Battle of the Bands Brings Students Together

Campus Communications Staff / Jan 22, 2026

group of students posing with battle of the bands signage and a microphone boxThe winning band, Clean Break, shows off their prize. Standing from left to right: Katie Tegethoff, Logan Neill, Matthew Flynn, and Samar Elfaki. Seated: Briyanna Manzanares. Photo by student Jessi Nance.
Columbia College Chicago students combine their unique talents to produce a musical competition at a local venue.

Musicians at Columbia College Chicago went head-to-head in December in the college’s first-ever Battle of the Bands, an event sponsored by the School of Audio and Music, the Columbia Career Center, and Sessions @33. Held at Reggie’s Chicago, a club located near campus, the popular show featured student emcees and four bands with members from the Columbia community. 

Turning an Idea Into a Reality 

The idea for Columbia’s Battle of the Bands, though, wasn’t new; it had been percolating at Columbia for some time. 

“Ben Sutherland (interim director of the School of Audio and Music) and I were talking about how great it would be to do a Battle of the Bands, and that first conversation actually happened during COVID,” says Career Counselor Tom Joyce, who created and leads Sessions @33, a volunteer student group that promotes student and local Chicago artists while fostering collaboration across Columbia’s schools. 

“We put it on the back burner for a bit, and then this past summer Ben and Owen Schoenfeld, the talent buyer from Reggie’s, started having conversations about doing the inaugural Battle of the Bands outside of Columbia at a venue.” 

Those discussions ultimately led to the event, which brought together students from across the college not only to enjoy and perform in the show, but also to plan and run it — from selecting bands to promoting the event to emceeing the night. 

“We wanted to get as much student involvement as possible,” Joyce says. “And with 35 student volunteers, including fashion students who helped style the bands, we definitely did.” 

Making the Battle Happen 

Before taking the stage, bands vied for one of four coveted performance slots by submitting entries reviewed by a student committee: Ava Burns (Music Business), Ashley Lahay (Music), Alex Leon (Audio Arts), and Anesa Nevada (Film and Television). 

The committee reviewed 22 submissions and selected the final four bands: Sangram, Versus Vitality, Claim Ursa, and Clean Break (now called Mistrophia), all with ties to Columbia. The Raspberry Jams, a band from nearby Jones College Prep High School, also performed as special guests. 

Ava Burns, who helped emcee the event alongside Music major Rebecca Urzua and served on the selection committee, found the experience especially valuable. 

“I learned what to look for in bands when booking a gig — their performance style, genre, their local draw,” Burns says. 

Behind the scenes, students also led ticket sales and marketing efforts, with Graphic Design student Cadence Uzarraga designing the event poster. 

“It’s hard work but super rewarding to hear all of the positive feedback and how well it went,” says Alex Leon, a senior majoring in Audio Arts with a minor in Music Business and a managing producer for Sessions @33. 

Leon assisted Joyce with venue communications and played a key role in marketing the show, which relied heavily on social media and tapping into the friends and fans of the competing bands. 

The Victors 

In the end, a panel of alumni judges — Avery Heeringa ’24, freelance music writer at “Off the Record Press;” Kady Roberts ’24, master control operator at WBEZ Chicago; and Yuri Lysoivanov, product expert and senior market development specialist at Shure Inc. — named Clean Break (Mistrophia) the winner. 

The band took home the grand prize: a $500 microphone provided by Shure Microphones, along with an opening slot at Reggie’s for a future touring act. Second-, third-, and fourth-place bands were also awarded Shure microphones valued at $300, $200, and $150, respectively. Each band also pocketed a percentage of the proceeds from the show.  

The event proved to be a success, with Schoenfeld praising the collaboration and turnout and calling the night a true 2025 highlight at Reggie’s. 

In an email to Joyce and Sutherland, he wrote: “To have 250-plus come out for this is a huge testament to all you guys did for this.” 
 

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