The crowd roared, the amps hummed and an age-old rivalry took on musical life in a sea of parkas and Blue Cups.
Chapel Hill bar He’s Not Here hosted its first UNC vs Duke Battle of the Bands Thursday night, pumping up the community for the impending basketball game Saturday, March 7th.
Working together with Carolina Creates’ music division, the bar hosted two bands representing UNC and one representing Duke – giving each an hour to rock the house.
“It made perfect sense to have it at He’s Not,” said Zack Bolak, director of Carolina Creates Music and ‘door guy’ at He’s Not Here. “Thursday is always a big night, and the whole point is to give exposure to a lot of great, local music.”
Bolak said CCM’s last big event was its Beatles cover night “All You Need is Love” in February, 2014, and that the group was excited to get back into the Chapel Hill scene.
He said the show was meant to be more of a performance than a formal contest, which is why there was no real voting system by which to judge the bands.
“I feel like there should really be more of a sense of mutualism between bands that go to schools in the triangle,” said Matthew Booth, guitarist and singer with the featured Korean Pop band, The Oppas and the Nunas. “I think it’s a great way to establish a conversation.”
Booth performed with the band Babylon Night, which is a subgroup of The Oppas and the Nunas made up of three of its musicians. He said the smaller trio tends to focus on a more western sound, whereas the full band tends to have a more multicultural perspective.
The other UNC band Snatch the Snail also had its opportunity to storm the stage, as did the Duke band Mobius. Each group offered a different performance style and assortment of unique songs.
“How I’d characterize (our music) is ‘snail-edelic,’” said Drew Ryan, drummer and vocalist for Snatch the Snail. “Kind of like psychedelic meets surf rock meets the 90s,” he said.
Ryan also ran the sound setup for each group and made sure the technical elements were working properly. He said he and Booth were already well acquainted, and that they were thrilled to perform for the school.
“I love music and being around shows like this,” he said. “I mean, when I heard about this whole battle thing I thought, ‘Yeah, it’ll be awesome to represent UNC.’”
Dylan Gleit, guitarist for Mobius, said the band hadn’t played in the Chapel Hill area before, but that the group was excited for the opportunity.
“We’re hoping people can look past the fact that we’re Duke students and just enjoy the music,” he said. “(The atmosphere) seems pretty mellow. Just people showing up who are in it for the good time.”
Despite the college rivalry, the musicians played back-to-back and even got a chance to bond over the course of the evening.
“I almost feel bad because the Duke guys were so nice,” said Ryan after the final performance. “I wanted to hate them, but I couldn’t. It’s just the power of music uniting us for one night.”
arts@dailytarheel.com
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