URI Surf Club Hosts Battle of Bands for a Good Cause

The URI Surf Club, perhaps the coolest club at University of Rhode Island, hosted a Battle of the Bands fundraiser on Friday.

The goal is to raise money for the club to go on a mission trip to Nicaragua to build a community center, baseball field and soccer field for the poverty stricken community of Sutiava.

The URI Surf Club has teamed up with Surf for a Cause, a group that brings forth surfers who want to ride the waves and give a helping hand in these impoverished areas. Also catching the wave is the nonprofit group who helps the poorest children in the world, Flying Kites. 

“We want to change ours and their lives and build a relationships,” Patrick Brown of the URI Surf Club explained.

The club plans on going during URI’s spring break. On March 4, there will be another fundraising event at Rhody Joe's Saloon in Wakefield, just over the Narragansett border. This dinner benefit is open to the public. 

URI Surf Club’s Battle of Bands was a tough one. Each band brought their own style.

From the outstanding math rock styling of Scarlet, to the Pawtucket’s own ska band ShortHanded Goal, URI Surf Club choose a wonderful and diverse rock lineup. There were six bands, and the winning band will go onto open for the band, Badfish in March.

Opening the evening was the two-man acoustic team A Sunrise Theory.   Originally known as Aldrich, lead singer Ben Sienko and guitarist Alex Van Haaren thought it was time for a change. A Sunrise Theory refers to that when the sun rises, it’s a new beginning.

You can catch their next show on March 6 at URI’s Edwards Auditorium. They are opening for the popular Matthew Nathanson, who is known for his hit song “Come on Get Higher.”

Scarlet, a Portsmouth indie band, charmed the crowd with their math rock styling. These guys channeled Unwound and Hum and modern bands, such as The Appleseed Cast. Their biggest influence is Minus the Bear though.

Scarlet has two different singers, Chris Cooney, who plays rhythm guitar and Jacob Telford, plays bass. In fact, Telford informed the crowd that he got into URI and wants to be a music major dentist.

Cooney and Telford’s respective vocal styles are night and day, yet combined at once brings on a fantastic vocal infusion. Their stage performance is magnificent.

Scarlet is a three-year-old band that consists of high school seniors. Alongside Telford and Cooney are drummer Zack Rego and lead guitarist Donald Larson. They proved that high school kids, do indeed, totally rock. 

Alphadelic brought the dance party. Their upbeat styling is hard to compare to another band – think of Cut Copy mated with Phantom Planet.

You can find their catchy tunes on YouTube, however, keyboardist and lead singer, Gerrick Van Deusen uses autotune on the studio recordings, but doesn't live. He sounds much better without it. Van Deusen’s cover of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” was fantastic.

Alphadelic is a three-piece band from URI, and their influences range from classic rock to techno dance.

Speaking of covers, Pawtucket’s ska band, Short Handed Goal, proved that Kei$ha’s “Tic Toc” works better as a ska song. High energy, fun and a crowd pleaser, Short Handed Goal is a seven-piece band including a brass section in which lead singer Matthew Adams claims the following:

“We have a brass section, that’s so 1996. I wasn’t cool then, and I am not cool now.” 

That is an under statement. A real fun and high engeric band to see live, Shorthanded Goal is indeed a cool ska band. 

Next up was a power punk pop band, In the Meantime, from Beverly, MA. They will remind one of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. 

Tensions flared by the end of the evening – every band did a full set, leaving Milkbread with only 25 minutes to compete. The wonderful funk jazz infusion Milkbread quickly won the crowd and the URI Surf Club affection and won the competition. 

If you are interested in helping the URI Surf Club's mission, you can send donations to 50 Lower College Road, Kingston RI, attention URI Surf Club. The URI Surf Club not only lives for the sun, they also know there’s an answer to help out others. Wouldn’t it be nice?

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