Four New Jersey-based bands came together to rock out and raise money for cancer research Saturday at the Delta Chi fraternity’s third annual “Battle of the Bands.”
The bands — Skyler, Threat Level: Midnight, The Keating Experience and Death to Surprise — competed at the fraternity’s house on Union Street for a prize of $200 and a trophy.
The main goal for “Battle of the Bands” was to raise money for the fraternity’s national philanthropy, the Jimmy V Foundation, said Delta Chi President John Perrone, and 100 percent of the ticket sales went toward this cause.
About 40 attendees came out to watch the bands take the stage outside, and at the end Skyler took the prize.
Skyler member Andrew Petracca said the band was established more than 10 years ago.
“I started writing songs, and then I realized you can’t do everything by yourself and founded the band,” he said.
The fraternity was excited Skyler agreed to come and play at their event, associate fraternity member Reggie Morris said.
“Skyler has played at the Warped Tour and Bamboozle, so they are pretty well known,” said Morris, a School of Arts and Science sophomore.
The fraternity’s Head of Philanthropy Peter Sim said they raised about $600 by the end of the night.
Sim, a School of Arts and Sciences junior, said members of the fraternity selected the bands.
“The four bands aren’t really household names yet, but they’re all talented young artists,” Morris said.
The fraternity wanted to give bands the chance to showcase their talent to the University community, he said.
The bands were scored in four main categories: overall musical ability; individual members’ technical abilities; stage presence and energy; and crowd response, fraternity member Yan Lipovetskiy said.
Perrone, Cook College senior Dana Gobbo and Carlos Correa judged the event.
The judges also looked at the originality of the band, Correa said.
“We did not want the bands to do too many covers of songs [by other bands]; we wanted to see their own material,” said Correa, a Rutgers College senior.
The event was special because all the bands are from New Jersey, he said.
“Since everyone was from around here, it was a lot of fun for people to see these really talented local bands,” Correa said.
The Jimmy V Foundation, which raises money for cancer research, was started by Jim Valvano and ESPN, said Perrone, a Cook College senior. Jim Valvano was a coach for the North Carolina State University basketball team and started the foundation when he was diagnosed with cancer.
“Valvano actually started his career right here at Rutgers University, playing for the team from ’64-’67, which makes this event that much more meaningful for the brothers of our Rutgers Chapter as well as the Rutgers community,” Perrone said.
The event was also co-sponsored by Red Bull, which provided free drinks, said Lipovetskiy, a Rutgers College senior.
Threat Level: Midnight lead singer Hugo Fuego said he enjoyed that Delta Chi chose to hold the event outside, but that there was a smaller turnout than he expected.
Petracca said he was also hoping for a larger crowd, but was not too disappointed after winning the trophy and cash prize.
Delta Chi member Anthony Cwirko said the fraternity also held the “Dodge This!” Dodgeball Tournament last Sunday in conjunction with Alpha Chi Omega sorority and was able to raise more than $2,000.
“It would have been nice if more people had come and donated money to the Jimmy V Foundation today, but the members aren’t disappointed,” said Cwirko, a School of Arts and Science junior.
Fuego said although the event was small, all the bands were great and he had fun playing around with everyone.
“All in all, ‘Battle of the Bands’] was pretty punk rock,” he said.