Cantine Field Battle of the Bands

This evening (July 3, 2009), I went to the Battle of the Bands at Cantine Field in Saugerties, NY. This is normally a punk rock blog, but none of the bands here really apply, not that it's an issue. The entire lineup was as follows:

Benni's Nightmares and Dreams, an ensemble led by my 12th grade Music theory teacher, Benni Spirig, and a bunch of darling little children playing trumpets, trombones, flutes, guitars, percussion instruments, and singing. This act was hilarious as Spirig was just yelling counts at his kids the whole time. As Connor Kennedy put it, "He sounded like the Count from Sesame Street." It was a fun set, though. They played "Pink Panther," "8 Days a Week," "School of Rock," and "Come Together."

Depot Street, Connor Kennedy (who also plays guitar and banjo for my band, The Good Fight), Connor Milton (of 7.62), Sean Ferraro (of Call It Quits), and Evan Shornstein (of The Defenders) who was subbed for tonight by Joe Marino (Some other band?) playing their "Rockin' blend of blues, jazz and funk. With a good deal of jamming." I'm partially biased because these guys have become friends of mine, but they were pretty good. The jamming was certainly in full effect here. The only thing that really got in their way was the set up of the house PA. But after it was set up, it was smooth sailing. They started with a blues jam, then played "Mustang Sally," "Red House" and honestly, it's 2 in the morning, and I forget what else they played. The two Connors had their fair share of solos, and at the end of "Red House," Kennedy hit the ceiling with his guitar, and I cringed just a bit.

The Number Seven is an awesome post-hardcore band featuring Adam Sauer, Kyle Smith, Chris Pratz, and Mark Corulla. I had wanted to see them for a while. If they ever release anything legitimate, even locally, you best believe I'll have a review. They opened and closed the set with their two best songs, "A2, You Sunk My Battleship" and "Reskinning the Wound" respectively. They played pretty well. They seemed to have a lot of doubt of themselves afterward, but Connor and I were thoroughly impressed. I gave Adam a big hug after they played.

7.62 was a metal/hard rock band, also featuring Connor Milton. Also in the band was James Mason who I knew from the Muddy Cup open mics. They were pretty cool, all their songs were originals, and there was some cool twin-lead stuff going on. The vocal harmonies between Mason and the band's lead singer were pretty solid. Me and Connor Kennedy enjoyed their set with some fried dough and some cheese fries.

I'll be honest, I thought the Face of Fear was horrible. I heard, like, one song from start to finish and the judges were laughing the whole time. Kyle doesn't pull off the whole "girl's clothing" thing. Sorry.

Who was next?
My memory is slipping.

Oh yeah!
Embers Fai..er...I mean...Embers Fall. If you ask me, the whole thing was one big 20-minute-open D breakdown. At one point, the breakdown stopped, and the keyboardist started playing "The Entertainer," followed by the singer going "Y'all want some ice cream?" The whole song comes back in, then at the end everything fades to a rather creepy version of the piano classic played with heavy use of the pitch bend wheel. The guitarist did a sweet around the world at one point, though. Those are cool, right?

The next band, Gabriel, was a screamo band with two singers and no bassist. I guess you don't need one when you have two singers. I guess they were at least decent, though. The people who are into that kind of thing seemed to dig it, so they must be ok at least.

Then came a Pop Punk band called Daddy Long Legs, or Power Lines, depending on who you talk to. They also didn't have a bassist, as he had just left the band. Honestly, you couldn't tell, they had the space filled somehow. The guitarist was indeed a good one, and their drummer was insane, his kicks were thumping and he was hitting everything pretty heavily, but still with a lot of skill. This band was very good. Definitely a good change of pace from all of the screamo/metal bands.

The last band was Stimulus Package. 'Nuff said there.

Sooooooooooooo, we've all been standing out in this grassy swimming pool for hours, who's the winner?
In third was Embers Fall, whatever.
In second was Depot Street, that was pretty cool. They're like family for me.
In first was 7.62, who seemed to have been really excited to have one, and that's pretty cool. I have a feeling this was their first performance, but don't quote me there. They were pretty good, though.

I had fun up there, eating fried food, getting soaked, and heckling Embers Fall. If there is one next year, which nobody knows yet, I'll go. Maybe I'll even play. Who knows?