This year’s Veishea Battle of the Bands was marked by perfect weather, fluctuating crowds and a victorious band that played an oft-unheard style of music — at least in Ames.

The gorgeous day at the Taste Stage lived up to its name by offering music for people with all sorts of tastes. Pop-punk band Duck and Cover kicked off the battle for the second straight year. While it was still sunny out, ska band Driving While Stupid skanked it up to a rather unenthusiastic crowd.

Later in the evening, Road to Ruin and Closer wowed the audience with their clean-cut sounds, and were clearly better responded to.

“It was a real relaxed, fun crowd,” said Kyle Lanzen, bass player for Closer and senior in civil engineering. “I felt like we were playing in our backyard.”

Providing a wide range of styles was one of the main elements taken into consideration when putting the lineup together, said Grant Nelson, Veishea music coordinator.

“We looked for a lot of diversity,” Nelson said, senior in marketing. “We didn’t want 10 pop-punk bands or 10 country bands or 10 of only one genre. But, we also had to judge talent as well. We wanted to break the scene up a bit by putting a couple bands that everyone had heard of and a couple bands that no one has heard of.”

This decision was appreciated by some, but despised by others. Regardless of how they felt, most of the audience certainly noticed many of the band names posted on the schedule were new to the Ames music vernacular.

“I think maybe they should require having Iowa State students to play in the Iowa State Battle of the Bands,” said Devin Frank, freshman in pre-business and member of Ames band Poison Control Center. “I mean, who are some of these bands?”

Despite the frustration many felt regarding the selection of bands, others saw it in a more positive light.

“I think it’s good to diversify the music,” said Kari Kruger, senior in elementary education. “The bands don’t necessarily have to be from Ames. It could be a chance to bring in new bands.”

Only bassist Joe Shields was pleasantly surprised by the responses coming from the Ames kids, many of whom were just exposed to Only for the first time.

“We had tons of people coming up to us after, asking for discs and stuff. That’s the greatest thing,” Shields said.

Although the event was slated as a “battle,” there were no altercations, with the exception of Parallex lead guitarist and junior in animal science Josh Lizer jumping off the stage at one point in an effort to liven up the crowd, and unintentionally moshing directly into the one person in the crowd who happened to be on crutches.

Looking past this minor incident, when all was said and done, somewhat-local metal band Only took the prize, followed by runners-up Road to Ruin and Hessian. The choice was surprising to some, but considered to be well-merited by others.

“I liked Only. They were a typical in-your-face death metal band,” said Isaac Schoff, sophomore in psychology.

The members of Only were perhaps the most shocked at their victory.

“Metal bands never win. We just came in to expand the fan base,” said Erich Tran, lead guitarist for Only. The band is based out of Des Moines and has played at People’s Bar and Grill, 2428 Lincoln Way, on several occasions since coming together one year ago.

Although it was impossible to satisfy everyone with the choice of winners, the crowd at this year’s Battle of the Bands was appeased by the diversity of free, live music on display.