Neglected Lawnmower Draws a Crowd on the Common

The Winchester Common kicked off its first concert on the common, with Neglected Lawnmower, the winner of this year's high school Battle of the Bands competition on Wednesday July 21. The past two concerts were rescheduled due to extreme heat conditions.

The group consisted of four members: juniors Karol Alexander on vocals andEddy Schneider on bass, and seniors Viktor Herrmann on guitar, and Eric McEntee on drums.

The band started with a 30-minute set sung by Alexander. After five songs, vocalist and guitarist Alec Padromo stepped in. According to Alexander, Padromo played in a band know as the Flying Carpets with McEntee prior to the formation of Neglected Lawnmower. 

"Neglected Lawnmower has been a band for about 10 months," Alexander said.

The Lawnmowers played a six song set, starting with their rendition of John Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change", followed by "Zombie" by the Cranberries, "Hey Joe" by Jimi Hendrix,  "Barracuda" by Heart, "Brain Stew" by Green Day, sung by Schneider, and "30 Days in the Hole" by Humble Pie.

The band decided to play only covers of an array of songs for the evening. The set was noticeably diverse based on each of their various interests. Subsequently the members arranged and performed each song with a rock variation.

"Our favorite bands don't really influence what we play," said Alexander, "but we do write our own songs."

The group's influences ranged from Led Zeppelin, to their close friends the Flying Carpets, to Lady Gaga. All of which were reflected in their innovative takes on such covers they performed.

The group explained that the second place group, the Leo Fama Band, was supposed to play with the Lawnmowers that evening, however due to prior commitments, the group could not make it to the awarded performance.

The previous bands that participated in the final round of the BOTB competition were as follows: Policeman Fox, Ad Astra, DinoBots, the Leo Fama Band, and the winners, Neglected Lawnmower.

The lawnmowers concluded their entire performance with a few more songs including "Tik Tok" by Kesha and "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga.

"I was thinking of re-recording the Theme Monster album by Gaga", said McEntee, when asked if the band considered recording their own demos in the future.

Neglected Lawnmower will be performing at the Real School of Music in Burlington on July 23.

The Concert on the Common Series will continue each week with the following performances: Bob Bachelder and Totem Pole Orchestra, Ben Rudnick and Friends, Roger Tinkell, Six, and Quintessential Bass every Wednesday from July 28 through August.

Neglected Lawnmower kicked off Concert on the Common with a great start, bringing their creative take on a variety of musical genres and collective interests.