It’s Saturday night in Downtown Amherst. Hundreds of college students are lining up outside bars like The Spoke, Monkey Bar and Stackers Pub. One of these lines stands out amongst the rest of the stereotypical college bars. This line is at the Drake, where tons of music-loving college students eagerly wait to hear the unique and serotonin-boosting sounds made by students just like them.

WMUA’s Battle of the Bands is an event many students look forward to across the Five Colleges. Students are given the opportunity to see the bands from their respective schools while also mingling with an audience of students from all over the county.

The first band of the night was Catshack, a brand-new band from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Members include Ash Finnegan on keys, bass and vocals, Amanda Lookner on lead guitar and vocals, Pearl Saperstein on drums and Malika Kasichainula on rhythm guitar, bass and vocals. This was their first performance ever.

Catshack got the crowd going right away, covering songs like “Lady Madonna” by the Beatles, “The Kids Aren’t Alright” by Pinkshift, “New Born” by Muse and “Just a Girl” by No Doubt.

The band was excited about the way the crowd reacted to their performance, but they wanted to express how the music scene in Amherst should include more women. They want to be as inspirational as possible for women and non-binary people who want to join the music scene.

“It’s definitely a really supportive scene but it’s definitely geared toward men,” Finnegan stated. “Sometimes I’ll be in a green room and be like, ‘Wow, I’m the only woman here.’”

Kasichainula also expressed how there is a lack of racial diversity in the music scene: “Another thing that people really don’t account for is the lack of racial diversity. There’s a giant lack of diversity. I walked into the green room and I think it was me and one other man that were non-white. It’s good to get more women in there but especially more women of color. There’s musicians from all sorts of backgrounds but I think if UMass is truly the diverse school that it brags about, then the music scene should definitely reflect that.”

The next band to perform was Bampersand from Amherst College. Bampersand brought a slow, chill jazzy vibe to their performance, which the crowd really seemed to enjoy. Original songs entitled “Yellow Willow” and “Rat Tracks” included heavy bass, emphasis on drums and standout trumpet solos.

The Leadheads, a band from UMass Amherst, were set to perform next, bringing the crowd back into the high energy they were feeling from Catshack. The Leadheads are made up of Liam Powers on bass and vocals, Bobby Scotto-Lavino on guitar, Connor Schultz on guitar and vocals and JD Mirt on drums.

“We wouldn’t be here without there being such a huge scene in Amherst. The fact that we came to the spring Battle of the Bands and we were like, ‘Aw man, what if we got into Battle of the Bands? That would be sick!’ Here we are, not even a year later. It feels good,” Powers stated.

The Leadheads performed “Song 2” by Blur, an original song written by the band and “I Found a Way,” better known as the “Drake and Josh” theme song. The crowd was singing and dancing along for their entire performance.

Up next were the winners of the night, Sapien Joyride. The Hampshire College band performed upbeat, indie-adjacent original songs with super high energy. The crowd loved every minute of it, so much that one of the members even crowd surfed.

Ravenous Conglomerate, a UMass contemporary jazz band, was up next. Members include Garrett Silveira on guitar, Jasper Grant on bass and guitar, Miguel Gomba on drums and Anand Fedele on keys. The band delivered a very groovy and feel-good performance with each song transitioning ever-so-smoothly into the next.

The last band of the night was Fishtube, from Smith College. Members include Taylor Zweli on guitar and vocals, Pria Parker on cello and vocals, Audrey Jacobs on piano and vocal, Ruth Kendall on lead vocals and Sofi Guerra on drums.

Fishtube performed all crowd-pleasers but put their own unique spin on each song. These songs included “Black Sheep” by Metric, “Vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo, “Everybody Talks” by Neon Trees and “Not Strong Enough” by boygenius.

At the end of the show, it didn’t seem to matter who won. Each band was filled with incredible energy and unique talent that makes the Amherst music scene so special. These performances, bands and individuals bring the Five Colleges community together to celebrate and support one another musically.

Paige Hanson can be reached at [email protected] and can be followed on Twitter @Paige_Hanson1.