Turnitup!
Five bands. 20 minutes. Only one will win.
KTRU’s Battle of the Bands has arrived. Tonight five bands from all across the Rice campus will compete for honor, glory and a spot at KTRU’s outdoor show. But who will win?
Will it be The Good Fellows, the mostly Will Rice band whose members can trade instruments faster than Clark Kent can change into Superman?
Or will it be Annyong, the all pre-med group whose love of Smashing Pumpkins led to their inception?
Maybe it will be Moxie, last year’s BotB winners who plan on embarking on a summer tour with a cause?
Perhaps it will be Suitaloon, whose members got their start playing classical music?
Or could it be Wiess244, who have been together for four years and are a mainstay of the Rice music scene?
To find the answer to these questions and more, come to the Battle of the Bands, tonight at 7 p.m. in Lovett Undergrounds.
The Good Fellows
Ben Bahorich, Will Rice freshman: acoustic guitar, vocals
Jesse Chan, Will Rice junior: bass guitar, vocals
Jonathan Huang, Will Rice junior: bass guitar, electric guitar
Nathan Liang: Hanszen senior: drums
Thresher: How would you describe your sound?
BB: Jazzy with an acoustic influence.
JC: Acoustic pop rock, I guess.
JH: Emo without the heartbreak.
Thresher: How did you guys come up with your name?
JH: I don’t really like it.
BB: We were just looking in the newspaper, thinking of a band name, and it was the first thing we saw.
Thresher: Who’s your favorite Good Fellow in the world?
JH: Jesus.
JC: Jesus.
BB: Denver Stringfellow. Thresher: Anything else you’d like to say?
BB: Don’t fake the funk on a nasty dunk.
Moxie
Jordan Myska Allen Sid junior: guitar, vocals
Evan Davies, Brown junior: guitar vocals
Aaron Taffet, Sid junior: bass, vocals
Andy Whitten, Brown senior:drums
Thresher: How would you describe your sound?
ED: The concise definition is: Chili Peppers meets Dispatch.
Thresher: Why do you think Moxie should win Battle of the Bands?
AW: We keep getting better with each show and this is our latest show, so it’s definitely going to be our best.
Thresher: How did you guys come up with your name?
ED: Jordan’s crazy machinations.
JMA: When I started playing guitar, I came across this word “moxie” in 9th grade literature class and thought it would be a bad-ass band name. And I was like, “I need to keep this a secret until the right band comes along.”
ED: We were almost Senor Chutzpah and the Buckets.
Annyong
Naweed Chowdhury, Brown senior: guitar, vocals
Tariq Khan, Brown senior: guitar, vocals
Junaid Niazi, Sid senior: drums
Thresher: How would you describe your sound?
JN: When other people comment, the most common response I’ve heard is that it’s pretty chill, but it still conveys a lot of emotion.
Thresher: Why do you think Annyong should win Battle of the Bands?
TK: ‘Cause we’re better than Moxie. No, I’m kidding …
Thresher: Is there anything else you’d like to say?
NC: If you haven’t seen Arrested Development, you should watch it, because it’s pretty much the best show ever. And if there’s any hope of resurrecting it — That’s basically the ultimate goal of our band.
Suitaloon
Margaret McKeehan, Wiess freshman: bass
Benjamin Pollak, Jones junior: drums
Charles Sharpless, Will Rice junior: keyboard
Jacob Yunis, Jones junior: guitar
Manuel Armada, Jones junior: manager
Thresher: How would you describe your sound?
JY: We’re playing old blues songs, covers, you know, that people haven’t heard of, and we’re turning them into rock songs, kind of like the way Led Zeppelin played the blues songs and turned them into rock songs…And it’s also loud.
Thresher: How did you guys come up with your name?
BP: It goes back to this architecture group in the 60s and 70s they were like really into Pink Floyd and stuff, and they came out with this weird idea of this suitaloon, which is like an astronaut suit that can give you food and heat all at the same time, and the name just sounds really cool.
Wiess244
Pete Choo, Wiess senior: rhythm guitar, vocals
Douglas Mata, Wiess senior: bass
Windsen Kuo Pan, Wiess senior: lead guitar Jamie Zimmer, Wiess senior: drums
Jamie Zimmer: drums
Thresher: How did you guys meet?
PC: Windsen, Jamie and I were grouped together in the same room by our fellows our freshman year ‘cause they wanted us to start a band.
PC: And then we recruited bassists along the way.
DM: I was recruited.
Thresher: How would you describe your sound?
PC: Loud.
Thresher: How did you guys come up with your name?
PC: That was our room freshman year, so it’s not actually that clever.
WKP: Freshman year, I think someone thought we were a Blink 182 spin off or something because I guess we’re a single word followed by three numbers.
PC: Some guy came up to us and said, “You put Blink 182 to shame!” And no, we didn’t ‘cause we sucked.
Thresher: Why do you think Wiess244 should win Battle of the Bands?
PC: I don’t think we should win Battle of the Bands.
Matthew McKee/ Columnist
Jacob Yunis of Suitaloon rocking out.
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