"We played last year and didn't do too well," he said. "This year, we said, 'Let's just be ourselves and go for entertainment value."

Refreshingly, most of the bands played original material, and a lot of it was quite good. Crosby's Clean Tone Distortion showed versatility in its all-original set. Lead singer Mike Herda, whose favorite band is Nirvana, has a natural singing voice that sounds a bit like Kurt Cobain.

Mike Herda, Crosby, performed with the band Clean Tone Distortion Thursday night at the Battle of the Bands at Don Adamson Field.

Brainerd/Pequot Lakes three-piece Friendly Contribution, a band that classifies itself as "happy punk," also made an impression with a couple well written originals, although vocalist Melanie Hammer apologized to the crowd for being a bit ill.

Staples-based Jamestown, a band that prefers "guitar-driven pop-rock" to the punk label, served up the interesting "May," about graduating from high school and facing the future, along with the catchy Switchfoot cover "Ammunition."

Felix, from Nisswa and Fifty Lakes, served up a slow song with a lyric that summed up the attitudes of many of the bands and audience members: "No matter what the problem is/Music will always get you through." Felix also won style points by bringing a guy in a gorilla suit on stage to dance and eat bananas.

The late afternoon sun illuminated Matt Groen's bass guitar. He performed with Hence the Name Penguin.

My first-place vote went to Brainerd's The Janet Model. It was the least serious band of the day -- band members had only practiced for a week before the gig, a groove box stood in for the drummer and keyboardist Ben Bedard wore a dress. But lead singer Sam Bedard's Smoking Popes-influenced lyrics are the stuff that great silly music is made of: "I'm glad we're not in space, because we'd have to wear helmets and I couldn't kiss you."

Autumn stood out from the pack by offering a headbanger's ball of scary black metal. The Twin Cities group didn't expect to win the event with this style, which is more popular in Europe than the United States.

"There are about 12 people in the crowd who like it, and we play for those 12 people," lead singer Seth Anderson said.

Fans lounged in the grass Thursday while The Janet Model performed at the Battle of the Bands, sponsored by Youth as Resources.

Controversy arose during Black Sunshine's set when the band was cut off in the middle of a song and ordered to leave the stage. Its set seemed shorter than the allotted 20 minutes. Vocalist Nick Lefort called the move "unprofessional" and the band entered into a shouting match with the sound board operators, who said Black Sunshine's setup time cut into their performance time.

Aside from that hitch, the Battle of the Bands was a great time for the bands, audience and judges alike. Let's do it again next year.