The Ames music scene is alive and well, and this Thursday the Veishea 2000 Battle of the Bands will provide a great opportunity for local musicians to showcase their talents, compete for prizes and possibly even launch some big careers.

Greg Schleusner, this year’s Veishea Music Coordinator, has lined up nine local acts with sounds ranging from “funk and porn” as described by the band CornBread to the more familiar feel of old-school locals, Custom. Hardcore to ska, the Battle of the Bands has something for mostly everyone.

“This competition is a great way for people to see your work and to help further individual and group careers,” Schleusner says.

The Battle of the Bands is sponsored by the M-Shop, which will also host the event. Trifecta Studios of Des Moines adds its support providing the competitors with the incentive of five hours of free studio time — a $250 value, an endlessly valuable prize to any band. Other sponsors include Lasting Impressions and Prosound, both of which have also donated prizes.

The show is set up in 45-minute increments with each band given 10 minutes before their set to prepare the stage and five minutes after the set for tear down. Each act will begin at ten minutes after the hour with the first band starting at 2:10 p.m.

Judging the performances will be based on four categories with an additional category based on the judges’ personal discretion. The four basic categories will be stage presence, originality, tightness of sound and variety in sound.

Tentatively set to judge are Kyle Munson, music editor from the Des Moines Register and Jay Heydlauff, from Prosound. At least three judges will be present at all times.

The tentative schedule has Pookey Bleum selected to kick off the event. Following Pookey Bleum is Far Cry and then Custom.

The tension of the tight competition will then be broken by an intermission, and CornBread will start the second half. After CornBread, Shackled, AFA, Mediocre Superheroes, W.A.D., and Karma Lab will round out the evening’s entertainment.

In the past, the Battle of the Bands has helped to launch many bands into the local spotlight. Mr. Plow, for example, after taking the runner-up position last year gained a bigger following and today, enjoy large crowds in the Ames and Des Moines areas.

Brandan Boelman [aka Dunar], junior in management information systems, is the lead vocalist and guitarist for Mediocre Superheroes. He joins the majority of performers who say they’re not too concerned about who wins.

“We just want to have fun and rock hard,” Dunar says.

Custom singer and guitarist Brian Witmer, freshman in pre-business, echoes Boelman’s sentiments.

“We want to meet new bands and have a good time playing the M-Shop for the first time,” Witmer says.

CornBread bassist Craig Weiman, freshman in music, is looking for something else from the competition.

“[We want] T & A and lots of it,” Weiman says.

Pookey Bleum, a self-described power pop band, will open the show. Aaron Hefley, Melissa Sorbo, Jeremy Johnson, and Patrick Fleming hope their four years together will poise them to far well in the competition.

Preparing to release their second full-length CD, “Chords a Friend Suggested,” Pookey Bleum knows the power of the Battle of the Bands.

“Last year’s Battle of the Bands was an excellent experience,” says Hefley, lead vocalist and guitarist. “Seeing all the different kinds of bands Ames has to offer in one place was like being in the Magical Kingdom.”

Far Cry, a pop punk band in the vein of Blink 182, take the stage with gaining experience in mind. Charles “Tice” Cole, Derek Nelson, Jon Dahlager, Nic Thompson and Sean Walding have been honing their skills at songwriting this year and hope others take notice of their improvement and enjoy their live show.

Custom, power trio and multi-genre musicians, bring a great deal of variety to the stage.

“We’re a little funk, a little grunge, a little rap, a little punk and, of course a little rock,” bassist Zach Reefer says.

Kyle Moss complements Witmer and Reefer with percussion to round out the band. The Ames music veterans have a solid resume and will use their experience to entertain the crowd.

Weiman of CornBread is joined Micky Fokken, Kevin Fullerton, Jason Laszczak, Bryan Nichols and Elton Wong to complete the band. Directly from the music department, the six jazz musicians have been playing together as a group for less than a month.

Shackled brings its style of alt-rock to Ames for the first time Thursday. Kirk Brown, Sol Bales, Dan Lawrence and Rick Burger hope to gain exposure with the new crowd and hope their sound is pleasant to the ears of those new, potential fans.

“We want to get the name out, ya know,” Burger says. “We’ll put on a hell of a show. Rock Ames.”

AFA plays with a combination of punk and rap that is an interesting addition to the Battle of the Bands line-up. Since forming in 1998, Russ Brown, Todd Magee, John Petersen, Matt Pinkston and Jose Rivera have played with Grubby Ernie and Dazy Head Mazy and hope to play with one particular group with massive popularity.

“We are striving to hook up a tour with the Backstreet Boys, but we don’t have any contracts or anything yet,” Magee says.

One band not seeking the company of the Backstreet Boys is the Mediocre Superheroes, made up of Bobby C, Casey, Jason, Jim, ED and Dunar.

“I’d call it ‘ska-n-roll.'” Dunar says of his band’s style.

The six-piece band recently added Jim, former frontman from Hessian, to take duties on trumpet and back-up vocals. The Mediocre Superheroes have probably had the most exposure of the bands competing. In October of 1999, their single, “42” hit the top spot on Mp3.com’s ska chart. Shortly after, they were asked to play the Music and Technology Tour show when it stopped in Iowa City.

W.A.D., with members Joe Sheilds, Travis Johnson, Eric Tran and Trent Malven, bring a hardcore sound to the Battle of the Bands. They compare themselves to a mesh of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Primus with an added edge. Since forming in the fall of 1998, they have played several venues in the area, including last year’s Battle of the Bands.

“I thought last year’s [Battle of the Bands] went really well,” says Malven. “It was really well-organized, and I’m glad we can play it again.”

Karma Lab will finish the night’s line-up with its emotionally inspired set. Karma Lab is best described as moody, alt-emo with a grunge twist. The band’s first show was in January, so it brings another new face to Battle of the Bands.

Josh Carlson, Steve Schlotter, Tim Stein and Dan Gerbracht of Karma Lab, fresh off of two performances for Dormstock last Friday and Saturday, will surely be prepared to do battle.

“We don’t rap, and we don’t skank, but our music is pretty good,” Gerbracht says.

The Central Iowa music scene provides a surprisingly wide variety of music. That variety is well-represented at the Battle of the Bands, and a ton of entertainment is sure to be found at the M-Shop this Thursday.

The festivities are currently set to begin at 2 p.m. and continue throughout the evening. Organizers say if students cannot stay for all of the ten hour melee of music, at least stop in for some of the entertainment. Everyone’s encouraged to get out, support the local music scene and enjoy a little bit what Veishea 2000 has to offer.