With strums to victory and beats to success, Capture Theory took top honors at the fifth annual Battle of the Bands competition.

Capture Theory finds inspiration from bands like the Wombats, Arctic Monkeys, and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Senior Michael Nottebart is the drummer for Capture Theory.

“We played three of our own songs and a cover of Easily by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.” Nottebart said.

Capture Theory wasn’t the only band to play cover songs, the boy band Less Than Three performed a cover by One Direction and junior Stephanie Ferguson did one by singer Imogen Heap.

The winners of the battle were determined by votes from the crowd and evaluation from teachers who judged the bands in the competition. The crowd chose from six music acts consisting of various genres ranging from acoustic, rock, blues, and rap.

“I felt like this year there was a softer sound than in the past,” judge Melinda Horowitz said. “There was a lot more rock, but it’s good to see there was more variety and it was cool to see a hip hop act, there was just a balance between solo artists, group artists, harder rock and roll, and softer music.”

Battle of the Bands was hosted by the organization Random Acts of Kindness this year, where as in the past years it was hosted by Invisible Children.

Senior Alex Pineda has been part of both organizations since she was a sophomore and helped organize
the event.

“We had to step up to the plate because Battle of the Bands is a student run event,” Pineda said. “I also enjoy organizing events, it’s always rewarding.”

This year’s prize for the first place winner wasn’t the traditional prize that was given in past years.

“They wanted the bands themselves to do research and connect themselves with organizations in the community,” Horowitz said. “They wanted to give that ownership to the bands to choose a charity and make a stronger connection to the ideas of philanthropy and community services.”

Capture Theory chose a charity that directly related to musicians, the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM). According to the charity’s website, their mission is to provide health care to low-income, uninsured working musicians.

“We wanted the bands to have some kind of involvement with the community where they would be doing good, to tie back to the Random Acts of Kindness theme,” Pineda said.

Half of the money earned at Battle of the Bands will be going to HAAM. According to Pineda the event grossed over $600.

“Since it was a school event a portion of the money raised will go back to the school and benefit it somehow,” Pineda said.

“With the rest of the money we want to figure out if somehow we can help out with the student support services,” Horowitz said. “We want it to possibly provide graduation gowns or yearbooks for graduating seniors who wouldn’t be able to afford them.”

Along with the winning prize of donating to charity, there have also been talks of a second prize for Capture Theory involving progressing in their music.

“We discussed a potential studio session for the band that placed first,” Pineda said.

Although the second round hasn’t been completely planned yet, Pineda already has people asking when it will take place.

The second round is usually held at a venue.

“We want the top-three performers to advance to round two, we are hoping to get some local performers as well,” Pineda said. “As far as a venues goes, we are working with Stubbs, but nothing is finalized yet.”