Last night I was invited to see a co-worker’s band at the Outpost in Kent, OH.  The band’s name is The Heights Band and they were participating in a battle of the bands with other local artists.  The battle called the Saw Kick “Back To School” Battle Of The Bands was put on by local music lovers FTF Concerts & Promoters and Saw Kick Media.

I’ll be honest and tell you that last night I had no idea what to expect.  When I hear the words “Battle Of The Bands” I can only think about Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.  I think of high school rock offs, an immature event full of young kids running around with balloons.  Ok, no balloons.  Seriously though I was not expecting much for the night.

I never had heard of my co-worker’s material before but did hear good things about them by word of mouth in the office.  Based upon that I pretty much showed up for the The Heights Band as well as meet up with some of my fellow office zombies.  I had also promised said co-worker in band that I would do my best to photograph his band’s live performance.

Before I even begin to recap the night I will confess that I did not stay for the whole thing so I will only talk about a couple of the bands I saw including the band I had intents on seeing.

The Outpost was crowded when I showed up, something I did not expect at all.  I really had visions of pulling in to an empty parking lot with just a handful of folk hanging out.  When I saw the amount of vehicles in the parking lot I started thinking that I might need to begin to expect a little more.

$7.00 at the door and I was in.  I arrived right as the first act started playing, All Or Nothing.  These kids had Warped Tour written all over them.  Very scene, very emo, a little punk, and I admit, some of their songs were pretty entertaining.  I got a huge kick out of the cover of “Johnny B. Goode” they dished out.  I was not the only one who thought that way.

My co-worker’s band The Heights Band took stage and blew me away. I was very impressed with their performance and immediately sensed who the winner was going to be that night without even seeing the rest of the bands.  Their mix of southern rock, garage rock, and blues really hit the spot.  They looked very comfortable on stage and for the first time that night the floor was full of people rocking out.  Their set ended with me wanting a lot more.

Professor Greenhouse was the last band I saw perform before I packed up and headed home.  The folk/bluegrass was very appealing and a shocker.  I was not expecting a band quite like Professor Greenhouse to be at a battle of the bands.  I have a feeling if this band can keep it up they will be going places but given the performance by The Heights Band just prior I did not see the folk act taking home a win that night.

I actually said my goodbyes and took off before Professor Greenhouse finished so I was not sure who won that last night but I did discover the my initial gut feeling was right and The Heights Band took the win that night and are headed to the finals.  Good for them.

It was nice to rock out to an evening of local bands.  I really don’t do that much anymore these days.  It was a reminder that I should check out more local acts in my surrounding area and see what is out there.  Not only are they cheap shows usually but also proof how much talent that hides out there unless you are looking for it.

Here are some of the pics I took last night of The Heights Band: