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Teenage fans of live music—and fans of live teenage music—are in luck this weekend. Concerts featuring area bands are being held on Friday and Saturday night, providing a slice of the electric talent on the East End.
The seventh annual Southampton Town Youth Bureau’s Battle of the Bands will be held Friday from 7:30 to 11 p.m. at Ponquogue Beach in Hampton Bays. Admission is $10. The outdoor event will be held in the ocean beach parking lot. In case of rain, the concert will be rescheduled for Wednesday, June 17.
The big battle features eight bands that audition via a recording and have at least one band member who lives in Southampton Town. This year’s show includes returning bands Consent of Kings, In Circles, Troubadour and Off City Limits. Accepted for the first time are The Rice Brothers Band of Sagaponack, Easy Style of Southampton, Kamikaze Platypus of Westhampton Beach and The Trade Off from Quogue.
Each band plays a 15-minute set and a panel of music professionals determines the top three spots. The winning bands will be the featured performers at the Youth Bureau’s Rock in the Park concert on July 31 at Red Creek Park in Hampton Bays from 7:30 to 11 p.m. Admission is free. The Battle of the Bands typically draws around 400 spectators, said Leo Gala, Southampton Town Youth Bureau music event organizer.
Saturday night brings a different type of teen concert, when the first Teen Rock Nite takes the stage of the newly renovated John Drew Theater in East Hampton. Rock Nite differs from a band battle because each group has invited other teen musicians to sit in and play and the musicians do not compete against each other but strive to put on a collective concert. The show starts at 7 p.m. Admission is $10, or $8 for Guild Hall members, and tickets are available at the door.
The series is part of this year’s Crossroads Music Showcase series highlighting local bands held in collaboration with Guild Hall. Nearly all of the teen musicians attend classes in the East Hampton School District, at Pierson High School or The Ross School and have performed at the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett or the Crossroads Coffeehouse in Springs.
Saturday’s concert features Philosophunk, Consent of Kings—direct from the Friday night competition in Hampton Bays—and Rite of Way. Consent of Kings—a hard rock and heavy metal band—recently won the Stephen Talkhouse Battle of the Bands for teens and has two recordings to its credit. The group features siblings Dylan and Georgia Sanicola, Josiah Schiavoni and Dylan Field.
Philosophunk is a funk-rock trio whose set will include sit-ins by other teen musicians. The group includes Steven Clark, Sam Houston and Roger Robertson. Filling out the program is classic rock band Rite of Way. The group has played the Stephen Talkhouse, Ashawagh Hall, the Crossroads Coffeehouse and private parties. They are composed of Clark Hamilton, Sam Kramer, Javier Vera-Abassi and Jackson Clark.
When the weekend ends, music played by teens will not. A teen band benefit will be held at East Hampton High School on June 20 from 7 to 10 p.m. The benefit concert was the brainchild of student band members and is sponsored by the Coaches Association and aims to raise funds for Katy Stewart, a daughter of a district teacher, who has been diagnosed with liver cancer. Performing will be Consent of Kings, Philosophunk, Renegade and The Glazzies. A suggested donation of $10 would be welcome.
Student bands have played at other benefits held in the school district, said East Hampton High School principal Cheryl Edholm, including fund-raisers for the PTA and student scholarships. The fun and typically successful evenings provide an opportunity for student musicians to demonstrate their talent and have their peers enjoy the music, Ms. Edholm said.
On July 9, Southampton Town Youth Bureau will kick off its weekly Teen Band Night at Ponquogue Beach in Hampton Bays. The free concerts will be held most Thursday nights from 8 to 10 p.m. in July and August. Each evening will feature one or two bands.
The lineup hasn’t been set and bands are welcome to apply, said Leo Gala, the music event coordinator for Southampton Town Youth Bureau. Bands will play at the pavilion during the supervised evenings instead of on a bandstand.
The Crossroads Music Showcase will present a second Teen Rock Nite on August 17 at Guild Hall. The lineup features The Glazzies (whose core members were formerly part of the group, Too Busy Being Bored), SoundCircus, and Renegade. The show begins at 8 p.m., with tickets available at the door for $10, or $8 for Guild Hall members.
Wednesday, August 26 will bring a virtual festival of teen bands to Long Beach in North Haven under the aegis of the YARD (Youth Advocacy and Resource Development) program based at Pierson High School. The YARD program provides recreational activities outside of school for the Sag Harbor student community.
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