What to expect at tonight’s Battle of the Bands concert

Six bands are set to rock the stage at tonight’s Battle of the Bands event in the Algonquin Commons Theatre.

The event is open to all students and the doors will open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for non-students. Each band will get a 15-minute set to battle their way toward a $500 prize, a headlining show at LIVE! on Elgin and two days of Audio Valley studio time. The winner will be chosen by a panel of four judges who are currently unknown, but said to be Ottawa music industry experts.

Bella Donna opens the show at 7:05 p.m., followed by Artica at 7:25 p.m., FROSTVAEN at 7:45 p.m., Steady Rain at 8:40 p.m., Two Cats at 9 p.m. and Sun Dried Flies at 9:20 p.m.

Bella Donna bassist Darian Cassidy says going up against Sun Dried Flies, last year’s Ontario’s Got Talent winners, will be tough, but every show is a privilege to play.

“They’ve already got a bigger-scale contest under their belt, but we’ve played with them before, and I feel like we have equal levels of competency when it comes to playing music,” he said. “We’re also all going into it as friends. But I really hope we win. I think we’ve got a solid chance.”

“At the end of the day, the best band is going to win according to four people in Ottawa,” Cassidy added. “Even if we don’t win, it doesn’t matter because there’s going to be a lot of people there. A show’s a show.”

Music-loving students finally have an opportunity to get to know some of the college’s most talented creatives all in one evening. It’ll also be the perfect opportunity for all six bands to expand their horizon and reach new listeners.

Andrew Crozier, Sun Dried Flies drummer and music industry arts student, can’t wait to kick off his birthday weekend on stage and connect with the campus crowd. The community support and connection is what drives his passion for performance, and the energy is contagious.

Is that cliché? Ben Pontefract and Thomas Burr say it’s not. The Sun Dried Flies bassist and Bella Donna frontman both requested a sit down interview with Crozier to get his optimism on the record.

“People have come up and told me super nice things about me and the band,” Crozier said. “And to hear that coming from people that I’ve never even met before, it takes me aback.”

The Sun Dried Flies have played shows at LIVE! on Elgin before and would love another opportunity to play in the tight-knit space.

“It’s a very professional venue,” Crozier said. “They have a great sound guy, a great stage and the acoustics in there are phenomenal, the workers are great and the owner is even better. It’s a very intimate place.”

Sun Dried Flies plan to use their cash prize on travel expenses they’ve been struggling to cover.

“We’ve got a lot of good bands going into this competition,” Pontefract said. “But we’re going to try to win it. The money, we’re all going to use for gas because Sun Dried Flies, once again, doesn’t make much money at the moment.”

Sun Dried Flies play shows all across Ontario, and Crozier even commutes daily to Woodroffe campus classes from his Prescott home.

A second single is in the works for Sun Dried Flies, and winning this studio time could mean a much sooner release for new music.

For Bella Donna, the band has agreed, if they win, to use the recording time to get on Spotify and to put the $500 prize toward a new drum kit for Jake Gareau, who’s been pounding away on a beat-up Facebook Marketplace set that’s one cymbal crash away from retirement. The band relies on borrowing gear from other fellow musicians.

“It sucks because Jake is such an amazing drummer and he’s restricted by the hardware we have,” Cassidy said.