Thirteen bands and seven solo artists will take to the stages at Senior Bar as NAZZ kicks off its 13th campuswide battle of the bands. The show, open to all ages, will begin at 8 p.m. The evening's entertainment will be guided by comedic emcees including Ryan Cunningham, Joe Howarth and Ted Fox. Sponsored by the Student Union Board, NAZZ "showcases bands with different tastes and influences that touch all aspects of the musical spectrum," according to Emmett Malloy, head of SUB campus entertainment. Interested contestants submitted applications and demo tapes several weeks ago. "Bands were selected on professionalism and their ability to thrill the crowd," Malloy said. "Seniority and the general vibe their performance gave were also taken into consideration. " While there were no restrictions on the number of covers that a band had, selectors were more interested in original material.

Eight judges, representing WVFI, WSND, Scholastic and The Observer will determine the winners. Gift certificates to Mediaplay will be awarded to the first three finishers in each of the two categories.

SUB would like to point out that "although this is a competition, the purpose of NAZZ is to educate the campus about the Notre Dame music scene." Tickets are $2 at the LaFortune Box Office, $4 at the door.

The Bands:

---The Bush League: a punk-rock band of architecture majors. Since Sept. 2000, fifth-years Scott Reinthaler, Terry Welsh and Ara Arnn, and sophomores Mike Meszaros and Steve Martin have been playing in The Bush League.

"We settled on `Bush League' for several reasons," says the band. "The baseball reference (which is essential), Jesus Quintana says it in "The Big Lebowski," and our first gig was at an inauguration day party for George W. Bush. The name works on many levels."

The Bush League counts old proto-punk bands as their inspiration. "Our typical set mixes older punk-rock tunes with newer bands such as Dropkick Murphy's, Rocket from the Crypt, Smile, Bouncing Souls — stuff that's a little bit poppy but good for dancing."

Although three members are graduating this year, Meszaros and Martin plan on having a band when they return from Rome as fourth years. For now, the group continues to rock on, with a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon as their icon — "a part of our daily lives."

---In the great tradition of picking a band name, Pratfall's members just opened the dictionary, saw the word "pratfall" and were inspired by its definition: "to fall on one's butt for comic effect." Despite a comic name, Pratfall has serious talent. The band is one of several in this year's NAZZ line-up that boasts previous winners: Bassist Luis Moctezuma and drummer Tom Dolphin placed third in last year's NAZZ competition, as part of the group Lazy Blue Method. The current lineup of Pratfall has been together for about three months, and the members span a range of ages. Dolphin is a senior, lead singer Brian Carrigan is a junior, Moctezuma a sophomore and guitarist Rob Gutierrez a freshman.

Describing their musical style, the band says "we play funk to heavy rock. We're basically a kick-arse rock band that feeds off the crowd's energy." For future plans, Pratfall says they may just retire after NAZZ. "Or we'll just play a lot, many gigs, parties and the like," the band says.

---When asked if there is any significance behind the name of their band, members of Johnny Girth reply, "Yes, definitely." They also picked an Etch-A-Sketch to represent their group, so it's clear Johnny Girth is simple and honest. This "avant-garde" rock band has been playing together for one year and is made up of five seniors: Mickey McGarry, Brian Galla, Jon Adler, Gusto Camara and Jesse Dang.

Johnny Girth considers their style to be most reflective of "loud noises" and admires guitarist Galla as their inspiration.

Adler and McGarry have performed at NAZZ before, with American Standard and Sexual Chocolate, respectively, but this marks the first year that Johnny Girth has played with their current lineup. After their Friday night performance, the band has high hopes for their future: a European tour, a sitcom, action figures and then a special on MTV's "Cribs."

---The band Housebound has never played at NAZZ before, unless it was "in a past life that we don't remember," says bassist Jeff McDonnell.

Housebound has been playing together since Oct. 2000 and considers their music to be "jam-out funk rock."

Five freshmen make up Housebound: McDonnell, Lawrence Santiago, Peter Miller, David Miller and Mike Malmore. Their influences include "anything from Bob Marley to Dave Matthews, Phish and Umphreys McGee, to the Allman Brothers, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Counting Crows, OAR and so many more," according to McDonnell.

When asked about plans for the future of Housebound, McDonnell says the band hopes "to play a lot of cool music, maybe tour the world. Also, we want to eat some chicken sometime."

---The clever subject line of an e-mail about people stealing rulers provided The Inch Thieves with their name. Despite the creativity, band member Josh Rich says the name has no real significance. "Our real name [No Redeeming Qualities] has a meaning, but we feel bad using it without our full lineup — our singer is in London," says Rich.

The Inch Thieves considers their style to be most reflective of punk, classical and experimental rock. "We are inspired by divine muses," claims Rich.

Another band boasting previous NAZZ experience, The Inch Thieves is made up of juniors Rich, Nick Wymbs and Jeremny Renteria. The band has been together for about two years and says they have their sights set on Carnegie Hall for their future plans. With Chester Cheetah as their chosen band icon, The Inch Thieves are sure to go far with their creativity.

---Formerly a line from Dustin Hoffman's character in "Rain Man," "Qantas never crashed" is now the name of one of Notre Dame's up and coming bands. Qantas Never Crashed has been playing with its current lineup for three months, though some members have been playing together in different bands since arriving at Notre Dame.

Its five members are all seniors — Jason Linster, Geoff Rahie, Tim Bodony, Chris Fazio and Jon Adler — and three have already performed at past NAZZs.

