BYU students compete in Battle of the Bands

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Two sets of brothers are competing for a top spot in Velour’s Battle of the Bands.

The brothers, Jared and Charlie Gay and Jeff and Andrew Wiggins form their band, Red Orange, and are competing in the contest hosted at Velour Live Music Gallery Wednesday night. Red Orange has been playing together for just over two and half years and lead singer Jared Gay hopes his band can gain more recognition from competing.

“We would love to win and go on to the final round on Saturday, but really what we want is for our friends, new and old to show up and have a fun time,” Gay said. “We are going to enjoy ourselves and we want the audience to enjoy themselves.”

Local bands, like Red Orange, are the main beneficiaries of music outlets like Velour.

“The battle of the bands is a great opportunity for bands to play for new people and come together and meet each other,” Gray said. “Events like this really strengthen the music community. It shows people what’s going on and lets band show off what they’re working on.”

The band, who describes themselves as a five-piece rock and roll band, recently switched who plays what instrument and hope that these changes provide a way for their music to stand out.

“With the lineup changes, there’s a different dynamic to the band,” Jeff Wiggins, drummer for Red Orange said. “The biggest change for me was switching from keyboard to drums. But we are committed to working together, trying new things and having fun.”

Red Orange started out when a few friends started learning how to write songs together.

“We’ve been practicing a lot,” Andrew Wiggins, the guitarist said. “Now we’re focusing on our individual parts and we’re ready. it’s going to be a good show. We’ve also been focusing on getting the right energy for a show. There’s a difference between being tight musically and putting on an entertaining show.”

The competition at Velour has been running since Monday. Four local bands compete against each other every night, and the winners of each day move on to the final round on Saturday, December 5. The grand prize has yet to be announced.

Red Orange will be competing against three other bands tonight, Hectic Hobo, Shogun and the Clay Pigeons and Pale Rooster.

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