Dancing Eagle Hosts Annual Battle of the Bands
LAGUNA, NM—The annual Battle of the Bands held at Laguna Pueblo’s Dancing Eagle Casino rocked again last Saturday, June 1. Village Express, the first of the 12 bands to play, began the battle at noon. Band member, Buck Concho, has been passionate about his music and involved with promoting other musicians, for instance, his daughter’s all-girl band, for decades.
The other 11 bands competing were: Breaktime Band, Left Hand Luke & the Burque Boys, Aravaipa, Apache Spirit, Midnight Rhythm, Taj, Now or Never, Narbona, 191, 10 Years Gone, and Phonografica.
The winning band was to be announced at the end of the day. All bands were judged in 5 categories earning up to 10 points in each: Song selection, Vocal Performance, Band Performance, Individual Performance, and Crowd Reaction.
The bands are competing for 3 prizes: The third-place prize is $1,000, the second place prize is $2,000, and the first place prize is $5,000 plus 2 future events that will pay $2,000 apiece.
The 3 judges were chosen simply by spreading the word among the co-workers at the Dancing Eagle Casino, and two of them are employees. The volunteers, which change every year, were Kamrin Aragon, Adrian Cheresposy, and Fredrick Palmer.
The judges have a bird’s-eye view of each band’s performance.
Arriving about 1 p.m., I was just in time to hear the eventual winning band, Left Hand Luke & the Burque Boys, a family band: Mitch Yellowhorse on bass gui- tar, his father drummer Ben Yellowhorse, and Ben’s brother Jaime Yellowhorse on lead guitar.
The band opened with the AC DC 1977 classic, “Let There Be Rock”, not quite scriptural, but definitely inspired. Their performance of pounding, on-point drums and the energy-filled, “can’t be ignored” guitars had the audience dancing in their seats. Next, the band played “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” a Jimi Hendrix 1968 composition, and lastly Neil Young’s 1989 released “Rockin’ in the Free World.”
Ten Years Gone was the second-place band, and Phonografica took third. The total event was exceptional due to the allout, heartfelt contributions of all 12 bands.
Mitch Yellowhorse, the bass player and youngest member, when asked, quickly recited the names of his three favorite bass players, Paul McCartney, John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, and Getty Lee of Rush. He remembers joining the group in 2010. He was playing video games when his father and uncle mentioned needing a bass player. Would he like to learn the bass? He thought, “why not” and joined the family band.
The battling bands were broadcast live by KMIN owner and DJ, Derek Underhill. KMIN is the local station in Grants, and its affiliated station, KDSK, also owned by Underhill, broadcasts to Rio Rancho listeners.
The Battle of the Bands was the inspiration of Fonda Sarracino and Dominic Orozco back in 2005, and at first was for the weekend. They intended to contribute to their community in some way, and under their leadership, bands have been battling since then, except in 2020. Originally the band that won was given a recording session at the studio in Albuquerque owned by Orozco’s stepfather. Now they battle for a cash prize and the honor of being name the “best”, at least until next year.
Since 2005 the Battle has grown, and in 2009 the arts & craft vendors were added. “It involves a lot of manual labor,” stated Sarracino. “The stages are borrowed from the corporate office, and they are set up, also the backdrop.
“All of the planning is done by the Dancing Eagle marketing team. It’s a great collaboration. Without all their hard work and effort this wouldn’t be possible,” said Sarracino. “Thank you to the community for their support,” she added, “We hope to continue for many years.”