School House Rock

Are you planning to do nothing this weekend? Maybe sitting home and watching "Cops" is what gets your mojo working. But if that's not the case, maybe there's something better to help you enjoy your weekend. Saturday night at Rhino's, eight local high-school bands from around the area will be playing in a Battle of the Bands to benefit the Hoosier Hills Food Bank.\nThe Battle of the Bands is sponsored by the Youth In Action coalition, a group of high school students from Bloomington North, Bloomington South and Edgewood high schools. The coalition works to make sure there are youth-oriented activities going on in the Bloomington area, so that teens have constructive things to do rather than resorting to alcohol for their entertainment.\n"We plan monthly teen nights to provide high school students with a variety of cool activities specifically for them," says Linda Hanek, the youth services coordinator for Youth In Action. "The goal is to utilize what our community has to offer in coordinating safe, drug-free events. We want to encourage high-school students to come to our events instead of parties that involve drinking and driving and other risky behaviors."\nThe group is able to reach its goals thanks to businesses and not-for-profit organizations, like Rhino's, who offer assistance or waive fees, which helps YIA host more frequent activities. The coalition is also aided by a State Incentive Grant, which provides most of its funding.\n"Since we empower the students to come up with ideas and pull these events off the ground, we are able to provide a wide range of activities that speak to a wide range of tastes," Hanek says.\nThe Battle of the Bands is expected to be a big success, especially with the interest from local bands who have been interested in performing. There are really no "winners" or "losers" in the battle. Instead it's a chance for local bands who normally don't get to showcase their skills to come out and enjoy themselves.\n"We've had such a great response from bands that we plan to have another Battle of the Bands early in the summer," Hanek says. "Hopefully, we'll get a lot of people out to hear these bands on Saturday." The only cover charge on Saturday for the Battle of the Bands will be cans of food to donate to the food bank.\nThere are eight local bands performing on Saturday. Since most of them don't frequent the stages around Bloomington, here's a preview of two groups who may be on the rise.\nCARDBOARD\n"Being in a band brings us and our friends together to explore the innermost regions of our tortured souls," says Graham Campbell of the band Cardboard. "Oh, and it helps us pick up chicks."\nCardboard, a four-man band composed of students from Bloomington South High School, will be playing Saturday in a venue where the musicians have become familiar faces. Cardboard's Web site (www.cardboardmusic.tk) jokes that the band has played Rhino's nine times but by 2010 that total should be 982.\n"It's an incredible rush to be standing on stage in a goofy tie in front of an excited audience and be able to rock out," Campbell says.\nCardboard has done quite well for a band just playing the local scene, especially since the musicians are all still high schoolers.\n"We've got a decent following at our high school," Campbell says. "Many people know about us there, but we've had only marginal success outside of that."\nThe four members of Cardboard are Campbell (guitar, trumpet), David Woodruff (vocals, guitar), Lee Beckwith (bass) and Ben Fowler (drums). The band has already released a self-titled CD, available at Karma Records for $5.\n"We saved up the money we earned playing gigs over the years until we had enough money to record at SpeakEasy studio in Ellettsville," Campbell says. "We designed the CD and produced it ourselves using photocopiers and CD burners."\nCardboard doesn't waste its time doing only cover songs.\n"Our music is almost all original," Campbell proudly states.\nCardboard's future doesn't look too bright after high school.\n"As of now it looks like we'll be going to different universities because of our individual interests," Campbell says. "Still, since this has been the focus of our lives during high school, we may play together again in the future."\nSECTION 8\nSection 8 is another Battle of the Bands participant based out of Bloomington South. The band boasts an eclectic mix of metal, funk and pop and hopes to impress the crowd Saturday night.\n"We play for the love of music," says Nathan Reeves, the band's drummer. "We have a lot of positive energy, just a group of friends making fun music."\nThe band consists of four members: Reeves, Zach Norris (rythm guitar), Charles "Sloth" Sloan (bass) and Cody Burgess (guitar). This performance in the Battle of the Bands will be the first live performance by Section 8 as a group, but each of the idiviual members has played live in the area as part of different groups. The members are lookng forward to their perfomrance and hope to get the crowd to enjoy it, too.\n"We're trying to create something positive for the world," Burgess says. "That's the best thing about being in a band in the first place."\nSection 8 has never done much more than dabble with recording in the past. The band is interested in recording a CD in the future, but the members don't think they want to sign a record deal.\n"In all reality, we want to earn our space in the music world," Burgess says. "We think that our product that is Section 8 needs time to grow, just like a basketball player has to have time to learn and grow. We want people to respect us and become a tighter group in the process."\nBANDS PLAYING AT THE BATTLE\nSection 8 from South, Bite sized Buddah from South,Vert Nine from EHS, Cardboard from South, Rail from EHS, Traffikon from EHS and two others from North that haven't decided on names yet.