Local musicians rocked Quinnipiac on Friday while competing in this year’s Battle of the Bands contest.

Eight acts played a variety of genres to showcase their talent on the stage in Alumni Hall.  The free event’s audience fluctuated with each act, but it remained energetic and receptive to each band. Quinnipiac’s student-run radio station, WQAQ, hosted the event.

“It’s a great way for bands on campus to get their name out there and to expose campus to local indie music,” said senior Eric Berman, general manager of WQAQ.

The winning band, Myopia, will be opening for the WQAQ Spring Concert next month.  This is Myopia’s third time performing at Battle of the Bands.

The band is from the New Haven area and the members have been playing together since 2003.

“We play to send a message, [to] do something productive,” said Myopia’s lead singer Mark Grey.  “It works into our pride, being one of the only power-metal bands locally.  It’s always an interesting experience playing these gigs.”

Band member Charles Woodruff is a senior at Quinnipiac, so this is the last time they could compete in Battle of the Bands.  The crowd was especially enthusiastic during the band’s performance and a mosh pit erupted in front of the stage.
In terms of describing its chemistry with the crowd, the band agreed it was its sense of humor that kept the crowd so energized.

“They’re great,” Berman said.  “Each year they’d make it to third place standing and they will round out our genres for the [WQAQ] Spring Concert.”

Prior to winning this year, Myopia came in third place in the 2008 and 2009 Battle of the Bands.

Other winning bands were awarded cash prizes.  Marsellus Wallace and AC147 won second and third place, respectively.

“We think AC147 should have gotten first,” Grey said. “They should definitely win next year.  They played a really great show tonight.”

Marsellus Wallace only started practicing together two weeks ago.  The band is made up of two sophomores and two juniors.

The band practiced every day from 9 p.m. until midnight and practiced all day on last week’s snow day to prepare for the event.  It was originally going to have a singer come from Berkeley, but he could not make it and the group decided to go on anyway.  Marsellus Wallace only started playing to compete in Battle of the Bands but plans to continue playing together.

“It’s such a good experience playing with people you’ve known for two years and clicking musically,” said sophomore Kyle Murphy, a member of Marsellus Wallace.

Other acts included Rachel and Sydney, Crowded Street, Dave Goldman, Adam Russo and Details.

The only requirements were that each band had to have at least one member of the band currently enrolled at Quinnipiac.  The bands were given a limit of five minutes for setup and 10 minutes to play to keep the event moving.

Host Jerome Palmeri kept the audience laughing between acts.  Palmeri entertained with memories of his past at Quinnipiac and played videos of phone calls between him and past Battle of the Bands hosts to give him “tips” for this year’s event.

“The only comparable effort put into being this unfunny is Jay Leno’s writing team,” Palmeri said during his monologue.

“We’d always love to have more people, but it was a good turnout and is hopefully a good sign for our spring concert,” Berman said.

WQAQ’s Spring Concert will be held on March 20.  Myopia will be opening for the headlining band, Murder By Death.

Photo credit: Mike Laramie, WQAQ