This year’s Battle of the Bands take place at 7 p.m. in the small gym on Feb. 6. Local band Dale and the ZDubs will be performing a guest set.

The Black & White sat down with each of the competing bands to get a sense of their musical tastes.

Albedo

Made up of seniors Antonio Espinosa, Lindsay Worthington, Bonnie Margolis, and Sofie Todd as well as sophomore Finn Todd and Sidwell Friends School senior Harry Eldridge, Albedo has been together for about a year and a half. Band members collaborate to compose original music and have performed at Coffeehouse and in multiple church recitals.

Black & White: How would you describe your band’s style of music?
Antonio Espinosa: Albedo is a multi-genre band that only does original music.

B&W: Who has influenced you musically?
AE: We all have different types of music and different influences. Personally, my main influences are Ben Folds and Jon Brion, but each band member is different.

B&W: Where was the first place your band performed?
AE: I’d have to say a year ago when we weren’t technically Albedo, we played Sofie Todd’s temple song at a church recital.

Deceivers

The Deceivers have been together for about a year and they have performed at The Fillmore and the 9:30 Club. Band members sophomore vocalist Maia Gordon, sophomore guitarist Jaq Simpson, sophomore keyboardist Max Wade and junior drummer Gabe Schwartz are proudest of their original work “Over.”

Black & White: How would you describe your band’s style of music?
Maia Gordon: Ambient rock.

B&W: Who has influenced you musically?
MG: When Jaq writes music he tries not to be influenced by other bands in order to maintain an original sound but Sonic Youth, Crystal Castles and The Smiths have inspired us.

B&W: Where was the first place your band performed?
MG: The first place we performed at was The Fillmore with our original song, “Something Wrong.”

Magnetic Symphony

This all-sophomore band has been together since they performed at Coffeehouse last October. They are proudest of their original work “I Ride the Lightning into Battle!” and hope to bring heavier and harder music to the Whitman scene and a higher level of virtuosity coming from a sophomore band. The band is composed of drummer Adam Glastris, keyboardist Alex Sabol, bassist Stephen Pastoriza and guitarist and vocalist Fidel Cano.

Black & White: How would you describe your band’s style of music?
Adam Glastris: Fidel is mostly a progressive metal guy, Alex started out with classical, I am partial to 90’s alt and grunge, and Stephen just likes all rock. We are all good at what we do, but our different styles reflect when we write our own stuff. I think that when we blend together right, we have a unique sound that hasn’t really been heard before.

B&W: Who has influenced you musically?
AG: My main influence is Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age) and bands such as Avenged Sevenfold, Presidents of the United States and Soundgarden.

B&W: Where was the first place your band performed?
AG: So far, just Coffeehouse with the songs “Afterlife” by Avenged Sevenfold, “Icky Thump” by the White Stripes, our first original “I Ride the Lightning into Battle” and “Burn” by Deep Purple, but I’m sure there will be many more in the future.

Mr. Mannequin

Composed of juniors Will Guerry, Sydney Pimentel, Kate Goldberg, Carson Lystad and Jake Zeisel and seniors Jack Jobst and Colin Rankin, Mr. Mannequin is a indie alternative band. They have been performing together since last March and are focused on their new album — which is available on iTunes — and performing at Coffeehouse and dinner parties. They want to bring heartfelt original songs to this year’s Battle of the Bands.

Black & White: How did you all come together?
Will Guerry: Jack and I started writing songs together and then we brought other band members in after we all played together in a different talent show band.

B&W: Who has influenced you musically?
WG: Our music influences include Jack Johnson, Radiohead, The Antlers and Interpol.

B&W: What is the song you’re most proud of?
WG: Probably the song “Lonely Washington” or “I Hope You’re Right.”

Alligator Haters

Red Hot Chili Peppers cover band Alligator Haters is composed of juniors Jason Frankel, Carson Lystad, Calvin Schalch and Nathaniel Sherman and senior Ben James. The name is deriving from the RHCP song “Purple Stain.” Their first gig was at the spring fair in 2011 and they have been playing ever together since. For this year’s Battle of the Bands, they hope to make people dance.

Black & White: How did you come together?
Carson Lystad: We came together at the end of my freshman year. Our bass player, Jason Frankel, who I’d been playing music with for a long time, joined up with our drummer, Ben James, and gathered a group of us together to play some RHCP tunes and see what happened.

B&W: Who has influenced you musically?
CL: The Red Hot Chili Peppers are about 99%, but there are touches of influence from Metallica, Jimi Hendrix and System of a Down.

B&W: What song are you most proud of?
CL: Learning songs has never been much of challenge since we play all covers, but the one we enjoy the most would probably be “By the Way.” It always gets the people excited.

Punk Band

Made up of juniors Carson Lystad, Jason Frankel, Joey Williams and Sydney Pimental, Punk Band describes their music as unpredictable, fun, and carefree. Their self-proclaimed genre is “out-of-control rock.” This year’s Battle of the Bands will be their first real performance and they hope to change the way people listen to music.

Black & White: How did you come together?
Carson Lystad: We came together because all of our friends were invited to some girl’s birthday party and we weren’t. I had just bought the most recent Dropkick Murphy’s song and was really in a punk rock mood so we started hammering away in the basement, and it kinda just grew up and up from there.

B&W: Who has influenced you musically?
CL: Our musical influences are NOFX and Blink-182. Jason, the bass player, would probably argue that some band like Sly and the Family Stone was, but he’s just kidding himself. NOFX and Blink-182. That’s it.

B&W: What is the song you’re most proud of?
CL: We are incredibly proud of all four of our original songs. It breaks my heart to have to choose. If I had to pick though, I’d probably say I was most proud of our song titled “Baseball.” We won’t be playing it at BOTB though because we want to play songs people know.

Deez Notes

Deez Notes, which plays a wide range of rock music including alternative, classic, acoustic and electric, is made up of sophomores Lucas Weals, Jake Parsky and Nick Henning. The band made a full set debut at the first annual Bannockburn Music Festival in 2011. At this year’s Battle of the Bands, they hope to bring a high energy that will get people dancing and having a good time. But most importantly, they hope to bring a lot of fans who will donate money to help fight cancer.

Black & White: How long have you been performing together? And where else have you performed?
Lucas Weals: We have been performing ever since the end of eighth grade, and have played the Bannockburn Music Festival twice, multiple coffeehouses, and we won Whitman Battle of the Bands last year. We also played at bRAVE, but it was at like 4:00 so no one really remembers that.

B&W: Who has influenced you musically?
LW: Our musical influences include classics like Led Zeppelin, Chuck Berry, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, as well as more contemporary artists such as The Avett Brothers, Local Natives and The Black Keys.

B&W: What is the song you’re most proud of?
LW: In this set, we’re probably most proud of our cover of Alex Clare’s “Too Close,” because we don’t really play dubstep so this one has been interesting.