The UA Student Government Association’s and Interfraternity Council’s annual fundraiser, Battle of the Bands, earned $21,000 this year, shattering previous years’ efforts.
Created in 2022, the Battle of the Bands is the largest fundraiser for the Joe Espy Needs-Based Scholarship. The event’s highest earnings were about $8,500 in 2023, mostly through ticket sales and sponsorships.
UA Students Win through Partnership
This year, SGA and the Interfraternity Council partnered with the Alabama Panhellenic Association. The goal was to grow its impact and be able to help more students. Together, they accomplished that goal to the tune of over $21,000.
“Fundraising was collected from student organization sponsorship packages (bulk ticket sales), business sponsorships, ticket sales, the IFC cup event, t-shirt sales and an Instagram bingo card Venmo drive,” said Fred Nelson, SGA’s vice-president for external affairs.
“With this amount of success, SGA and IFC are very grateful for Panhellenic’s support, which helped us add to the Battle of the Bands this year!”
The Joe Espy Needs-Based Scholarship helps UA students in need of essential financial assistance due to a temporary hardship or emergency.
Warriors Bend Wins the ‘Battle,’ Too
The Battle of the Bands was the culmination of student musical acts who performed to benefit the scholarship. Warriors Bend took home the grand prize of $2,000 during the final night of competition Oct. 11 at Druid City Social.
The band describes their sound as a mix of classic rock with jam music. They’re inspired by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Widespread Panic, The Grateful Dead and the Marshall Tucker Band. And they just like to create a cool fusion that’s fun to perform live, they said.
All sophomores, the band members are Nate Arentsen on rhythm guitar and lead vocals, Luke Jordan on lead guitar and William Hall on bass guitar and backup vocals. Then there’s David Brett on keyboard and Alston Murphy on drums and backup vocals.
The group was also excited to be part of the SGA’s good cause.
“It was a great experience for all of us and everyone involved. We got to perform and support the other bands here performing with us,” said Jordan. “We’re all extremely thankful for the opportunity to perform and also raise money for the Joe Espy scholarship.”
They’ve only been a band for about a year now, but they’ve known each other a while. And they’re already looking forward to the future.
“William and Luke have known each other their whole lives growing up in Montgomery and the rest of us connected through Greek life,” said Murphy. “We have also been scheduling plenty of upcoming shows around Tuscaloosa and will be playing in Auburn in a couple of months. We have briefly discussed making some originals as a band and we think that would be such a great opportunity. So be on the lookout!”
Listen to Warriors Bend on their Instagram. And learn more about the Joe Espy Needs-Based Scholarship by visiting the SGA website.
Contact
Jennifer Brady, UA Strategic Communications, jennifer.brady@ua.edu