Audiences dance at CHP Showdown.
Courtesy | SAB

Guitar riffs and melodies from Bruno Mars to Mr. Brightside blared across the quad on Friday night as students dressed for a white-out theme flocked to the Old Snack Bar for CHP Showdown, one of SAB’s biggest events of the year. 

From 8 p.m. to 12 a.m., eight student bands battled it out for the chance to open for the DWLLERS at Centralhallapalooza on April 29. 

New and returning bands– The Ambassadors, No Boys Allowed, Diet of Worms, Sean Connery Jr., James Bulleit and the Dirty Blondes, Schizmatics, Half House, and In Violet– gave it their all on stage in an electric display of campus band culture. Hundreds of students filtered in and out of OSB throughout the night to enjoy the music, support the bands, and vote for their favorite groups by dropping pearl-like beads into vases designated for each group.

“I love seeing the student talent and all of their friends coming out and supporting them,” Director of Student Activities Maddie Clark said. “I think the turnout this year was a little bit more than usual because the weather is a lot nicer.”

SAB decked out the OSB in an apres ski theme and served pizza, popcorn, and other snacks inside while the bands played on stage outside the doors.

Freshman Katherine Tobin said that she enjoyed the atmosphere that SAB created and that The Ambassadors and Diet of Worms were her favorite groups of the night.

“I think it was a wholesome time to let loose and have a great time with my friends,” Tobin said. “It was better than I expected. I expected it to be cramped and hot in the Old Snack Bar, so having it outside was nice.”

James Bulleit and the Dirty Blondes upset last year’s defending champions, the Schizmatics, and took first place with 383 votes. The Schizmatics finished in second with 307, and The Ambassadors came in a close third over Sean Connery Jr. with 260 votes.

According to senior and lead singer Matthias Rhein, James Bulleit and the Dirty Blondes has been together under various names as a group of Phi Mu Alpha musicians for more than 10 years, with different members coming in and out every year.

This year, Rhein, senior Avery Miller, senior Michael Thelen, senior Nathan Bly, and freshman Luca Vitale got together as James Bulleit and the Dirty Blondes to carry on the tradition.

“Avery Miller and I have been playing together since sophomore year,” Rhein said. “The other guys have played on and off for the last couple of years, but this year was the first year we were all together as one band.”

Rhein and the other seniors will graduate this year, but Rhein says he is confident that his band and the music scene at Hillsdale are in good hands. 

“Bands at Hillsdale never really die,” Rhein said. “They kind of change forms and they change members but the central idea usually stays true.”

For most of the past ten years, the group has won CHP Showdown except for last year when the Schizmatics took first place.

“We were anxious to retake the title and strike a blow for tradition,” Rhein said. “So we’re very happy that went well.”

According to Thalen, the group’s guitarist, this year was the best of his three years competing in Showdown.

“I think I’ve been most relaxed and able to let loose and have fun on stage and give a good show,” Thalen said. “Last year I was really concerned about getting votes, so I just sat there and I stressed over the vote table the whole time, and that was no fun. But I think we just played better than we ever have tonight.”

Rhein said that after watching the other student groups who played before him, he was impressed by the group Sean Connery Jr.

“Their set lists are amazing and their sound is really tight,” Rhein said. “I was a bit bummed to see that they didn’t make top three. They were just 10 points short of placing.” 

While Rhein said he thinks his band played well and deserved to win, he’s hesitant about the way voting works at Showdown. 

“Band culture is really important at Hillsdale,” Rhein said. “I really like seeing how the competition has driven each band to get better. One thing I do get hesitant about at Hillsdale is that at least at CHP Showdown, it can usually turn into a popularity contest of who’s got more friends in what area.”

After three years of participating in the competition, Rhein said he thinks that CHP would be better if their were some sort of impartial judge to the competition rather than popular vote.

“People will vote for their friends, and that’s just natural,” Rhein said. “But even on the winning side, I don’t like having a music competition that’s tied to popularity. I want it to be about music, who played better, who were better performers. Because I think that will actually encourage people to work harder on the performance side and less on the PR side.”

Thalen said that regardless of who won, he enjoyed getting to watch and support the other bands who came out, especially The Ambassadors, Sean Connery Jr., and the Schizmatics. 

“There’s a weird amount of musical talent as far as bands go on this campus,” Thalen said. “It’s really cool that you’ve got all of the classical musicians who go and do awesome things and then you’ve also got bands who play rock and pop and funk, and they’re both really good at what they do. It’s a cool culture.”