The youngest contestants in Saturday’s Hotel Congress Battle of the Bands took the top prize, beating out four other acts, including a group that has been performing together for four years.
Roman Barten-Sherman and the Interstellar Blues Orchestra — 12-year-old blues guitarist Roman Barten-Sherman and 15-year-old percussionist Rylande Dodge — won a headlining gig at Club Congress, a showcase on KXCI “Locals Only” and a recording session.
The pair’s performance of original country blues came second to last in the lineup and proved to be a crowd favorite. For many in the audience, it was their first time seeing Roman — who has performed around Tucson for several years — perform with another musician. Roman has a standing Friday gig at Hotel Congress opening for Dixie bluesman Tom Walbank.
The Battle of the Bands was held Saturday afternoon in the Hotel Congress Plaza, which was loosely filled by the time the first band — Creating the Scene — took the stage. By the time the final act, Weird Guilty Pleasures, performed, the sun that had baked the patio all afternoon was hidden behind dark clouds.
Second place went to Kyle Gallardo, a singer-songwriter from the northwest side who until Saturday had never performed in public. Gallardo, 19, pulled songs off his recording “Uneventful,” a concept EP about a guy who kills his wife. The music was dark, but not as brooding as the context suggests.
Creating the Scene, with a pop-punk set that had vocal throwbacks to early Queen, rounded out the top three. The top finishers all got studio time and other music-related prizes.
The two remaining bands — the Looks, a hard-rock quartet of kids from Sabino High School; and Weird Guilty Pleasures, an energetic pop-punk quartet — got honorable mention and tickets to upcoming Club Congress and Rialto Theatre shows.
If the contest had been decided by the audience’s response, Weird Guilty Pleasures would have placed in the top three. The quartet got some of the biggest applause of the afternoon for an energetic, commanding stage show and tongue-in-cheek songs, including one about wanting to grow up and become a drug dealer.
