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 Sol De La Nochess Oscar Gambia, left,and Ryan Rael play drums and percussion Wednesday night at the Fight for Fiestas Battle of the Bands in the SUB Ballroom. Competing against four other bands Sol De La Noche came out on top and will be featured at the 2015 summer Fiestas.
Sol De La Nochess Oscar Gambia, left,and Ryan Rael play drums and percussion Wednesday night at the Fight for Fiestas Battle of the Bands in the SUB Ballroom. Competing against four other bands Sol De La Noche came out on top and will be featured at the 2015 summer Fiestas.

Sol de la Noche on top in band battle

Sol de la Noche consists of percussionist Oscar Gamboa, bassist Diego Flores, guitarist and vocalist Diego Manrique, and trumpet player Jose Chicas, all of whom are music majors at UNM.

Mountain Head and Mellow Mellone were runners-up, coming in at second and third, respectively.

“It’s kind of surprising how much talent there is at UNM that you don’t see a lot of the time,” said Simon Kessler, promotions director for ASUNM SSE. “For example, I’m in class with some of those (contestants) and I never even knew they were in bands.”

Contestant bands were required to be composed of at least 30 percent UNM students, and each group performed a 15-minute set for the chance to share the stage with celebrity musicians this spring.

The winner was decided by two sets of criteria, said Kessler. First, judges rated each band from one to 10. Audience vote was the second half, where each audience member voted for his or her choice by placing ticket stubs in one of five folders corresponding to each act.

Fight for Fiestas featured a diverse playbill featuring rock, Electronic Dance Music, hip-hop, and Latin groups. The event itself consisted of five musical acts, the first of which was rock ‘n’ roll band Mountain Head. The band is a duo comprised of drummer Audrin Baghei and guitarist/vocalist Wyatt Granger.

“It’s a pretty diverse lineup,” said Mellow Mellone, the event’s hip-hop contestant. “With the electric, the rock and the reggae, I just want to see more people show up.”

By coming in at second and third place, Mountain Head and Mellow Mellone won the prize of being acts at Noon Times, another event held by ASUNM SSE that showcases musical acts. Noon Times is held on campus in the SUB atrium and outdoors in warmer months. The date for the next Noon Times event has yet to be announced.

The other musical acts that performed at Fight for Fiestas were Willo, a blues rock duo, and DJ Alec Berve.

Fin Martinez is a freelance reporter at the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @FinMartinez.

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