'Battle' showcases student bands

It was survival of the fittest -- or at least the most musically inclined -- Friday night at the Rotunda, as an eclectic mix of Penn acts performed in a Battle of the Bands.

Things got started just after 7:30 p.m., when the five members of Monitor Report took the stage to the cheers of a small group of rowdy fans who pushed their way to the front of a nearly 150-person crowd.

The event was organized by student radio station WQHS in an effort to raise additional funding.

The Afterglow -- led by Engineering senior Dmitry Koltunov -- followed, performing three songs, including "Never Send a Girl to New Orleans."

But the battle did not stop there, with five more bands still scheduled to play -- Balboa, For Sale, Guy Incognito, If P Then Q and Sustaining Simple.

Each band was given 20 minutes to make its case to the audience before the first round of voting. A second set was allotted for the top two vote-getters before a final decision was made.

College sophomore Chris Smith, however, did not stay to hear the final verdict -- he left the concert in the middle of the Sustaining Simple's set, after learning that the act he had come to see, Balboa, would not appear.

Balboa was forced to cancel at the last minute because its drummer had a schedule conflict, according to student radio station WQHS General Manager Sara Fitzsimmons.

"No one in the dynamic and diverse scene of Philadelphia cares about any of these bands," Smith said. "Balboa is the only band even recognized outside of Penn."

Still, most students on stage and in the audience didn't seem to share Smith's view.

"There is a huge live music scene growing at Penn," Koltunov said, "and events like this breathe a lot of life into the scene."

The Afterglow and Monitor Report battled with additional sets after the votes were initially counted.

Then, before the winners were announced, Koltunov took the stage along with the members of Monitor Report for an energetic cover of Weezer's "Say It Ain't So" that got the remaining crowd of about 50 jumping.

But the eventual champion was Monitor Report, who received a golden-edged record as a trophy shortly before midnight. Following its win, the band will also open at the Rotunda this Sunday when WQHS presents Spoon and Crooked Fingers.

If there had been an award for the strangest act, it probably would have gone to If P Then Q.

The band started by smashing a guitar -- protesting the way that the instrument has become "stereotyped" in rock -- and then performed a spoken word version of Michael Jackson's "Thriller," accompanied by piano, bass, drums, human beatbox, kazoo and a handsaw.

"I don't know what to say about them," College freshman Jeremy Esterkin said. "They were definitely unlike anything I had ever heard or experienced."

Perhaps Travis Davis, the Special Events Samurai at WQHS, summed up the evening best.

"I think that all the people that came really had a good time," he said. "I was impressed at how many came. There were about 200 people at one point -- for a station no one has heard of and a musical event at Penn without kegs, that ain't too bad."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.