Punk, hardcore and metal took over The Habitat during the 2025 edition of SPB’s Battle of the Bands. The high-energy indie bands had the audience hardcore dancing and praising guitar solos on the night of March 20.
Out of the six bands competing, Darkhawk — a J-opo-inspired metal band with female vocal screams and heavy breakdowns — emerged as the winning band, taking $300 dollars home and securing a spot at WXOU’s birthday bash party.
“We really liked the energy from everybody, I’m glad people came up and started hanging out with us, like, breaking it down and dancing,” Vaughn Kujawski, lead vocals of Darkhawk said. “I was just really happy we had such a good turnout, and everyone was so energetic about us and all the bands.”
We Came, We Saw, a hardcore metal band opened the stage with intense guttural vocals and heavy guitars. Combining original songs with covers of metal classics like “Silvera” by Gojira, We Came, We Saw instantly had the crowd hardcore dancing in front of the stage.
Wetbody maintained the Punk theme but leaned more towards The Clash and Led Zeppelin sounds. With an all-original tracklist, Wetbody has played at Michigan State University and Lansing, hoping to make a name in the local indie rock scene.
“We played at State twice, other than that, this is our first time in our hometown,” Wetbody guitar player Zach Cremen said. “From what we see in the night the [metro Detroit] scene is kick-ass, there’s a lot of young people doing a lot of cool stuff.”
With a hardcore reinterpretation of Britney Spears’ “Toxic,” Darkhawk had the audience once again on their feet almost moshing at the improvised pit. They also presented an original song from their upcoming EP, Dracula.
“That was the second best cover of Toxic I’ve ever heard in my life only behind me at karaoke night,” Andrew Deacon, Battle of the Bands host, said.
Always picked last in the music world, five musicians came together to form The Leftovers, the perfect mix between 90s grunge and 2000s pop. They opened their set with Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “By the Way.” The Waterford-based band also played a cover of The Cranberries’ “Zombie.”
With the night oscillating between fast-paced metal and classic rock anthems, Sounds About Right maintained the night’s punk theme with songs like “Sugar, We’re Going Down” by Fall Out Boy.
Founded in 2016, Sounds About Right integrated its lead vocalist, Annika, last year. You can find them every other Sunday playing at the Dryden Wesleyan Church.
The night ended with Exit Ticket, a Mt. Clemens-based neo-psychedelic rock band, with a self-described “depressive melancholy or dopamine-infused euphoria” sound.
“This is my first gig ever, it was terrifying, but I loved it. I’m so happy I’m in a band,” Daniel Wallemam, Exit Ticket’s lead vocalist, said. “I was in theater for four years, which definitely helps.”
Playing on and off since 2020, the band went from “ a much rougher sound together to this more streamlined version of ourselves that you hear today — and that’s an understatement,” Ian Hughes said.
Exit Ticket will be playing at Vexed Venue in Saginaw on April 26, before then, they have to survive finals at OU. To all other students who are considering pursuing an art project like theirs, the band recommends OU students work on their time management and jump on the next Battle of the Bands.
