Battle of the Bands at the Stereo Room, Round 1

Reagan High | Staff Writer

Orem’s relatively new venue the Stereo Room hosted its first night of Battle of the Bands on Monday, Feb. 16th. This first round contained everything from soulful Americana to a symphonic, hard rock cello group. The four bands that played were Fyre and Reign, Split Duality, Active Strand, and Synergy.

Synergy advanced on to the next round. Even though Synergy won, all of the bands that played in Round One deserve review.

Fyre and Reign- This four piece spell Fyre with a “y” because one of their guitarist/vocalist is from Ireland. They plan on touring in Ireland, Scotland, and England this July after their upcoming full-length album release in April. Fyre and Reign plays smooth and soulful Americana that sounds like James Taylor, Fleetwood Mac, and the Grateful Dead (their Terrapin Station album) started jamming together. The rhythm section, comprised of Eric Watson on drums and Josh Hone on bass, held it down. Their tight playing allowed for the two guitarist/vocalists to smoothly harmonize and build off each other, creating a soft but funky rock sound. Check out their Bandcamp page and stay tuned for their upcoming album

https://fyreandreign.bandcamp.com/

Split Duality- This three-piece hip hop group wins the award for most daring. For a group based out of Provo/Orem where indie/folk/pop rules the land I give them serious credit for going out on their own and doing something no one else is hearing from this area. I was thoroughly surprised once the beat dropped and the lead rapper, Jacob Dewey, began to flow. Dewey’s performance was definitely the stand out of the group, his quick and hard attack with on point time, is reminiscent of rappers like Eminem and Immortal Technique. Split Duality’s lyrics deliver stories of struggle and redemption with the help of God. Jacob Dewey after the show told me that they as a band are just trying to bring “the truth.”

Active Strand- The same rhythm section from Fyre and Reign perform in this hard bluesy rock trio. After telling Eric how great he and Josh sound together in both Fyre and Reign and Active Strand he laughed and said, “We’ve been playing together for a long time.” Their time together really shines in this band. The hard and swanky riffs of the guitarist Sam King brought out the best of the drummer and bassist. I personally thought this band should’ve won, but they didn’t seem too distraught when they didn’t. They have a full length release projected for mid-summer. Check out their Hot Lava EP on their Bandcamp page and stay tuned for their upcoming full length

https://activestrand.bandcamp.com/album/hot-lava-ep

Synergy- The winner of Monday night’s round. This four-piece made up of three cellist and a drummer delivered a clean and symphonic form of ambient hard rock and even, at some points in their performance, metal. The drummer definitely was trained in the arts of metal and when he started hitting that ride hat and the cellist slowed down you could hear their metal influences. The bands name is perfect for what they do. The combination of heavy drums and the sonic sound of three cellos all at once form a synergy of music. Synergy will play in the final round on Friday, Feb. 20th amongst the other three bands chosen from the remaining rounds this week. Go check them out.