Audience surprised by Battle of the Bands competition final results

                    It was a fierce battle of wits, guitars and lyrics as Varela’s Battle of the Bands took place on Thursday, Sept. 23. Despite a decline in turnout since last year’s performance, there were still enough people to rock the school long into the night.
                    With six different bands playing everything from swing to ska, the fans of rock were more than satisfied with the night’s performances. 
                    The first band up was a small three-man band known as The Attic. Although they didn’t place, the band was still happy with their performance and hoped they pleased the crowd.
                    Before the show, the lead singer Antonio Lopez had this to say: "It’s not so much competing as it is having fun; we know we’re up against some steep competition. But that’s a good thing, the tougher the bands, the better the show, and that’s all we really care about."
                    Next on the stage was three-man band Left Side. Enthusiasm for the second band increased as more people went to the front of the stage to cheer on their friends and the music.
                    They had a good performance despite a set list ripped entirely from ‘Rock Band.’ Left Side won second place at the end of the show. Metallica fans were pleased when the third three-man band, Sins of Shadow, took the stage.
                    Although the initial stream of metal and enthusiastic playing enthused the crowd, one could not help but feel that the whole three-man metal band was something we’ve all seen before, which eventually led to most of the audience retaking their seats by the end of their second song.
                   After the break, the audience’s attention was diverted toward Sampler 7. This band, by far, had the best stage expression of the night, with beach balls, glow sticks, and silly string. Sampler 7 definitely had the crowd’s attention throughout the entire performance.
                   The fifth band to take the stage was the much anticipated Cilica, who took the audience by storm.
                    With most of the members being former Varela musicians, no one doubted their ability to perform as the number one band of the night.
                    The stunning band had nearly the entire audience out of their seats and cheering.
                    After the performance, lead singer and guitarist Bruce McKinnon commented on their performance, saying "Cilica rocked the house."
                    The sixth and final band was definitely the crowd favorite. Ska band Scotty Knows offered a refreshing reprieve from the other performances and educated the audience in their taste of rock, utilizing the use of brass and woodwind instruments to great effect. 
                   "Ska itself is just a fun sound," said Daniel "Wolf" Perez. "It’s not very aggressive, not very sad; it’s all fun, all the time." 
                   However, at the end of the night it was declared that Scotty Knows had achieved third place, causing much confusion among the audience, if not downright rage. Cilica went home with the first place win.
                   "First of all," said Perez, "I am ecstatic that we placed. As lead singer, my ego is a little bruised, but as a band in general, we were more than happy to just get on the stage and play."
                   At the end of the night, the crowd went home satisfied at an amazing performance which could not have been achieved without a generous contribution of sound equipment from Best Buy. 
                    To quote John Paul Lobo, guitarist of Scotty Knows, "It was freakin’ awesome."