USC-UCLA rivalry thickened as students face off in a Battle of the Bands
Student bands from UCLA, USC and CSU Northridge competed at the Troubadour.
By FIN LIU
Illuminated by flashing yellow lights, a woman boogied in front of the stage of the Troubadour on Thursday night, waving her phone around to record a shirtless college boy from UCLA’s The Sunset Wrecks playing his guitar. He kneeled in front of her, giving the woman a show to remember. From moshing jesters to impromptu stand-up, the performance connected a community of music enthusiasts across three different universities.
Battle of the Bands, organized by UCLA’s Cherry Pop Records in conjunction with USC’s 840 West Records and CSU Northridge’s VOVE, had a tagline that read, “9 acts. 3 schools. 1 winner.” The event was sponsored by Marshall, the British audio equipment company best known for its iconic guitar amplifiers, and The Beam, a music collective that hosts live performances and creative events.
Ultimately, a band from UCLA, The 529s, took home the winning vote and a prize of free Marshall headphones for each member.
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The show cycled through bands from CSUN, USC and UCLA — a mix-and-match of different genres and performance styles, all bringing a different section of the audience to the front of the stage. USC’s Amélie brought a hardcore vibe, encouraging moshing. Fans formed a circle pit, with participants slamming into one another and laughing.
“I personally don’t like seeing people stand there. It makes me sad, because it’s boring to watch and I’m watching them. I want them to be just as much fun as I am,” said Gia Carmenate, a bassist for Amélie and a USC sophomore majoring in fine arts.
In the mosh pit, school allegiances didn’t matter. It was just a collection of bodies and adrenaline. Amélie even had a man dressed like a jester standing in front of the stage, shouting words of encouragement.
“In the green room, it was very friendly,” said Will Gray, singer of Amélie and a USC sophomore majoring in music industry. “It was all for show when you got on stage.”
Amélie, a student band at USC, brought a hardcore vibe, encouraging moshing. Fans formed a circle pit during their set on Thursday night. (Fin Liu / Daily Trojan)
The audience ultimately decided the winner of the competition. To gauge the crowd’s makeup, CSUN’s Nick Colton asked the audience to cheer when he named their school. CSUN received supportive whoops and cheers and UCLA drew a chorus of applause and cheers, while USC was met with a cacophony of boos.
“There was a band from UCLA that played before us, and they were like, ‘The next band is USC,’ and they all booed, and we were the next band. And so when we went on, I didn’t even tell them we were from USC,” said Brandon Goldman, a sophomore studying popular music who goes by the artist name Skusic.
Goldman took the stage during the second wave of performances. He and his band were met with applause and chants of his artist name. They brought high energy with Goldman’s grunge rock hits, such as “She Talks to Trees.”
Encouraging audience participation, Goldman’s bassist, Patrick Brown, also a sophomore majoring in popular music, asked the audience to sing an F so that Goldman could tune his guitar.
However, when the band went to play a third song, their set was cut short.
“They cut our set five minutes short,” Goldman said. “They let the last band play for 35 minutes. We literally played for 10 minutes. It was not cool.”
Despite the limited stage time, Skusic left an impression, packing a lot of energy into a 10-minute set. At one point, a friend of Goldman’s hopped on stage and started singing with him. Moments later, two other individuals made their way onto the stage and started waving bananas in rhythm with the music.
“This was one of our best shows we’ve ever played, and we’ve been playing like once a week for the whole school year and over summer,” said Max Garson, Skusic’s drummer and a sophomore majoring in jazz studies at USC. “This shows our musicianship and how we can overcome adversity.”
The show closed off with the largest group yet, The 529s, who hailed from UCLA. Eight musicians walked on stage holding guitars and trumpets, delivering a funky, jazz-influenced set that showcased the range of instruments they had brought with them.
Once The 529s were announced as the winner, they retook the stage while the audience chanted “UCLA,” bringing the school rivalries back to the forefront.
“It’s always ‘FUCLA,’ but … it’s great that we were able to all come together and play the Troubadour, such a historic venue, and share the space together and the energy tonight,” said Michael Tringale, a guitarist with Amélie and a senior at USC majoring in music industry. “It was just really cool to see everybody get up there and own this shit, even though some of us may have felt like it was a little bit daunting.”
