Melrose High School Battle of the Bands

Students around MHS who are excited to keep a tradition alive will be happy to know Battle of the Bands returned for the second time this past Monday. The videos are posted to the Melrose High School YouTube account, and are ready for the views to start pouring in. 

“Battle of the Bands started because I love music but I’m not good at it” explains Mr. DiBenedetto, who wanted to create a way to showcase student talent throughout the student body.

The first year the Virtual Battle of the Bands was more successful than people were expecting.  Even Mr. DiBenedetto was surprised, that the a total view count was 10,000 views. The winner last year, Anthony Naslas, had close to 5,000 views. 

Eight bands in total are competing this year, and there are a hand-full of returning acts. The acts range through almost every genre, including rap. The bands that are competing practiced and rehearsed on their own all the way up until their recording time. They then recorded a multiple takes of multiple songs. After that, they waited until the videos were posted.  Now they have the difficult task of promoting their groups video to get the most viewers.

There are two rounds in the virtual battle.  The first round has already begun, and is based completely on viewers.  The bands with the most views will then move on to the second round, which is based on votes. In the end, the music group with the most votes is the winner. The people who are involved in the production continue to work hard but it is worth it.  Mr. DiBenedetto claims that it is a “really fun project to work on.”

The second Virtual battle of the Bands has begun and is expected to be just as successful as or more successful than the original. Battle of the Bands has formed into a yearly tradition and can only to hope to get bigger and expand more as the years go on. 

By: Madison Forsberg