The funk/hip-hop group whysowhite won the Dance Marathon Battle of the Bands Monday night to secure a performance during DM. Four bands competed at the Prairie Moon in Evanston in front of a crowd of about 100.
“It feels amazing, to win this,” said one of the lead vocalists and piano player of whysowhite, who goes by Charlie Moonbeam. “Our music is completely dance-centric, which makes this competition — and performing at Dance Marathon — perfect for us.”
Whysowhite is made up of artists from all over the Chicago and Evanston area, and includes three Northwestern students. Their music is a fusion of hip-hop, funk, R&B and rock, and their performance of original songs and covers was the best of the night. Their cover of The Darkness’ “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” was particularly pitch perfect, and had audience members running to the dancefloor during the performance.
Whysowhite beat out three other Northwestern bands. Mori and the Moonwalkers, The Main Men and The Royal Senders all performed, but the DM judges and audience donations declared whysowhite the winners. Mori and the Moonwalkers, headed by sophomore Mori Einsidler, are a pop-rock group made up of sophomores, a junior and a senior. The Main Men played a more classic rock set, incorporating a trumpet, violin and Stevie Wonder cover into their performance. The Royal Senders covered the heavier rock ‘n’ roll spectrum, and their cover of Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name” featured the most crowd participation of the night.
Editor’s note: Rage Against the Machine’s song “Killing in the Name” has been corrected. It was originally written as “Killing in the Name Of.” Thanks to commenter anon for pointing out the error.