Taking Back Their Title

It was Wednesday night, and the band members of White Noise were practicing in the cramped room in Eliot basement. With just two days until the Battle of the Bands at the Queen’s Head, the band, which won three years ago when its members were freshmen, was determined to take over again.

The concrete floor was a tangle of wires and a maze of amplifiers. Sergio M. Ramierez ’10 was tapping beats, M. Andres Camacho ’10 strummed tunes on his guitar, and Tomas (Tommy) Balcetis ‘10, the lead singer, stood in a light blue South Beach t-shirt, ready to belt into the microphone. After light-heartedly strumming out a rock rendition of the jazzy aria “Summertime”, the band members settled down to talk about their music.

“It’s like Nirvana with Radiohead overtones,” Balcetis explained.

“Tommy’s the one who determines the sound of these songs,” Ramirez said, but the band agrees that, “Old school metal” is the way to define it.

White Noise, formed four years ago, boasts Isaac S. Shivvers ’10 on drums, Or Gadish ’10 as the rhythm guitarist, Camacho rocking the lead guitar, Ramirez as bassist, and Balcetis as lead singer. They met as freshmen and dominated Battle of the Bands in 2006 with their song “Respect Lithuania”, which they sang again at the Battle of the Bands this year, in the dark, wood-paneled setting of the Queen’s Head.

“A lot of our friends showed up, and it was great,” Balcetis recalled.

Though competitor Daniel A. Masterson ’12 took the first place prize of $100, White Noise is keen on just performing and having a good time. “I don’t know about being professional, but all of us are gonna keep playing—that’s for sure,” Tommy said.