After five weeks of competition, 16 bands were narrowed to one, and now Athens has its champion band. Friday, Break of Day took the crown in the Battle of the Bands in front of a capacity crowd at The Blue Gator, 63 N. Court.
Break of Day faced tight competition against a plethora of musical styles from bands including Jimson Lo-Fi, Shotgun for Royalty and Chump Change.
We had no idea who was going to win until they announced our name
Break of Day guitarist and vocalist Allen Sanders said.
Curtis Manley, entertainment manager of Court Street Management, which organized the battle, said he was excited the battle resulted in a huge success.
There was very little difference between the first-place band and the fourth-place band in terms of talent Manley said. Each preliminary heat had their discrepancies but the finals proved literally that the fourth place band had just as good of a chance as the first.
Fifty percent of the decision was based on ballots from the crowd, while a panel of judges, including Blue Gator management and sponsors, was the other deciding factor.
Manley said The Blue Gator reached and exceeded its allowed 300-person capacity for the event, and by the end roughly 150 people stuck around to find out the winner.
I was glad to see people stuck around through the vote-counting process
Manley said. It showed that people were there to participate and support the bands.
Second place in the battle went to Jimson Lo-Fi, third place to Shotgun for Royalty, while fourth place went to Chump Change.
There wasn't a real edge to the competition
all the bands were friendly
Lou Jacobson of Jimson Lo-Fi said. We
as a band
feel that music should bring people together and not apart. Overall
it was a very positive experience and we send our thanks to The Blue Gator for providing it.
Besides bragging rights, Break of Day won the $500 prize, a two-song demo recording with The Blue Gator, airing of a song on The River 101.5, a mixed recording of the band's live show, entrance into another battle in Cleveland, Columbus or Cincinnati, a write-up and streaming video on Athens Musician Network (www.athensmusician.net) and the chance to open for a national act at The Blue Gator.
Now that we have some gas money
we're going to try and play some out-of-town gigs
Sanders said. We will also put it towards recording our next project.
Manley and The Blue Gator have decided this will become a yearly event. In fact, due to the success, the battle has spawned a new idea that is in the works for spring. Manley said he is currently working on organizing a Battle of the Artists
