJ Craze.
SSE Executive Director Jessica Duncan said SSE changed the name from Battle of the Bands to Fight for Fiestas to emphasize the wide variety of musicians featured at this year’s show.
“‘Bands’ connotes an indie band, with a guitarist, a bassist and a drummer,” Duncan said. “It could be one person up there, it could be six people … we wanted to incorporate that by changing the title.”
Fight for Fiestas, which took place in the SUB Ballrooms, drew more than 200 audience members. Each group or solo musician was allotted five minutes for setup and 10 minutes to play, and audience members were encouraged to stay until the end so they could vote for their favorite performance.
All in all, 148 people voted to select the winning top three. Only first-place winner The Lymbs will play at Fiestas. First runner-up was Electronic Chronic and second runner-up was DJ Alec Berve.
Bell and Bickerstaff said they are inspired by dozens of artists, whom they incorporate into their music.
“I’m more old school … Zeppelin, Hendrix. I love The Black Keys and The White Stripes,” Bickerstaff said.
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Bell said he had similar influences.
“We’ve got The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Beatles, Coldplay … Don’t put us down for that last one, though,” Bell said.
The event featured an eclectic lineup of artists. Carlos B’s DJing kicked off the show at 7 p.m. Hip-hop duo Cezler and D-Breeze rapped about “being the very best” à la Pokémon.
Next up was a cover of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” by solo guitarist Luke Peterson.
Vintage Roulette followed, featuring a vocalist who also played two keyboards accompanied by drums, guitar and bass.
Electronic Chronic performed rave and dubstep, then The Lymbs channeled Jimi Hendrix, with Bickerstaff playing the guitar with his teeth.
Following that was a performance by Ugly Robot, who involved the audience in their music through faux dance-instructional audio. DJ Alec Berve rounded out the evening with mixes set to dazzling lights.
