On Friday, March 26, students met with advising teachers Aimeric Lajuzan and Emily Anderson to discuss bringing back the formerly annual  Battle of the Bands competition.

“Randall Findlay and I started it 2 years ago, but we didn’t manage to pull it off last year due to budget problems and not enough student interest,” Lajuzan said. “This year, the goal is to get two hours of music by students and a good audience who’s having fun. We have a long term plan to revive it and eventually make it every year, and make it part of the [Saint Paul Academy and Summit School] experience again.”

One of the ways that Lajuzan and Anderson hope to continue the tradition of Battle of the Bands at SPA is to make it a mroe student oriented event.

“We’d eventually like to transition to this being a largely student run event. It’s for the students, so it would be nice if it was also by the students,” Anderson said.

The increased student involvement has already begun. Senior Gita Raman has been involved in the planning process, even though she has not been involved with the event before.

“I like planning events,” Raman said. “Last September, I planned my mom’s 50th birthday party. I really enjoyed the experience of planning and see the event unravel.”

Raman is hoping to make this event just as successful as the last one she planned. “I made the posters for the information session that was held today. My job is to work on PR and make sure that we follow our budget,” she said.

Senior Danish Mahmood, who served as a judge two years ago, is planning to perform in a band this year. On why he enjoys Battle of the Bands, Mahmood said, “There’s no restrictions, so it’s totally freestyle. It’s not like performing with the SPA band or orchestra, you choose your own songs and do what you want to do.”

For senior Cas Burr, who is planning on performing a mix of guitar and rap, the event will be a new experience. “I’d love to make something. I’ve never written a song before, so we’ll see how that goes,” Burr said.

Senior Lukas Kelsey-Friedemann performed in the band Dick Saturday two years ago. ” We did a Blink 182 song, a Fall Out Boy song, and a Ramone’s song. There’s a different element of fun than what you’d have at a real venue, because you can throw a bunch of people together who’ve never played together before,” he said.

Kelsey-Friedemann and Lajuzan agree that the best part of Battle of the Bands is that it gives the community to see students in a different light.

“We get to see athletes, actors, and school musicians do their thing, but we don’t get to see people who are active in music outside of school. Rock doesn’t fit into any activity at school,” Lajuzan said.

“If you have a gig, it’s outside of school, whereas everyone goes to sports games,” Kelsey-Friedemann added. “Battle of the Bands brings what you’ve been doing to the community.”