By MADISON SAMUEL-BARCLAYStaff WriterMarch 12 saw the end of Student Music Week at Niagara College in a flash of guitars, drums, keyboards, and even harmonicas.

The finale of the week-long event took place at the Welland campus After Hours pub at 8 p.m. in the form of Niagara College’s annual Battle of the Bands.The event, sponsored by the Canadian Organization of Campus Activities (COCA), sees the winner head to the Canadian Music Explosion regional finals, where the winning band from Niagara College plays against other participating colleges in that region in Windsor, Ont., on March 27. The regional finalists then move to McMaster University for the provincial finals, with a chance to win $1,000.Glenn Murray, Niagara College Student Administrative Council’s (SAC) logistics manager, says it’s more about the exposure than the money, however.“It’s about developing talent than discovery,” Murray says.Last year’s winning band received an “auto-gigs,” for example, at various colleges and universities in Ontario.The four bands competing performed before an enthusiastic room and a panel of three judges: Matt Dell, former Campus Idol winner, Paul Savoy, singer and bartender at Niagara College’s Niagara-on-the-Lake campus; and agency representative Pete Monroy.The first band was Niagara Falls-based The Manhattan Project. Taking its name from the infamous historical experiment that eventually led to the creation of the atomic bomb, the four-piece band consists of Anthony Visca on vocals and bass, Mike Greco on guitar, Dave D’Angelo on guitar and keyboard and Michael Keays on drums. They started the evening off right with a string of their own original songs and a cover of Kings of Leon’s Sex On Fire.The second band was The Escaper, another Niagara Falls-based band. The three-piece band, consisting of Anthony Botting on guitar, Jay Newlands on bass, and James Underwood on drums, continued the night with a harder sound. Underwood broke his drumsticks on the first song. He later reached into a supply bag of drumsticks for back-up.“I always bring more sticks,” Underwood chuckled. “You should always bring three pairs.”The third band of the night, another three-piece that also hailed from Niagara Falls, was Tom Skoal. The band consists of brothers Julian Finbow on base and vocals Kyle Finbow on guitar and vocals, and Jake Antonio on drums. The band performed a solid set, though there were a few technical difficulties with their equipment.Drummer Antonio met the Finbow brothers through football. His father and the brothers’ father were both coaches. Later Antonio would be approached by the brothers about his drumming, and the band was formed.The final band of the evening was the only group of the night to have its own harmonica solo.Chainsaw Lobotomy, consisting of Rick Iafrate on guitar and vocals, Keenan Gentry on bass and Ryan O’Dell on drums, brought their own brand of “psychobilly” punk rock to the stage, drawing a bit of a crowd in the process.Iafrate was introduced to the unique psychobilly genre in high school through a group called The Matadors. His addiction spread to Gentry, and then to O’Dell, with the band’s main influences of Reverend Horton Heat, the Legendary Shack Shakers, and the Misfits (the band covered the Misfits’ One Last Caress to end their set).The name Chainsaw Lobotomy was a last-minute title before the band’s first show.“I was trying to be as disgusting as possible,” Iafrate laughed, adding that the thought of an actual “chainsaw lobotomy” was somewhat humorous in itself, and humour fit the mood of the band.“It’s about trying? to control emotions,” Iafrate adds about the band’s name, citing the lobotomy procedure used in mental institutions to control certain patients.Chainsaw Lobotomy’s original songs were titled with equal oddity, with names like Roadside Taxidermy and Withinsanity, which Iafrate described as a song about “being deemed insane when it’s just a different way of thinking.”Chainsaw Lobotomy isbooked for the next two months, with various show dates set, such as the opening act for the Creep Show at the Mansion House in St. Catharines on April 15.In the end, however, only one band could move on. The Manhattan Project was chosen with positive comments and high scores from the judges. It will be moving on to the regional finals in Windsor on March 27.You can check out The Manhattan Project atwww.myspace.com/tmpmusic.