LCC Battle of the Bands 2011

MavLife's coverage of La Costa Canyon High School's Battle of the Bands competition.

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Avarice

by Nicole Walters

      In 2009, Mordium was the first metal band that the school had ever seen; introducing the metal genre to previous students. This year, the school is greeted again by the exciting genre. With guitarists Ricky Sentina and Josh Stuart, drummer Cameron McMahon, and vocalist Adam Rabbani, a new brutal band emerges, Avarice. According to drummer Cameron McMahon, Avarice was formed through contacts after contacts. “To form Avarice, basically I was in a band before this, and my guitarist, Noah, told me to call Ricky Sentina,” McMahon said. “ From there, Ricky went on to contact Josh for another guitar and then I contacted Adam Rabbani. Right now we’re not so sure as to what’s happening with the bass, but we had a member, Kolani, and he was my friend so I contacted him.” Ricky Sentina said he enjoyed the opportunity to play at the school. “It was fun playing in front of all my peers,” Sentina said. Avarice draws on multiple influences in creating their sound. “We decided we wanted to make a modern band with a ‘djent’ style in mind,” Sentina said, “except we wanted to combine my writing style and Josh’s style to have our own unique twist.” Bands such as Periphery, Born of Osiris, To Each His Own, For the Fallen Dreams, and Attila are Avarice’s inspirations in forming their band as well as playing metal music in general. Avarice recorded their first single, “Empty Dream”. They are hoping to record another song soon.

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Battle of the Bands 2011 Champion: Mascots

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Battle of the Bands 2011 Finals: Black Panther

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Battle of the Bands 2011 Finals: Avarice

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Battle of the Bands Champion: Mascots

by Nicole Walters

The final 2011 Battle of the Bands competition took place last night on December 7, 2011. The finalists, Avarice, Black Panther, and Mascots, each put on a competitive show to earn the audience's votes.

Mascots achieved the most votes and won the final competition. Mascots will have the chance to perform at a charity event called Connor’s Cause at San Dieguito Academy in 2012.

“I feel like Charlie Sheen because he’s always winning,” Bronson Young, drummer of Mascots proudly stated.

Performing on the theater stage was quite an exciting opportunity for Mascots. Mascots enjoyed performing in the theater over performing during lunch in the student center.

“I felt aroused,” Young said.

When asked what the future plan for Mascots would be, Mascots were looking forward to going home and relaxing.

“I’m just going to go home, play some Skyrim, and have a P.B. and J,” Young said.

Mascots were excited to win the 2011 Battle of the Bands Champion title and also gave some advice to future Battle of the Bands Competitors.

“Don’t do drugs,” said Young.

If you enjoyed seeing Mascots perform in the student center or had the chance to see them perform and win in the theater, then join them again in 2012 at San Dieguito Academy for Connor’s Cause.

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Black Panther

by Claudia Mathews

Black Panther, an alternative punk rock group, performed in battle of the bands on Tuesday, November 29th. Consisting of bassist Luke Ashworth, vocalist Jon Mueller, jazz flutist Max Schoenberger, and drummer Sean Jones, Black Panther was inspired to form a band by the Black Veil Brides, The Pixies, Fergie, Justin Bieber, and Elton John. Through these influences, they play a sound that is similar to the band, Captain Captain. Formed in San Diego, one of the hottest spots for rock music, Black Panther has not been been rocking the coast for long. “We’ve been performing together for like three months,” vocalist Jon Mueller said. As musicians, Black Panther uses their music to express their personal feelings and emotions by expressing a spiteful, yet enjoyable sound in their songs. “We express anger, disturbance, spite, and jealousy through our music,” Mueller said. The feelings they express are also evident in the bands’ title, Black Panther. Contrary to what most would think, the title has no affiliation with the 1960’s radical Civil Rights group. “Black Panther just sounded way better than White Panther,” Mueller said. In the future, Black Panther hopes to record an EP after the Battle of the Bands competition is concluded.

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The Orphans

by Jenny Barnes

  The Orphans, a rock band started by guitarist/vocalist Patrick Morris, with guitarist John Argus, keyboardist Roco Haro, bassist Cate Chambers, and drummer Adam Larocca took the stage on Thursday to preform in Battle of the Bands. “It was nerve racking at first, but once you start playing you get used to it, and you get a feel for the music.” Band-leader Patrick Morris said. The Orphans preformed more than 5 original songs, dominantly written by Morris himself, and the inspiration was not hard to find. “My life stuff, a lot of the song’s I’ve written, actually all of the songs that we played were my songs that I had written with help from the band. A lot of it is just from my experiences.” The Orphans predominately played their own songs, but they did leave time for one cover song, “Half of My Heart,” by John Mayer. Bass player Cate Chambers said, “I pushed the song, Patrick wanted to play John Mayer, and I said why not play “Half of My Heart,” it has Taylor Swift in it. I kind of put that girl edge on it.” Due to the fact that they write their own music, The Orphans call on a lot of different bands for inspiration. “[Some bands that inspire us are] The Beatles, The Clash, The Rolling Stones, and any bands from the 70’s and 80’s” Chambers said. When listeners hear the band tittle, The Orphans, some images are conjured up, many relating to Horror Movies such as The Orphan. However when they were preforming, those images were proven to not be connected to the band’s music. They got their name when the band first started. Morris says “I am an orphan, and our second rhythm guitar is an orphan as well, the rest of them are not, but we just decided to keep the name because we like it.” The Orphans have a promising outlook for the future. Heading into the final rounds, The Orphans feel they have a good shot at taking the title of Battle of the Bands 2011 champions.

