For bands that dream of making it big, Crowbar,
420 E. College Ave., is offering up "Crowbar Band
Battle," a summer-long competition designed to
promote the spread of new musicians in the State College area.

While this is not the first time Crowbar has had a musical competition, director of operations Dave Wells said this event in particular has been a hit.

"This is the first time that we've run [Battle of the Bands] and it has been very successful," Wells said. "The Crowbar is a great venue for this competition mainly because we've done many other events like this before, such as 'Crowbar Idol.'"

The success of last spring's "Idol," as well as
other recent local music events such as "Skellerpalooza," was only a small part of the motivation behind event coordinator Jeff Sabarese's creation of the band battle.

"This is a venue to provide opportunity for area bands that wouldn't otherwise be gigging in State College," Sabarese said. "Many bars downtown usually have a set schedule of performances, so if you're a band trying to get something going, it's hard to find a venue. That was one of the formulas I tried to consider when I started it -- providing exposure for bands."

Along with providing publicity, Sabarese said he is trying to help further the careers of these bands by bringing them closer together.

"I'm trying to develop a musician network for these bands to exchange information about their gigs so that they can possibly swap gigs in the future," Sabarese said.

"I'm really trying to develop a hub for bands coming through the area."

The competition has been running since May and will conclude the last week of July. Bands that have won their nights will then compete in the semi-finals during the first three weeks of August, with the finals being held in the last week.

The grand prize will be a gig as an opening act for a regularly scheduled band during a football weekend this fall.

Sabarese said such a performance is a more-than-welcome opportunity for the competing bands.

"It's a very prestigious thing to play on a football weekend, and to have that slot handed to you is big," Sabarese said.

Brandon Kane, lead singer and guitarist for Vertigo, a band that will be performing in the 12:30 a.m. slot this Monday, agrees with Sabarese.

"That's pretty much what we're trying to do is get a bigger gig, especially opening up for headliners," Kane said. "It would be cool getting a new fan base."

While winning the prize is the ultimate goal, Kane said playing at Crowbar is equally exciting.

"We're pretty psyched about it because it's our first time playing at the Crowbar," Kane said. "But we are playing it to win, and audience participation is important, so we have a lot of people coming."

Sabarese said he agrees that the key for bands lies in their own promotion.

"The idea is if you're a band and you have fans, bring your fans out," Sabarese said. "It's kind of a popularity contest, but everything usually is; the bands that prove they have a fan base are the ones that usually succeed."