USF Battle of the Bands showcases music scene ahead of Bullstock

*Robert Goberman, dressed as Spider-Man, played at Battle of the Bands with his band Top Floor. ORACLE PHOTO/LILY FOX*

Music poured out of the Marshall Student Center’s Amphitheater and students got their first taste of Bullstock on Friday, at this year’s Battle of the Bands.

The show featured 11 Tampa-based bands, and three winners will be picked to play at Bullstock, USF’s spring music festival.

The winners will be announced “sometime this week”, said Caitlyn Deam, the student engagement coordinator for Campus Activities Board.

These are the bands that performed at this year’s Battle of the Bands:

Deam said the bands provided a “robust” and “diverse” lineup.

Saylor Purks, a sophomore public health major, attended the event with a friend.

Purks said she wasn’t interested in the USF music scene “at all” when she started college, but her roommate would “drag her” to shows anyway.

She then grew to like events such as Battle of the Bands.

The event created a “good atmosphere” for those who share a love for music, Purks said.

“Even if someone was here alone, I think that they’d be able to have a good time and talk to people,” she said.

For Indigo Lane’s rhythm guitar player, Connor Trimble, Battle of the Bands was a chance to not only meet other Tampa-based bands, but to put themselves “out there.”

“Sometimes it can be a little scary to have all these people staring at you,” Trimble said. “But at the same time, you get to play the music that you love, and it really is an amazing feeling.”

Trimble, a junior contemporary commercial music major, said the support of the USF community made the performance different from others.

The support was seen in the crowd’s engagement during their set, but also before the band even stepped on stage, Trimble said.

Indigo Lane members needed cardboard and tape to adapt their amplifiers before their performance, he said.

“We ran into a lot of struggles that day,” he said. “We just kept going around USF, asking for help, and people were always there to help us.”

Le Nguyen, a sophomore civil engineering student, was a judge for Battle of the Bands.

She said the event was a good opportunity for bands and students to interact with each other.

“It’s a fun place for people to see how other people are doing,” she said. “It’s good to inspire each other, make connections, create a community and share resources.”

The event was set to run from 7 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. but ended at around 1:30 a.m.

Competition aside, the event was an opportunity to play to a crowd while having fun and getting to know other bands, said Rafael Kaiser, lead singer of Mossheads.

“There’s a bunch of really cool bands there that we had never seen before,” said Kaiser, a senior philosophy major. “I was impressed by all of them.”

*Mossheads drummer Gabriel Kaiser crowd surfing at this year’s Battle of the Bands. ORACLE PHOTO/LILY FOX*

Friday’s performance was Top Floor’s first time playing in public with all members, said Robert Goberman, the band’s bassist.

Goberman, a junior psychology major who transferred to USF this semester, said he noticed the bands had a vast diversity of genres and styles.

“It has something for everyone,” he said. “There’s always something else to look for, something else to listen to.”

Goberman said the group chose to play covers, but left inspired to start working on original songs after listening to other bands.

Nguyen said Battle of the Bands can help bands build their musical identity because it allows them to experiment with playing live.

“It’s really cool to see bands that put their live experience into the music that they’re playing,” she said.

Kaiser said Battle of the Bands was a good way to support bands and introduce them to the USF music community.

“I felt like it was not really a competition, just a showcase of what USF has to offer musically,” he said.

Bullstock will start at 7 p.m. on April 11 at Lot 35, the parking lot between Maple Hall and the varsity tennis courts on the Tampa campus. Gates will open at 6 p.m.

JOANA RIVA, STAFF WRITER

Joana Riva is the news staff writer for The Oracle. She’s a Mass Communications major with a Broadcast Program and Production concentration. She’s passionate about storytelling in all forms, from journalism to literature and film. She was born and raised in Brazil and moved to the U.S. in fall 2023. She joined The Oracle the same semester as a news correspondent, and became an intern and staff writer in fall 2024. Reach her at joanacastanheira@usf.edu.

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