After a four-hour drive that ended in a difficult night of sleeping on a wooden floor in Brooklyn, Audio Imagery faced even stiffer opponents the following evening at the Fillmore in New York City on March 5.

The local band was sleeping on those wooden floors, in a band member's aunt's house, in an effort to win the Bodog Battle of the Bands, bringing it one step closer to a lucrative recording contract.

For the past four years, Audio Imagery has been producing a unique sound -- one that combines a hip-hop vocal style with pop rock instrumentals -- that would eventually lead them to the Bodog Battle of the Bands regional finals. Thirteen bands competed for a place on the Battle to End All Battles reality TV show, the winner of which will receive a one million-dollar recording contract with Bodog Music.

Though they drove to the competition, Audio Imagery pitched in for a bus for fans to take to their show. The in-trip music on the ride from State College was the band's own 20-track album, Hush.

"I'm really looking forward to seeing them play tonight," Jackie Dunfee (freshman-advertising) said on the bus. "They have such an original sound it's hard not to be entertained when they perform."

Before exiting the bus to walk to the Fillmore, the site of the contest, the fans were informed Audio Imagery had made a request of them.

"They want you to do the Audio Imagery chant," Casie Goshow (junior-recreation, park and tourism management) said, reading the band's instructions. "You all know it."

"Also, one of their songs says 'get low,' so they want you to do that," she added with a shimmy that evoked laughs.

The traveling fans were eager to comply. Before the band came on stage -- sans warmup -- a collective chant of "Au-di-o Im-age-ry" roared from the crowd, and despite varying talents in dancing, everyone got low.

As bras began flying on stage, Audio Imagery played through their half-hour set, exciting the crowd with hits like "Neva Enuff" and eventually leaving to more partisan chants.

A three-hour wait to find out the winner antagonized the band after its performance.

"I just want to know," exhausted drummer Dan Cooper (sophomore-psychology) said.

After remaining the bands had played and the judges had conferred, the musicians gathered in front of the stage to hear the news. Members of the band and friends held hands in anticipation as the emcee came on stage with an envelope containing the winner of that night's battle. After a speech, prolonged by shouts of "open it" and "tell us," the emcee pulled the paper from its envelope and revealed the contest winner: Long Island rock band All Grown Up.

Audio Imagery band members slowly picked up their belongings and instruments to head back to the house. Waiting in a parking garage for their van, a member of another losing band played a mournful tune on a harmonica. Few words were exchanged on the ride back to Brooklyn.

Despite the brutal traffic out of the city, the band awoke the next morning with a renewed sense of optimism, eager to figure out its next move.

"We're always going to have something going on," lead singer Jason Browne said during the ride home, a plan corroborated by Cooper.

"We are looking at some regular local shows starting in April ... and at Movin' On," Cooper said. The band also plans to release a new EP in April and says it still has hope for striking a deal with Bodog Music, saying they are still eligible to make the show as a wild card entry.

Penn State Altoona student Natalie Looney (freshman-biology) was surprised by the loss but still optimistic about the band's chances to hit the big time.

"I will still be a diehard fan for this band, and I know that they are going to make it big in the near future. They are too amazing not to," she said. "I don't think Audio Imagery lost because of lack of talent or mistakes made during their performance but because they weren't the type of band Bodog was looking for."

Bodog Music signs predominantly rock artists, but with enough votes, Audio Imagery's mix of hip hop and rock still has a chance to get signed by the label alongside popular hip hop/rap groups DMX and Wu-Tang Clan.

Though details are unclear now, the band will soon be releasing information on how fans can help it make earn a spot on the show.

"We also still have a shot at making the show as a wildcard entry through online votes starting in April," Cooper said, "so we need PSU to get behind us and help push us to the top."