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Mascots

by Julian Sanz

The Mascots, a pop-punk band, rocked the school this week with their all new 21st century sound. Consisting of Bronson Young on drums, Max Shoenberger on guitar, Sean Jones on guitar and vocals, and Skylar McKee on bass, this group paints a vivid picture of life as a bandmate and the social effects of being in a band. The Mascots were inspired to form a band by their parents, who are avid musicians, and by their genre of music they play. “Pop-punk is superior to everything else. Its got every aspect of life you could ever need. We may be elitist, but I think we have proper backing with that because everything else sucks to us,” front man Sean Jones said. Next, the Mascots had to decide: what’s our name going to be? Over careful deliberation and the elimination of dozens of possibilities, The Mascots was the result. “We still are not satisfied with ‘Mascots,’” Jones said. To create the unique and triumphant sound that the Mascots boast of today, they needed inspiration. They needed role model bands to help shape the personality of theirs. “We all listen to, generally, like New Found Glory, Blink-182, and Reliant K . . . ,” Jones said. With their pop-punk sound, The Mascots express their feelings to their audience with an aggressive vigor. “ . . . we put it all into the instrument . . . We also all meditate about an hour a day; we’re all kind of really strict Buddhists . . . we are just really peaceful guys and really interested in eastern religions,” Jones said. Contrary to their passive theology, The mascots give some startling opinions to the social and personal aftermath of being in a band. “It [the band] has pretty much ruined everything in my life . . . the relationships I have deteriorate and the relationships I make are just plain bad. All my friends are horrible people and I’ve become a horrible person. I think I have become a monster through this band,” Jones said sarcastically. As far as relationships between bandmates goes, the years have taken a toll on the group’s friendship. “It [the relationships] has gone from bad to worse with us, honestly. Over the years we just fight more and more, and we really don’t get anything done ever. We kind of don’t really like each other,” Jones said jokingly. The mascots were only at the school for a day, but they decided to leave the school with some final words of somewhat pessimistic advice. “Don’t you dare start a band. It’s just going to ruin everything. It will probably take up all your time and . . . nothing you do [music] will be cool . . . Also, let hate drive your life because that will take you places,” Jones said.

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Yours Truly

by Jenny Barnes

  The bell rings, students who had just been at rest begin to reactivate their brains. It’s finally lunch. On Monday, the students at the school kicked off Battle of the Bands as Yours Truly took the stage. The concert was infectious, with the drums literally shaking the floor as the beats were pounded out. As their music seeps into the student union, with guitarist/vocalist Caleb Bishop, guitarist/vocalist Dean Bliss, manager/keyboardist Bernardo Faraco, and drummer Mongo DeLegge, MavLife got to know who Yours Truly, truly is. Names are first impressions, forming your opinion of something or someone in an unchangeable way. For Yours Truly, it took a while to come up with what they wanted to be called. Their idea came about while the band’s singer was on Facebook chatting with a friend. “I sent him a song that we recorded and said this is Yours Truly playing and he asked ‘Is that your band name?’ And I said ‘no we don’t have one’ and then I was like, ‘wait,’ and I had an epiphany right there,” Bishop said. Yours Truly is inspired by three main types of music: Indie, pop-punk, and rock. They were also influenced by many specific bands. “Muse, Modest Mouse, and Blink-182,” Bishop said. “We listened to them a lot as kids and they really influence our music.” “[As far as influential bands] we can go all the way back to The Beatles,” Dean Bliss said. Unlike other bands, Yours Truly is upfront about what inspired them to be a band. “Attractive good looks, and boredom over the summer,” Bishop said. “We’re all friends and thought it would be fun. But mostly good looks.” Making it to the finals is not a top priority for Yours Truly. They competed in Battle of the Bands for the music and to entertain the audience.

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The Schedule

La Costa Canyon's annual Battle of the Bands is beginning soon. Here is the schedule:

Friday, Nov. 18th - Bli55

Monday, Nov. 28 - Yours Truly

Tuesday, Nov. 29 - Black Panther feat. Operation Baby

Wednesday, Nov. 30 - Avarice

Thursday, Nov. 1 - The Orphans

Friday, Nov. 2 - Mascots