By: Mady McKenna
April 11th was WBCN’s Battle of The Bands at Harper’s Ferry in Allston. The 15th annual show was the second of two sponsored by WBCN, Berklee College of Music, and After Midnight Productions. Out of the original twenty-four HS bands that played for the judges a few weeks ago, only seven advanced to play on the 11th. Each band had talented high school students who were dedicated to their music and who look forward to attending Berklee. The line up was entertaining and enjoyable, and by four o’clock the venue was nearly sold out. Vitamin Seed, from Newton, was the first band who performed. Their lead singer and bassist, Zachary Levine-Caleb was awarded one of twelve scholarships towards Berklee’s summer programs. Their music, with help from a synthesizer, was relaxing yet upbeat and different. Following their performance was Kernaklian, Woodbury, Deadfish, Jessica Prouty Band, Calling Aviv, and Bingo Fridays. Kernaklian is a band from Weston with implausible talent. Their singer and guitarist Charles Corley shared his unusual techique of playing a song using a violin bow on his guitar. The sound was completely original and meshed perfectly with guitar solos provided by Greg Rosenbaum and drum beats by Nick DiGiovanni (who also received a Berklee scholarship). All of the musicians displayed a high level of talent and a knack for winning over a crowd. The battle was fair and well balanced and in the end the winner was Calling Aviv. They were awarded 16 hours in the studio with After Midnight Productions, a well deserved prize. Overall, I was impressed by the talent of these high school musicians.