Ethos magazine has teamed up once again with the Cultural Forum and Ninkasi Brewing Company to host the second annual Bandest of the Bands competition Saturday evening at WOW Hall.
Set up in a battle of the bands format, the competition will pit six local, relatively unknown bands against each other to crown a winner. The top bands will receive Ethos Online Exclusive Write-ups, free recordings and more. 
“It’s going to be an incredible show with some of the top bands in the area that you probably haven’t heard of,” said David Frank, a University senior and member of Ethos’ PR team. “They’re incredible with all of the style and quick set changes.”
“Bandest of the Bands is a great opportunity for some of the best local bands to showcase their talent, and it’s all for a good cause,” said Trevor Helt, University student and member of the Cultural Forum. “The Cultural Forum is very happy to be a part of this event and has always enjoyed working with Ethos.”
The opportunity to present a second Bandest of the Bands competition was spurred by the overwhelming success of last year’s event. Originally conceived by Frank and University alumnus Kevin Bronk, then the editor-in-chief of Ethos, the two wanted to create a fun event that gave local bands legitimate exposure.
“We were trying to set up a really cool music performance,” Frank said. “We wanted to work with Ninkasi, and we wanted to work with Cultural Forum and put on a good show.”
Posting an open call to any local bands on Facebook, Craigslist and a few other media, Bronk and Frank received more than 70 applicants last year. Narrowing that number down to six, the local indie-western swing band Sea Bell was crowned the winner at the end of the night.
Like last year’s Bandest of the Bands, this year’s winner will be decided by three judges’ votes and an audience vote. With each of the four votes counting equally, the audience’s vote is decided in the form of voting by socks. 
Although an untraditional voting style, the planners, working under the theme that the concert will “Rock Your Socks Off,” encourage audience members to bring socks to donate to a local charity. The audience members place the socks in a donation bin that represents their favorite band. Attendees who bring a clean pair of socks to donate also receive $2 off of their admittance fee. 
“Every man, woman and child should have a nice pair of clean socks to slip their little feet into, and this Friday night we’ll be one step closer to making that happen, while simultaneously rockin’ out,” Helt said. 
After receiving a large number of applications again, Ethos publisher Rachael Mitchell and Frank narrowed this year’s group of applicants down to six.
“We had over 40 bands apply for the competition, so it was definitely a challenge to narrow it down to six,” Mitchell said. “For this second competition we selected bands that each have a really unique sound, and I’m super excited to see them all live.”
Perhaps the most unique entry into this year’s contest is 13-year-old musician Grace Mitchell. The singer and songwriter will be performing by herself. Of course, age doesn’t mean anything compared to musical ability.
“I’ve seen her perform since then, and she’s going to stun everybody in that room. Maybe she won’t bring a dance party because it’s just her with her acoustic guitar, but every one of those college students will have their jaws dropped (during) her whole performance,” Frank said.
Rare Monk, another group in this year’s competition, is a self-proclaimed sexy-dance-rock group that currently resides in Portland but was brought together in Eugene. The group has played all over Eugene and Portland and won KWVA’s Battle of the Bands in 2009. Rare Monk brings a different sound with the musical variety of Isaac Thelin’s saxophone and violin. 
Jameson and the Sordid Seeds add variety to the competition with their reggae and blues combination. 
“They remind me very much of Sublime: reggae, but happy and really tight musicianship,” Frank said. “They’re just a really fun band.”
Bringing in a different type of music is the blues duo Mudpuppy. The two musicians fuse blues and garage punk, creating an ageless sound. 
Rounding out the group are Vinnie and the Rips and Kids on a Toboggan. Kids on a Toboggan is headed up by Tyler Fortier, an ambitious local musician who is working on three different albums this year. Vinnie and the Rips bring even more variety to the competition, incorporating Eugene’s metalheads, with their heavy metal-inspired house party music brought to the WOW Hall stage. 
Bandest of the Bands is Saturday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. at WOW Hall. Admission is $5 with a pair of clean socks or $7 without.

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