Local band Cloverleaf has been selected for the quarterfinals of the mtvU Best Music on Campus Contest. The winner of the contest will receive a record deal with Drive-Thru Records and will have a music video produced and aired on mtvU, which plays on more than 730 college campuses.

"We found out yesterday around noon; they e-mailed us," drummer Garrett Bogden (freshman-marketing) said. "I read it first, so I called everyone and we started voting immediately."

Jason Rzepka, manager of communications for mtvU, said the top 50 were chosen from a field of more than 300 submissions. Cloverleaf's band page is currently featured on the "Most Viewed" section of mtvU's Best Music on Campus contest Web site, http://bestmusiconcampus.com.

Voting for the quarterfinals, which will narrow the field of bands from the top 50 down to the top 25, will end at 11:59 p.m. Saturday. The Cloverleaf voting page is located at http://bestmusiconcampus.com/cloverleaf.

Rzepka said more than 70,000 votes have been cast in the first 24 hours of voting, which began Monday. "The submissions have blown us away, both in volume and quality," Rzepka said.

He said the submissions mtvU received were eclectic. "The great artists of tomorrow are on the college campuses of today," Rzepka said.

Bogden said the band has been using several methods to try to spread the news of the contest and encourage voting.

"We've been using word of mouth, our Web site, MySpace, fliers," Bogden said.

Cloverleaf might also use concerts to help reach its fans. "If we do get into the next round, we have shows during that week," lead guitarist Ted Molnar (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) said.

Molnar said the band had been awaiting the result of its application, which was submitted in February.

"We were kind of forced to have it on our minds constantly. Every five minutes we'd see a commercial for it on mtvU, or see the video from last year's winner," Molnar said.

Last year, All Envy Aside from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee won the grand prize. Rzepka said the group's music video went into the top 15 most-streamed videos on the mtvU Web site.

Bogden said the process to select the top 50 was complicated.

"It was a really long application. We had to submit three songs, some pictures, a biography and our influences," Bogden said.

He said the band members have had a lot on their plates lately.

"It really keeps us busy. We're balancing school work and the band, and trying to do a tour this summer," Bogden said.

Cloverleaf is also coming off the recent release of its album first.class.mind.ride, which band members celebrated with a CD-release party on March 15.

"It's a busy time, but it's more exciting than anything," Molnar said "Yeah, it's work, but it's worth it."

Molnar said that what most bands aim for is a record deal and that the music video is just a bonus.

"When I first started playing music, all the bands I liked were on Drive-Thru, so it would be amazing," Molnar said.

Bogden, who describes Cloverleaf's music as acoustic/piano rock, was also excited.

"I like a lot of bands on the label; they have a lot of really different bands," Bogden said.

As for the video, the band's plans remain a little vague.

"If we ended up getting that far, we'd probably do "Forever Lost"; that's been on the radio a lot in Pittsburgh," Bogden said.