AHS held its second annual Battle of the Bands on Friday, April 9. The event took place in the main gym at 7:30 p.m. There were two sections of performers, each with its own winner. The finalists battled each other in the Play Off. The finalist of section one was a student named Gwen Levey who played guitar and sang. She competed against the finalists of section two, a band called Lucidity which included a guitar player, a bass player, a drums player and a vocalist. In the end, Lucidity walked away the winners with the most amounts of votes from the audience.

The gym was set up so that each band had its own designated area to perform. As the audience got bigger, so did the enthusiasm amid the viewers as well as the band members. Overall, most people seemed to enjoy themselves as the bands rocked on.

“I think it is really great that we have so much talent at our school and community,” said junior Elliot Kiemel. Some of the other bands participating were A.B.B.A.M.K, Stoplight Dragons, One Man Wolfe Pak and Townhouse. “I think Townhouse best had the best collection of music,” said Kiemel.

Townhouse preformed songs such as “Soul Man” by Blues Brothers, “Born to be Wild” by Steppenwolf and “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry.

Sophomore Willie Labarca, who played the guitar for Townhouse said “We practice three times every month and I was a little nervous but found my flow.”

Not all bands were as prepared as they seemed. The vocalist for One Man Wolfe Pak, sophomore Jack Deible, mentioned to the crowd that his drummer, Monte McCarthy was “just doing his own thing” and his performance was impromptu. “We had one practice the day prior to Battle of the Bands,” said Deible, “we could have done better if we prepared better. I could have interacted a little more with the crowd, but we just rocked.”

The lead vocalist for the winning band also wasn’t as prepared as most of the audience would have assumed. Junior Jane Aman said, “I never got to practice with the band before today.”

Ultimately, both the crowd and the bands were pleased with the outcome of the event. “I think we did really well and the other bands did really well too,” said Aman.

“My favorite part was the diversity of the music that was played,” said sophomore Jessica Campanilla. For Campanilla, the choice was “between Lucidity and Townhouse. Both have different types of music and connected with the audience.” Most students, parents and AHS staff would agree that “It was a great night and a good competition,” as Aman puts it.