The Polygon Engineering Student Council joined with the Wisconsin Alumni Student Board to sponsor the third annual Battle of the Bands Thursday on Engineering Mall. This year it was billed as part of WASB’s All-Campus Party.
“We wanted to get an array of students involved in All-Campus Party, so that’s why we collaborated with Polygon to sponsor and promote Battle of the Bands,” said Neeti Khurana of WASB.
Polygon Engineering Student Council planned, executed and funded the battle. The majority of Polygon’s funding comes from a career fair put on in the fall semester.
Polygon’s main initiative is to involve underclassmen in engineering and educate them about the opportunities engineering provides.
“We want to show younger students that engineers rock, literally,” said sophomore Derek Ziolkowski, Polygon’s vice president of pre-engineering.
The battle was accompanied by a free barbecue, provided by Polygon, for band members and spectators; cold drinks were provided by WASB and the group’s corporate sponsors. Triangle Fraternity, an engineering group, organized and conducted the barbeque.
Polygon and WASB have been working together on this specific element of the All-Campus Party since September. Bands were notified of the battle several months ago via posters and newspaper ads.
Sixteen bands submitted demo tapes, and 12 were chosen to participate. Tapes were judged based on originality, diversity of genre and the order in which they were received.
Bands participating in the event include Driftless Pony Club, The Motorz, Kadenc, The Treats, Loophole, Crib Nibula, Electric Happy Hour, Doc Grip, Level, The Beeves, Empty Set and Wiseye.
“We came because we had a good time last year,” Shawncey Ali of Kadenc said. “There’s a much better turnout this year, which is great.”
The first year, the reported turnout for Battle of the Bands was approximately 400 people. This year, WASB and Polygon expected nearly 900 people.
“We hope that this will continue to grow every year and become a tradition at the University of Wisconsin,” Shane Delsman, member of Polygon and WASB and organizer of Battle of the Bands, said.
The winner of the event was Kadenc, and Delsman said the honor of winning is part of the prize.
“They win $100 and the prestige of being the best band on campus,” he said.
All-Campus Party has been sponsored by numerous campus organizations, including the Chancellor’s Office and the Robert Wood Johnson Project.
Today’s All-Campus Party events include a climbing wall provided by Boulder’s Gym, a free pizza lunch provided by Topper’s and a culture and music festival. All of today’s events take place on Library Mall.
