WHUS Radio will be hosting their annual Battle of the Bands event this Saturday at 6 p.m. in Rome Ballroom.
The event will feature four local bands facing off in a bracket-style tournament. This year the bands are Elizabory, Part of the Problem, Vices Inc. and West of the Gate.
University of Connecticut students must bring their student ID for free admission. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m.
WHUS Events Director Sire-Lawrence Brock, an eighth-semester psychological sciences and economics major, talked about why the bands were selected.
“What we sort of discussed when doing the selection process was that they all brought something very interesting and different in terms of their sound,” Brock said. “We just thought, why not highlight them and bring them to the Storrs campus and show them off to the community.”
For the first round of the competition, the four bands will go head-to-head two at a time with 20-minute sets. The winners will be decided based on which band gets louder cheers.
The final round will consist of a 30-minute set from each band. The winner will get the opportunity to open at WHUS’ Spring Fling concert.
“[The Battle of the Bands] an opportunity to find new connections,” Brock said. “This isn’t really like an event that you see on campus at all. I feel like a lot of events that do occur just in general don’t really highlight the local music scene… I think students are able to find connection and community if they were interested in this, but they weren’t aware of [it].”
Brock said that they “often like to highlight students who have bands at UConn,” but any local bands are allowed to apply.
“It’s great that we’re able to highlight any local bands that aren’t just specifically UConn students,” Brock said.
West of the Gate is an alternative jam band that was formed in Storrs. This will be their first concert and their “first impression as a band,” according to vocalist Jack Lombardo.
“We’ve written more original music in the last month than we have ever before,” Lombardo wrote in an email. “We’re excited to bring out our best and show everyone what makes us unique as a group!”
Elizabory is an experimental metal band from Worcester, Mass. They played in the Battle of the Bands in 2025 and have also performed at local DIY music venue The Dog Pound.
“We pour all hopelessness, hurt, and horrors we face into our music. We are no one genre except for pain,” Elizabory member Frozt wrote in an email. “Listen to us on any platform and you’ll understand our pain and suffering.”
Vices Inc. is a female-fronted alternative and pop punk band based out of Portland, Maine.
Part of the Problem plays “riot grrrl” music, a feminist subgenre of punk music, according to Brock.
The local music scene is important because it can help bring the community together, Brock said.
“It’s important to sort of bridge that connection… and then bring us all together,” Brock said. “This does bring in a lot of students just in general who don’t happen to know us who want to check it out, and then they end up checking out these bands and getting involved in the local music scene.”