Below are some pictures from the Guitar Center Battle of the Bands at Summerfest.

The bands who competed were Autistic Youth, representing Southridge; Not That Ugly, from Aloha; and Of God, from Westview.

The bands were judged on stuff like look, showmanship, passion and music, with each being worth a total of 15 points (5 points/judge). After all of the bands had played, the audience also voted for their favorite via loudest applause. This was also worth 15 points.

Alas, Autistic Youth came in third. I think they were hurt by the fact that the other two bands had larger followings present in the audience. Of God placed second only because they had the loudest cheering section — I think they brought their whole church along, but nobody else was too impressed. A lot of the general crowd actually left during Of God. Autistic Youth pulled them back in towards the end of their set, which meant Not That Ugly had a larger audience to cheer for them. If it hadn’t been for those two things, Autistic Youth would have placed second, and maybe first.

Mom’s reviews:

Summerfest in general:
Lots of good food — but expensive. Lots of stuff for kids to do — but expensive. More exhibitors than I remember in the past, and lots of freebies. Plenty of tables with chairs available for eating and listening to the music. I miss Nightglow, but the evening concert line-up was better. What with the weather semi-cooperating (muggy, but overcast and around 80 instead of 93), a fun time was had by all.

The Guitar Center Battle Of The Bands:
I give them one star for giving to the schools and lending the sound equipment and drum set. The sound guy, however, had no clue what he was doing. The sound board was at the back of the stage and he never put his headphones on, so he only heard the sound via the monitors. The sound from the speakers was horrible. Very heavy bass (I’m surprised I still have the fillings in my teeth and I was not that close), very light everything else. We couldn’t hear the vocals during Autistic Youth and Not That Ugly totally lost their lead guitar. Bad, bad, bad. And the announcer was pretty lame, too, although he did follow Autistic Youth’s direction to introduce them as “leaving shortly for their one-day tour of Newberg.”

Of God:
What can I say? Christian Rock is not my cup of tea. But, subject matter aside, all of their songs were really long and sounded the same. By the third song I was really bored and just wanted them to be done. I give them two stars, though, because the keyboardist really rocked. Pity we couldn’t hear him half the time. I give their “fan” contingent no stars, because they couldn’t be bothered to listen to the other two bands. They left after Of God played, and came back only to cheer. Boo to them.

Autistic Youth:
Yeah. So it’s my kid — who said I had to be objective? Some comments, though, in the interest of semi-fairness: There was some dead air between the songs while #1 Son talked to Seve and Alex. It made me think that they didn’t know the set list. #1 Son — awesome guitar as always, but talk to the audience, dude! Nick — bass was great but you do a good statue impression. Move around a little! Autistic Youth was by far the best musicians technically. Seve was the only drummer we could really hear. (It reminded me of the very early Bakwash days. #1 Son kept telling me over and over, “I need a louder amp. Seve drowns me out.”) I wish we could have heard the lyrics. I wish the sound had been better. Truth to tell, punk is not to everyone’s liking. But they didn’t really want to win, so meh. I thought they were awesome.

Not That Ugly:
The winners. I give them three stars because they did a decent job. Their music was more approachable than either of the other two bands, although it did all start to sound the same towards the end. But there wasn’t anything to really hate about it, either. It was a drag that I couldn’t hear the lead guitar at all because it looked like he was a decent player. Good sound might have earned them another star. I also have to give them their props for being the only band to thank the other two bands. That shows some class.

Above: Autistic Youth competes in the Guitar Center Battle Of The Bands at Summerfest.
“Enhancing our sense of community through the arts.” (oh yeah!)
L-R: Adam Becker, Seve Sheldon, Alex (Alert) Tryon, Nick (Mayhem) Powell

Right: Seve’s little brother Levi shows his support for the Lost Boys! Alex made the killer vest.

Below: The Autistic Youth fan club.