Lexi Azrin | Contributing Photographer

On most days, eating at Bear’s Den on a Monday night sounds exactly like what you’d expect: students chattering about midterms and tales of eventful weekends, often between bites of BD’s All You Care to Eat food. However, on March 23, Risa Commons transformed into an indoor concert venue and brought the raucous, shredding noises that come with it — all thanks to Battle of the Bands.

Hosted by KWUR, WashU’s student-run radio station and club, Battle of the Bands offered a competitive space for student bands and spectators to connect over live music, amplifying their mission of reviving a once robust campus music scene. 

Taking first place in the competition was Hounds, an alternative rock band with a unique origin story. The group originally began when two founding members, sophomores Thomas Cummings and Corwin Bishop, put up a poster looking for musicians, recruiting their lead singer, sophomore Finn Hanson, in the process. Although that early version of the band dissolved over the summer, chance encounters brought Hounds back together. First-year guitarist Regina Martinez joined after scanning an old QR code from the original poster — one that Cummings happened to check. First-year drummer Ethan Burack met Hanson during frisbee tryouts and Hanson, who noticed him air drumming, asked him to join. Despite their relatively recent formation, by this year’s fall break, the band had quickly developed a collaborative dynamic. 

“We barely knew each other, … and we were already writing songs together,” Martinez said. “[We] came together surprisingly fast.” 

Hounds describes itself as, at its core, a hard rock band, though their performances reflect a mix of genres. Their setlist included covers that lean towards alternative rock, indie, and pop rock.

“I feel like our setlist tendencies are different from when we write our own stuff. We pick songs people will know, which makes for a [good] set,” Cummings explained. “But at heart, we’re a hard rock band,” Burack added. 

The band’s original song “Hounds,” which also inspired their name, premieres on Friday and emerged from a set of lyrics Cummings wrote independently before further developing them with the band over fall break. Martinez crafted a guitar part, Cummings and Hanson filled in the vocal melodies, and Hanson perfected the beat.

Lyrically, the song reflects a sense of internal conflict. Centered around the line “Why work like a dog when my work’s for the hounds?” the track explores tension between taking pride in one’s work while recognizing how that work serves larger systems of power. The imagery draws on ideas of performative action and complicity, with Cummings finding inspiration in a piece about individuals making “good” environmental choices like recycling, while ultimately reinforcing corporate and societal structures.

Although “Hounds” is their only written original, the band sees it as a starting point. 

“We want to write a bunch of songs,” Hanson said. “Covers are fun, but we definitely want to write an album and get it recorded. … That’s our before-graduation goal.” 

For Hanson, the win at Battle of the Bands carried weight. 

“The emotions didn’t hit me until this morning. … I was in shock the whole night,” Hanson said. “It’s nice that all this hard work [we’ve] put in the dark, that nobody has heard until now, really showed.” 

But the significance of the event extended far beyond a single band. For many performers and KWUR organizers, the night highlighted the importance of rebuilding a sense of musical community on campus.

“There’s been such a decrease in bands ever since COVID and now it’s slowly starting to come back,” sophomore Melyssah Toledo, KWUR’s internal events coordinator, said. “We thought this would be a good way to get people to start thinking about local bands and giving them more opportunities [to perform].”

KWUR has historically played a key role in fostering that community, hosting campus-wide and community-facing music-related events. 

“We used to have stack sessions where bands and local artists would come to the camera studio and do live performances,” Toledo said. “We also had ‘Round the Clock,’ … where students or local bands would perform at the clock tower on the South 40.” 

Events like Battle of the Bands aim to revive those traditions while making live music more accessible. 

“There aren’t a whole lot of student-run music events that WashU hosts,” Toledo said. “Obviously we have WILD and NAP, but I think it’s important for KWUR to bring that music scene onto campus and give students the opportunity to experience free live music.”

For student musicians, the event also provided an opportunity to connect. Sophomore Devin Wallace, keyboardist for the band Jester, which placed second, emphasized the social aspect of live music. 

“I think live music has a really unique way of bringing people together,” Wallace said. “There are so many talented people on campus, and getting to show them off in a fun and accessible way is great.”

Lexi Azrin | Contributing Photographer

That sentiment was echoed by sophomore Noah Beyer, drummer for both Underpass and Jester. 

“People bond over music. … It brings people together intrinsically,” Beyer said. “Events like this fill a really good role, especially toward the end of the semester when people are looking for ways to connect.”

At the same time, the uncertainty surrounding the future of campus music spaces has made events like these feel especially urgent. With the shutdown of the Gaylord Music Library and relocations affecting facilities and organizations, some student groups are unsure what programming will look like in the coming semesters. 

“With the music [library and some practice spaces] being taken down, there’s a lot up in the air about the future of music here at WashU and whether people will be able to participate as easily as they are now,” Beyer said.

That uncertainty demonstrates the importance of continued support for student artists. 

“Given the recent uncertainty of the Gaylord Library and music spaces at WashU, it is now of the utmost importance to uplift student artists and music,” said Miriam Moyes, a sophomore who attended the event. “We as a community need to show that we support student art and music on campus.”

Hounds will be opening for Feeble Little Horse on Friday, March 27 in the Duck Room at Blueberry Hill as the closing event for KWUR Week 2026.