ASHLAND, Ore.- Ashland High School held it’s third annual Clash on the Quad the afternoon of April 26.
According to Ashland High’s Humanities Teacher, Isaiah Creel, the battle-of-the-bands event featured 7 acts with different genres including jazz, pop and metal. Creel says he organized the event with the help of the school’s Band Teacher, Ivan Olinghouse, as a way to reunite students after the pandemic. Creel says these students have a lot of talent and the school wants to encourage their passions.
“I just wanted a way for, like, for us to really highlight what the students are capable of and what they’re really interested in,” Creel said, “They’re so young, they’ve got all this potential, and we’re just so happy to have this event every year.”
The bands were judged by an applause meter. “Loud and Loose” took home the win after going through two round of applause meter judging. Luca Circiello, a freshman and band member in Loud and Loose, says this was their first year in the competition and they weren’t expecting to get first place.
“I would say we were surprised. I was surprised,” Circiello said joined by fellow bandmates Jax Aguilar, a senior, and Bjorn Austbo, a junior, “I was contemplating if I should clap, like, to get extra sound, but I didn’t and we still won, so.”
Creel says this competition wouldn’t be possible without the Ashland Schools Foundation, which donated a lot of the audio gear they used for the event. He says he hopes the turn out will be even bigger next year.
© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.