Mike Oz and I played host to the Vintage Days Battle of the Bands this weekend at Fresno State's Satellite Student Union.

Here's a video from The Fresnan, who served as one of the judges. expect one from Mike Oz soon.

Sorry, this is it from me.

My take: I've been involved with this thing (as a judge, host and musician) for a lot of years, and I've never been too terribly into the idea. I'm generally not into battle of the bands because:
A.) It's suggesting these are the top bands in Fresno, which, in most cases, they are not.
B.) Setting the whole thing up as a competition does little more than create animosity and hurt feelings.

Still, it can be fun to watch, I guess. It's good way to broaden your musical horizans. I've now seen six bands I'd never really heard of before. Plus, it's totally a good experience for the bands who get to play on a huge stage and feel like the big-boys.

My favorites were (in order): It's an Icicle, Divide and Conquer and Beyond the Violins.

It's an Icicle, is an indie-rock two-piece. You can read an interview here.
What I liked: Stage presence. Even when guitarist Manuel A broke a string, the band was charming as hell filling time while he fixed it.

Divide and Conquer is a four-peice metal/prog rock band. This was their first show, though you couldn't really tell. They seemed on it.
What I liked: The guitar player. Yes, the dude can plan. But he also looks hella cool doing it.

Beyond the Violins are ass-kicking metal. Think 80s-style screaching-vocal black metal. Think Iron Maiden, though they had some System of a Down moments as well.
What I liked: The front man. He could totally howl with the best of them. But he played the role right, too. He hit all his poses, did the whole leg-up-on-the-monitor thing. He tried to sell it big.

It's an Icicle won the big prize, $2,000 worth of recording time.