For some bands around central Iowa, Veishea weekend means getting those chops down and perfecting songs for the annual Veishea Battle of the Bands.

This year’s Battle will take on a slightly different look than competitions from previous years.

In order to attract more attention to the event, Trevor Helmers, Veishea music coordinator, decided to move the event from the M-Shop to Welch Avenue and to hold it Friday instead of Thursday.

“Having it on Friday on the Taste stage, we really thought that we could get a better and more diverse crowd,” he explains.

More than likely, the concert will benefit greatly from this move. According to Helmers, the constant foot traffic Welch Avenue receives during Veishea will attract people who otherwise might not have taken the time to check out the Battle.

Another change for this year will be the prize given to the winning group.

Last year’s winning band, Cornbread, was awarded with an opening slot at the Rock Veishea show held at Hilton Coliseum. But this year, the winning group will earn an encore slot Saturday night on the Taste of Welch stage.

“I think they did that last year because of the fact that the national act backed out on us so they had to find Black Eyed Peas at the last minute, and Black Eyed Peas didn’t have an opener,” Helmers says.

The judging crew for the Battle is made up of three students whom Helmers describes as in the music field and very capable of judging an event such as this.

The three students will judge on a number of different things including the obvious factor of how well the band plays. But the judges will also be keeping a watchful eye on the professionalism of the band as far as how fast they set up and tear down their equipment.

Another important guideline for judging the groups will be crowd participation.

“A big, big part will be crowd reaction and how well the crowd receives them and if they really start getting into the music,” Helmers says.

So what does this mean for bands who have early time slots like Keepers of the Carpet who are playing at 2 p.m. or Stylus who play at 3 p.m.? It is going to be tough for early bands to put together much of a crowd to get a reaction from.

Helmers believes that this won’t be much of a problem though, saying that the judges will have these circumstances in mind when judging the groups with early slots.

Pete Smith, guitarist for Keepers of the Carpet, isn’t worrying too much about the time slot. He is just happy his band is able to participate.

“We have crowd-pleasing music we like to think, but if there are only four people, and maybe four pigeons, it’s going to be tough to get them going,” Smith says with a laugh.

“Someone has to have the 2 o’ clock slot. We got let in at the last second, so someone dropped out I assume,” he adds. “So a 2 o’ clock slot is better than no slot.”

Each band will get a 45 minute set, with Keepers of the Carpet kicking things off and Karma Lab ending the event at 11 p.m.

Last year Cornbread captured the crown with an improvised set of jazz. This year’s line-up is more rock dominated, but features many variations within the genre.

There are pop/punk bands such as Far Cry and PE All-Stars and more alternative rock groups like dead by Wednesday. Also featured is the Christian rock group Level Headed, and making the trip all the way from Cedar Falls will be metal band Marcato.

Marcato singer Kevin Drew says his band will go into the battle with laid-back attitude and just enjoy the event and try to get some exposure in a town they have yet to play in.

“We go into battles never expecting to win,” Drew says. “We don’t like to compete with our colleagues, so I see battles as the chance to watch a lot of bands that I normally wouldn’t get to see and have a good time.”