Dozens of musicians competed for a spot on the L.A. County Fair’s Main Stage. They were visibly uneasy — some spat, some sweat, others tuned their instruments.
Members of Thursdays in Suburbia, a band of 13 to 15 year-olds stood calmly as they waited.
Thursdays’ drummer Johnny Shackel said he was nervous before the show.
“We’re just here to have fun,” Shackel said.
Despite their age, the band competed in two other battles and won a Warped Tour battle in 2018.
Thursdays in Suburbia defeated eight other bands to claim their spot on the Main Stage at the Minor League Music Festival at the L.A. County Fair.
Two stages were set up in the Fox Theater to house the annual Battle of the Bands event. On each stage bands competed to determine who will rock out at the two-day music event at the county fair.
About 80 people attended the event.
The night started off with Ear Ringers, a band from East L.A. The five member indie rock band made the audience dance and sing. This was The Ear Ringers’ first battle of the bands competition which came as a surprise since they had a large number of fans there to show support.
Michelle Recinos, a super fan of Ear Ringers, was very excited to get to see her favorite band perform for the first time.
“I’m excited, it’s gonna be a fun event,” Recinos said.
As the Ear Ringers wrapped up their last song, the audience was directed to view the opposite stage were the next band was starting to play. Joynoise, a self produced band of three, started off by maintaining the same strong energy with the audience.
The audience joined an aggressive mosh pit once Joynoise began to shred their guitars.The spontaneous mosh pit that opened up brought the audience closer together, both literally and figuratively, as they bonded over their combined love of hard rock music.
The following band was Court Verano, which brought a more relaxing sound.
Taylor McNarmara, drummer for Court Verano, described their genre as “a classic indie sound.”
Court Verano is familiar with the Fox Theater because they have played there before, said McNarmara.
“We’re super grateful for the people here,” McNarmara said.
The next band, Thursdays in Suburbia, gave the audience a high energy rock vibe.
Serina Tario, female vocalist of the night, surprised the crowd with a powerful voice and dance moves to go with it.
After the second Thursdays in Suburbia’s set was over, the audience rushed to the opposite stage to find Zoe Infante and her twin sister Rio Infante rocking out on the second stage.
Zoe rocked lead vocals while her twin sister Rio jammed out on the bass. The audience responded with the largest and longest mosh pit of the night.
3LH brought an upbeat and fun sound and the audience’s feet moved faster than they had all night.
Rafa Herredia, the lead singer of the band, said 3HL has been playing together since middle school. Now, the band plays shows from L.A. to Nevada.
“The first song we learned to play was ‘La Bamba’”, Herredia said chuckling.
Sola Luna finished up the night with songs like ,“Wake Up Next to You”. Singer of the band Zack Southers gleamed with confidence going into the competition.
“I just came here with the intention of kicking everyone’s ass,” said Zack Southers, singer. With powerful guitar riffs and amazing vocals that people from kids, teens and adults enjoyed, they did kick ass.
