Students and teachers come together at Battle of the Bands
Apollo Ruins takes home first place
Apollo Ruins performs during the 2015 Battle of the Bands. Despite it being the band’s first performance as a complete unit, the band took home first place.
March 14, 2015
Student bands battled it out for the title of supreme Akins rock band on Friday in the Akins theater during the annual music competition.
With multiple bands and both students and teachers competing, a fun and unique experience was created.
The five bands that performed played many different genres of music such as rap, country, and heavy metal.
The event started off with the teacher band, which included student Ulises Chavez on the drums. As he played the piano, math teacher Derek Hamm sang “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran while digital media teacher Joe Broome played the guitar.
The audience sang along and clapped as Hamm continued to sing.
There were technical difficulties between some sets, but students filled in for others to keep the audience entertained.
Junior Jesse Farquhar improvised as the difficulties went on. She decided to sing and Hamm joined to assist her by playing the guitar.
Despite the technical difficulties the crowd encouraged Farquhar stepping in.
Hannah and the Holders performed without a drummer for part of their performance. However, when he stepped back on stage, he started off with a strong solo making the audience excited.
This year it felt different performing with a whole new band rather than just my best friend, senior Hannah Holder said.
The last performance was by Apollo Ruins.
Noe Benavides started off by introducing everyone in his band and letting the audience know they will be performing a heavy metal song they wrote called “Recession.”
Their second song performed was called “Second and Sebring” by Of Mice and Men.
Apollo Ruins consists of six musicians: Noe Benavides and Chris Mendez as singers; Javier De Leon, Preston Enriquez, and Chris Westerlage play guitar, and Antonio Tello as drummer.
The excitement in the audience built steadily throughout Apollo Ruins’ performance. The crowd went wild during the closing performance.
As the final results were announced Apollo Ruins won first place and Hannah and the Holders took home second price in the 2015 Battle of the Bands.
“Battle of the Bands was an ecstatic excitement performing in our school, “Benavides said. “It was our first show as a unit and we were not expecting to win.”
