Junior Lizzie Waters won the Battle of the Bands yesterday, triumphing over the four other finalists: Doodle Bob, Almost Restricted, Todays Breakfast, and Shawlin Supreme and the KBB, after three weeks of competition.

The first place winner received a one-day recording session at the Big Fish Studio in Olivenhain. Waters, a singer- songwriter, intends to use this recording time to “create an EP -and would love to record some songs,” she said. Her performance was complete with three original songs, gleeful smiles, and laughter flowing out toward the audience.

Waters began “Married Game” on piano. She followed with “Definite Madness” on guitar . To conclude she stood in the spotlight to perform a more recent original, “Home,” which silenced the audience.

Doodle Bob came in second place and collected a band survival basket, provided by Fine Tune Academy, complete with a variety of gift certificates and other necessities such as guitar strings and drum sticks. Their performance included a SpongeBob mascot, enthusiastic fans, and opportunities for the audience to scream “it’s big, pink, and scary. It’s the Alaskan Bull worm!”

In third, was Shawlin Supreme and the KBB, complete with a horn section, guitarist, bass player, and a lead singer with a limp. He told the audience that his knee injury was the result of practicing his battle of the bands dance moves in the shower. Lead singer freshman Shawlin Tucker looked at the crowd saying “get groovy with us now, get groovy with us now” and was accompanied by dancing band mates. The horn section moved in synchronization. The band won assorted CDs, t-shirts, hats and good from Surfdog Records of Encinitas.

Almost Restricted dressed in black and completed the image with ties to match their instruments. They played all original songs and expressed excitement as they played one of their first original songs, “Defender.”
Today’s Breakfast performed four songs, as their shadows were artfully cast on the white background of the stage. Lead singer senior Austin Killeen said that the performance was “the first musical event of my life.”

Finn Roche, Dave Kaplan, and Khrys Maxwell, collaborated as judges. Roche is the owner of The Fine Tune Academy, an award winning contemporary music school. Additionally, Kaplan is the owner and founder of Surfdog records and Dave Kaplan management, and Maxwell is a guitar teacher of 15 years.

As the judges deliberated and the dimmed lights were turned to full brightness, all of the participants joined together for a jam session. The collaboration allowed the musicians the opportunity to improvise and everyone was playing an instrument or singing power notes to contribute to the sound.

Waters asked that SDA continues to host the Battle of the Band because “it keeps the spirit of SDA alive and music is something that can bring everyone together.” As her victory was announced, all of the participants rushed to surround Waters in a massive group hug.