Irrepressible energy

Tuesday night brought five bands to Clark Hall Pub, duking it out for the chance to play the Exposure art finale

The Ten O’ Clock People were victorious with their combination of original material and covers from The White Stripes and The Black Keys.
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The Ten O’ Clock People were victorious with their combination of original material and covers from The White Stripes and The Black Keys.

On Tuesday night, five student bands went head-to-head at Clark Hall Pub for Exposure Arts Festival’s Battle of the Bands.

Exposure Arts Festival is a weeklong event put on by the AMS Campus Activities Commission devoted to showcasing arts on campus. The event was a complete success: Clark was packed with music fans who took the time out of their Tuesday to support their fellow students—and get in some crowd surfing at the same time.

The opening band, Graven, who introduced themselves as “interesting people,” played a folk set that made impressive use of oft-underused instruments the banjo, the harmonica and the tambourine. The lead singer’s smooth, evocative voice meshed well with their mellow sound and his ability to mix singing while playing the guitar and harmonica was very impressive.

Graven is soon to release a second album, Cottage Rock, a title fitting for such a folksy, Americana sound and a band so obviously influenced by Bob Dylan. The harmonica riffs were so reminiscent of “The Times They Are A-Changin” that the Tambourine Man himself might as well have been playing along with them.

Despite their strength, they suffered due to an incredibly uniform song selection: their songs seemed to meld into one long piece, making it difficult to maintain interest. The Ten O’Clock People, who would go on to win the Battle of the Bands, as determined by popular vote, quickly dispelled this brief feeling of ennui.

Although they played a few original songs, their cover songs were their true strength, and their range was truly impressive. From The White Stripes to The Fratellis to The Black Keys, The Ten O’Clock People demonstrated total musical mastery. Their stand-out moment was absolutely their cover of Elvis’ “Blue Suede Shoes”, which brought the crowd alive. Then they seamlessly shifted into a cover of The Beatles’ “Rocky Raccoon,” again proving themselves the most diverse and entertaining band of the evening.

Short Straws began with a cover of The Strokes’ “Is This It?” and continued their cover success as they successfully turned Rihanna’s dance-floor staple “Shut Up And Drive” into a head-banging rock anthem. Their amped-up version of Billy Idol’s “Dancing With Myself” started out promisingly, but soon turned into a screamo song that had many audience members scratching their heads in confusion.

The penultimate band, Sleuth Bears, provided a welcome respite from the deluge of cover songs, with a number of highly inventive original songs, including my personal favourite, an ode to a girl named Marion. Sleuth Bears’ pounding beats and howling voices served as an excellent introduction to the band, who also played The Mansion on Thursday night.

Band member Kenneth Hall, ArtSci ’13, said that he was really excited about the opportunity to play at the event.

“Sleuth Bears have never played a Battle of the Bands before! We think that it’s a great idea; it should be a lot of fun,” he said.

Closing band Last Flowers were certainly the hardest-rocking band Clark saw on Tuesday. The then-dwindling crowd made up for their size with their enthusiasm, closing in around the stage, leading to some crowd surfing. Although a StuCon quickly put a stop to it, it was an excellent expression of the energy and excitement that Clark Hall Pub reverberated with all night long.

Exposure’s finale is on Friday night in Wallace Hall at 8 p.m. Winning band The Ten O’Clock People play with Excetera, All The Queen’s Men, Sweet Charity and others. Tickets are $5.

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