Ockham's Razor at Battle of the Bands

The “battle of the bands” is one of the most exciting parts of the rock music tradition. In addition to this event’s energized air of competition, the battle of the bands is a particularly fun event in that it provides a unique viewing experience with rock music that emphasizes a band’s ability to put on a captivating live show. As opposed to a regular live performance, or even a recorded album for that matter, in which the emphasis is specifically on the music, a performance in a battle of the bands concentrates additionally on the band’s ability to put on a rockin performance and please the crowd.

 

Last Saturday night, Phi Kappa Psi House at Stanford University hosted a battle of the bands at which a campus band called “Ockham’s Razor” performed a particularly solid show. They played an energetic set of original songs and covers This is my assessment of the night’s performance:

 

The band’s music is not anything particularly special. They play a indie rock style of music with some hints of Billy Joel piano lines and a good use of varied song structure, dynamics, and ambiance. Their first original song wavered from powerful anthemic choruses to cool, almost loungy bridges; their second relied heavily on a crescendo chorus which was a bit weak at the climax but still contained some strong, rocking energy.

 

The highlight of the show from the crowd’s perspective, though, was clearly the audacious covers of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” and Kanye West’s “Stronger,” as was indicated by the deafening cheers at the recognizable opening segments of each song. The band covered the songs pretty well, and these songs gave their set an unconventional feel in comparison to the standard rock music in the rest of their set.

 

So in terms of winning the crowd’s favor, Ockham’s Razor did a great job at putting on a great battle of the bands performance. Nevertheless, the band did a not so great job at presenting the audience with a picture of the band’s individual sound or identity, especially where their covers were concerned. They practically played the songs exactly as they had been recorded (or at least as close as possible), which is a bad move when trying to stand out or formulate an identity in the minds of the audience at a battle of the bands. For all practical purposes, Ockham’s Razor may be better known to the audience as the band that played Michael Jackson and Kanye West instead of Ockham’s Razor itself, which is the totally opposite of what should happen at a good battle of the bands performance. A good example of a band making a cover song its own is Prince’s Super Bowl performance (which can be found on dailymotion.com).

 

Ockham’s Razor’s performance went pretty well last Saturday. Other than their failure to create a real cohesive picture of their band’s identity, their solid original songs, creative ideas about covers, energetic stage presence, and throngs of cheering fans contributed to a notable battle of the bands show. I don’t know who ended up winning the battle of the bands, but I do know that any other band playing would have had to do a lot to take my vote from such a strong performance by Ockham’s Razor.