Meramec’s Battle of the Bands postponed until next year
By: Amber Davis
Senior Staff Writer
As voters made their way to the polls on April 3, Uncle Sam stood in the Student Center Quad to recruit students.
He was not there to convince students to register to vote or join the military; rather, Student Activities Council (SAC) President Troy Rolen was dressed to find more of STLCC-Meramec’s musicians to sign up for the Battle of the Bands. But on April 4, SAC announced the event was canceled and postponed until the fall semester after not meeting the eight-band quota.
SAC organizes the event to raise funds for the Student to Student Book Scholarship. According to Meramec Activities Director Chris Bathe, the Battle of the Bands raised close to $2,000 for the scholarship last year.
Rolen said although he has been promoting the event since the end of February, only three bands had signed up.
“If I had all the people that signed up commit, I would have around 32 bands.” Rolen said. “A lot of them promised me they would do it.”
SAC promoted the event by posting flyers and signs throughout campus.
This is Rolens third year helping out with battle of the bands, he said he usually has ten or more bands sign up.
The event was scheduled for Friday, April 27. Bathe said that the date for the students could have interfered with the band members’ inability to commit.
“This event typically falls around Prom,” Bathe said. “Which is sometimes our issue with incoming freshman. Also, the date is around when final projects are due and students are studying for their finals.”
Rolen said another possibility bands could not commit is the $100 installation fee to ensure the bands to show up.
“If money was the issue, the bands could get it back by selling their tickets,” Rolen said .
Battle of the Bands has been rescheduled for Oct. 19; this is the first year the event has not been held.
The Battle of the Bands gives students the opportunity to listen to live music and vote for three bands out of ten that performed for that night. It has been held at Meramec, according to The Montage archives, since 1988.
Battle of the Bands has changed, according to Steve Brady, manager of Campus Life. Brady said the event used to have judges, similar to American Idol. Furthermore, the event used to be in the cafeteria; however, due to the amount of bands that joined, they moved the event to the gym.
In the past, The Urge and Story of the Year performed at Meramec’s Battle of the Bands.
“[The Urge] was not the famous band they are now,” Brady said. “It was a spring board for some bands to make it or have some regional celebrities. [This event] gets the students out of the garage to perform in front of people.”
Brady said the Battle of the Bands typically has around 400 people come to the event.
“It’s good exposure. We had some bands that went out and did really good stuff. And all the money goes for a good cause,” Bathe said. “Hopefully we will see them all in October. It will be a huge event raise a lot of money and it will be a lot of fun.”
