Carmichael’s Day Off takes a day on for a Battle of the Bands.
San Francisco’s DNA Lounge hosted a Battle of the Bands on March 9.
Nine bands performed in the contest including Carmichael’s Day Off, a punk band made up of one former and three current Carlmont students.
Bass player and junior Jerry Burke-Perez said, “We’ve been practicing since Jan. Each band gets a set time of 30 minutes to do whatever we want.”
Carmichael’s Day Off performed 13 songs, ten originals and three covers.
The band has made some of their originals together but members have also made some of the songs individually.
Lead singer and Carlmont graduate Avery Waibel said, “I started recording music for Carmichael’s Day Off by myself in July.” Guitar player and senior Cameron Cumming also makes his own songs for the band.
The band was excited to be playing in the contest. It was their second official performance playing as a group. Carmichael’s Day Off had their first performance earlier this year at the Belmont Library’s Open Mic Night which the members believe went well.
While all of the members believed they were prepared for the competition, some of its members had pre-performance jitters.
Drummer and senior Danielle Schneider said, “The moment you perform you’re like ‘I don’t even know how to play music,’ but then you get up there and remember. I’m pretty nervous, but we’ve been practicing for months and we have our set list pretty much down so I think we’re ready.”
This Battle of the Bands is only one of many the DNA Lounge has hosted throughout it’s years in business. March 9’s performance was the semi-final round of the competition and the winner will move on to the final competition in September.
Cumming said, “The winner gets $500, 20 hours of studio time and a headlining gig at the DNA Lounge.”
The band was also excited to be playing at the DNA Lounge which has become famous in the Bay Area for showcasing lesser known, local bands.
Schneider said, “From what I’ve heard the DNA Lounge is a pretty positive environment. Even if you mess up the only people who know are the people in your band. It should be a great night.”