By ASHLEIGH QUINN

Staff Intern

After beating out all of their competitors at the 89X Battle of the Bands, The Madison Opera landed the spot as the opening act for 89X’s New Years Rock ‘N’ Roll Bash.

Dan Evola and his bandmates, Stefan Schram and Ryan Trombley, are gearing up for their album release party Feb. 6.

This comes just three months after Evola, a communications major at OU, took over as student body president after his predecessor Steve Clark stepped down in November.

In his presidential office, where “Dan Evola” in large letters adorns a dry erase board behind his desk, Evola sat down to talk about what we can expect at the party and from the album.

“Five bands in total will be playing [including] a couple of our very close friends’ bands,” Evola said of the party, which will include Liquid Mojo, Fighting With Rabbits, Odayin and Citizen Smile.

“It should be a good night; I’m excited about the line up of bands. It should be an inexpensive night of good local talent,” Evola said.

Their new EP entitled “Brace Yourself,” is “an independent effort” Evola said. The album will be sold in some local stores, at shows and online for $5.

“It’s a blend of a lot of different styles — pop, rock, blues to reggae, all in six songs,” he said. “We recorded the entire album in two days. Not what you would consider two days — more like 48 straight hours. We were in the studio until like 4 a.m.”

The Madison Opera’s album release party will be held at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6 at TNT’s in Clinton Township. There will be a $5 cover for those 21 and up.

For more info on the band visit www.myspace.com/themadisonopera.