After competing with five other bands, The Juice won this year's annual Battle of the Bands and a chance to open for Goldfinger and the Walkmen at this year's Spring Fling.
Saturday's Battle of the Bands was sponsored by the Tufts Concert Board. Each of the six competing bands used their 20-minute slot to play roughly four songs.
Jahn Sood and Moksha, The Juice, the Manan Shah Project, the Main Drag, Subject to Change and Better Than Yesterday competed for the coveted spot. Each band was selected by the Concert Board, who had been accepting submissions for roughly two weeks for the line-up. Each band had different styles of music, from alternative rock to folk-inspired indie.
The winner of Battle of the Bands was determined by five random judges who were not members of Concert Board, nor affiliated with any of the bands. Bands were judged on a wide range of skills, including overall stage presence, originality, ability to move the crowd, appeal to Tufts community at large, cohesion and overall performance.
With many of the bands scoring well in each category, the judges were hard picked to choose a winner.
"They were all good musicians. For me it pretty much came down to two to three bands. From there I thought about which band would best fit in at Spring Fling," said judge Matt Gregory, a lecturer in the Sociology Department.
The Juice, this year's winner of Battle of the Bands, has been described as a cross between Sublime and Guster. They will be playing with Goldfinger, a ska-punk band who has been known for their energetic performances since the mid-'90's, and The Walkmen, a band which has become big in the burgeoning NYC/Five Boroughs indie scene.
When asked to comment on the decision to make The Juice winners of the competition, Gregory said, "I was impressed with their musicianship. They were very professional, and had a good crowd response. I think all the judges felt similar."
The judges also exchanged a few comments between each band, but no final decision was made until the very end when it came time to announce a winner.
The Juice's set list included four original songs, plus a cover of "Other Side," by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
The band features sophomores Matt Ballinger on vocals, Leon Mandler on vocals and harmonica, Mike Vitiello on guitar, Jim Govatsos on percussion and Ken Kitchin on bass. The Juice have recently appeared at the Tufts Poker Society Tournament, as well as a benefit show at the Sad Caf?© in New Hampshire.
All the band members were thrilled when they heard that they would be playing at Spring Fling. "It's hard to hear yourself and compare it to other bands," Vitiello said. "All the other bands were really good too. But I think as a band we're all happy with the set we played."
As far as their Spring Fling performance goes, the Juice are still finalizing their plans. "We'll probably learn a couple new cover songs for Spring Fling," Ballinger said. We don't really know yet, but we're definitely going to play more of our own songs too."
The band members feel that Spring Fling will be a good opportunity to showcase more of their own material, which will be the focus of their set list.
