It’s hard to be punk when your mom has to drive you to gigs. But Long Beach students are doing it anyway and getting a taste of what it’s like to be a professional musician.
Rising musicians across the city will take the stage on Saturday in the fourth annual Battle of the Bands competition at downtown’s At The Top nightclub.
In preparation, the sludge metal band Jezebel convened in a Los Altos garage this week to practice their 15-minute set: turning their amps up loud enough to risk neighbor complaints, adding new scars to their fretboards and headbanging until their faces disappeared in their hair.
Their sound, a slower, more melodic take on heavy metal, is influenced by sludge bands including Eyehategod, Buzzoven and Electric Wizard, said Adelah Rahni, the band’s drummer. Rahni, a tenth grader, transferred from Wilson High School to Renaissance to focus on art and be closer to her bandmates — bassist Isaiah DJ and guitarists Benji Scott and Joaquin Palafox — who are Renaissance students.
For the first time, the competition is open to bands without any members from Renaissance High School. Ten bands representing at least seven area high and middle schools (as well as schools outside Long Beach Unified) will perform for an audience of hundreds. A panel of judges will select a winner based on musicality, performance and showmanship, and popular votes will decide second and third place.
Students will compete for stakes: A recording studio experience and $1,000 is on the table for the winners, and second place will take home $500. The top three awardees will earn a portion of ticket sales and the chance to perform another show at DiPiazza’s.
Battle of the Bands started as a homegrown event, organized by the Renaissance High School parents’ group, and designed for Renaissance students. Three years ago, students competed for “a gimmicky little trophy” and the “bragging rights of winning,” said Jeremy Dodgen, a Renaissance parent and one of the organizers. But once they introduced a cash prize, students got fired up, said Ron Bazer, dean of students at Renaissance.
The event is a fundraising opportunity to support Renaissance (Dodgen hopes to top $30,000 this year), but Bazer said it also gives students a taste of “what it takes to be a professional artist.”
Bazer said that at last year’s event, employees of the venue were surprised that the artists were high schoolers. “The talent here is better than what we’re booking,” Bazer remembered them saying.
At Renaissance, students learn performance and technical skills in their classes, but “there is no class here to support that five-person band,” Bazer said, so students must commit to hours of practice outside of school.
That’s what Jezebel has been doing for months. On Monday, Rahni’s mom picked the band up after school (none of the bandmates have their driver’s licenses yet), and the musicians took over the garage.
This weekend, they’ll compete against students from Browning, Cabrillo, Millikan and Wilson high schools as well as Marshall and Stephens middle schools. In addition to punk, rock and metal bands, solo artists, including DJs, will also perform. Last year, a beatboxer claimed first prize, in part because his sound was distinct from other performers, and he captured the audience’s attention, Dodgen said.
Though students enter to win, Dodgen said he has been “blown away at how supportive the students were of each other’s bands.”
Jezebel shares two musicians — Palafox and DJ — with Bloody America, another band competing on Sunday. Jezebel hopes to take home a prize, but they said their ultimate goal is to have a great show. “I plan on rolling on the floor,” DJ said.
Battle of the Bands starts at 2 p.m. on Saturday and will include a silent auction and VIP table rentals. Attendees can purchase tickets online or at the door. At The Top is at 105 W Broadway.