Battle of the Bands Has A Local Flavor

“This was one of the closest battles that we’ve ever had,” said battle of the bands judge Bobby Beaton.

The final round of the three-month-long contest was held at Attitudes Bar & Café Saturday night and proved to be a tight race for the title. All Kinds of Gravity took first place with Bitter Hill snagging a close second and Groova Scape finishing third overall.

The winners received a small bit of cash, some certificates to purchase equipment and a few hours of free recording time at a local studio.

All Kinds of Gravity includes Kevin Fitzgerald on guitar, Jeff Fitzgerald on drums, Christopher Guston on vocals, Will Angel on bass, Rob Martinez and Casey Martinez on vocals. “We started playing around Halloween so we’re a relatively new band.” Said Kevin Fitzgerald. “My brother and I have been playing since we were 15; he’s the drummer. Our violinist is a miracle; he brings it to another level when he plays.”

The sound of All Kinds of Gravity is a blend of hard rock, metal, with a hip-hop influence. The political references between songs and combination of genres resembled Rage Against the Machine. The intensely played electric violin seemed to be a hit with the crowd.

Bitter Hill takes a more easy-going approach and is accompanied by a unique Fender Rhodes electric pianist. The 1960s Fender Rhodes electric piano has been played by bands and musicians such as Pink Floyd, Herbie Hancock and The Doors. Placing this band in a genre would be a bit tough, but it is probably safe to say that a Grateful Dead album or two could be found in their personal collection.

“It was a good show, but we’ve played it better before. The energy was real good and the crowd response was great, we definately had a great time playing tonight.” said Bitter Hill’s electric pianist Ramone Zabala. “I really like the other bands; the cool thing is that they are really different from each other.”

Groova Scape is a funk-style jam band from Roanoke and was the last to play in the competition. This group utilized a range of sounds from the keyboard, and a seldom used guitar talk box combined with Lenny Kravitz/Jimmy Hendrix style vocals. You may have heard Peter Frampton put the talk box gadget to work on several of his albums.

“For some reason people have this idea that Blacksburg music is dying off. I think that this is a great opportunity to really show, NO, all these bands are still here, they’re better than ever, and if anything the scene is just as strong if not stronger than it was five, six, seven years ago.” said battle of the bands judge Beaton. “The deciding factors came down to fractions. Each band had a very unique style, and they all excelled in their own different genres. To really put these three bands up against each other from a stylistic point of view is tough, there were categories that each band had to go by and each band did a fantastic job.”