Qantas Never Crashed considers its style "suburban funk." "Musically we enjoy Phish, Radiohead, Praxis, thick funk and rock music with seductive chord changes," says the band."But on a deeper level, we draw our motivation from women, money and the thrill of standing before booming amplifiers."

After NAZZ, the band plans to "claim our own pieces of the spectacle that is rock music before the real world swallows us up."

---Most bands define themselves as a mixture of different styles, but Right Hand Side plays "blues, just blues." Sophomore members Patrick Mechem, Daly Barnes, John Ratte and Luke Burke and junior Neil Carmichael have been playing together since fall break. They name as their inspirations great blues legends like Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Freddie and BB King, Albert Collins, the Allman Brothers and "anyone else who has felt the blues."

Right Hand Side is an experienced band — three members played NAZZ last year and the other two have played numerous gigs. This experience may be the reason behind the group's choice of a representative object: "a rock that has been polished by the ocean until it is hard and smooth." "Mostly we just want to play music for people and use the band as an excuse not to get our homework done," says guitarist Carmichael.

---"A nice blend of indie rock and power pop," is how Oiseaux describes its music. Sophomores Tim Bradley and Bill Taylor performed at last year's NAZZ in the now defunct band Moonshine, and the two joined with freshman Matt Dowling about six months ago to form Oiseaux's current line-up.

All three members have distinctive taste in music. Bradley counts Weezer, the Pixies, Sloan and the Alkaline Trio as big influences. Taylor likes Reel Big Fish and Dowling gets inspiration from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The name "Oiseaux"? "It looks cool and sounds sophisticated," says Bradley. When asked for the group's post-NAZZ plans, Bradley says Oiseaux would like to play a few shows and possibly do some recording before the end of the semester. For a group that identifies with "Michael J. Fox in a white leisure suit doing the Teenwolf dance," its independence should lead it far.

---The Skammunists want it known there is no significance behind their name. "We're not even communists — we just like the sound of `skammunists.'" The band seems to have an inclusive philosophy nonetheless, as they boast 10 members: senior Sean Markey, sophomores Chris Giese and Dan Crowley, and freshmen Ben Slease, Pete Balogh, Sean Brooks, Pat Bayliss, Adriana Trunzo, Mike Zodda and Omar Arizpe.

The large ska/punk band formed about seven months ago, and hopes "to keep playing and see what happens, above all to have a good time." Skammunist influences include Catch 22, Mustard Plug, Boys Sets Fire, Bouncing Souls and Less than Jake.

Little known facts about the band? The Skammunists went through six drummers over five months before finding their current drummer Bayliss two days before their fist show. And guitarist Balogh sports a magic hat that the band agrees is the object that best represents their style.

---If you need a reason to see Red Dragon Tattoo this Friday, consider the intriguing significance behind their name: "Ask any one of us and we'll show you."

The three founding members of the band — sophomores Ryan McLaughlin, Joe Andrukaitis and Josh Rynne — began playing together over a year ago, recently adding sophomore Carl Sergio and freshman Dave Lodewyck to the lineup. All members are self-proclaimed NAZZ virgins.

Red Dragon Tattoo names Foundations of Wayne, the Beatles and Britney Spears as its influences. The band's style is 1960s British pop music, but when asked about its goals for the band, the members say they can't decide whether they want to be the next Beatles or the next Spinal Tap. One thing is for sure — Red Dragon Tattoo proudly declares an inflatable Oscar Mayer wiener as the object that best defines what their band is all about.

---Unlike many NAZZ bands, 7 Pounds of Groove says they are quite serious about playing post-college. The band, which has been together for a year and a half, is made up of junior Alan Maginn and seniors Kevin Bruce, Chris Corr and Mark Miller. "Everyone's listening background is quite different as well," says the band, "which melds numerous different styles together, giving us a really unique sound.

7 Pounds of Groove likes to consider themselves a jamband, but "like all jambands, we have our own unique mix of classic rock, fusion and other multiple styles." The newest addition to their stage is an object they feel represents their band well — a stuffed Canadian goose named Beau Goose that was found in Bruce's trunk. As for its unusual name, the band is satisfied to keep its significance to themselves. "Everyone usually comes up with their own idea, and it's hilarious. We've probably heard upwards of 20 things our name means to people."

---Presto Pine's name comes from the ancient tradition of tree erection. "That and it was the label of a box in the Keenan music room where we first started practicing," says senior vocalist Jeff Russ. Joining Russ are senior bassist Nate Blazei, senior lead guitarist Brian Szakaly and junior Steve Sanchez on drums. The band came together last semester, and the upper classmen have "risen out of the ranks of the obsolete just in time to bid our farewell to the giant bubble known as Notre Dame," according to Russ.

This resilient group feels that a 1985 He-Man figurine of Moss Man best represents their band. "Our style is a mix of Jay-Z meets Garth Brooks," says Russ. " No not really, we play pure rock and roll, of course." Presto Pine's main influences are Brandon Boyd of Incubus, Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin and Animal of the Muppets. Future plans include playing at bar mitzvahs, weddings and for audiences of 10 or fewer.

---Their goal is to become Notre Dame's loudest band. Their inspirations include Weezer, Spinal Tap and Slayer. When asked to pick an object to embody their band, the members of the group chose "a small, angry little man with bad teeth and big hair." And their name? "Who wouldn't like a guy named Lester?" is their only response.

Lester is composed of senior Ryan Murray on vocals, philosophy grad student Pat Emmons on bass and juniors Joe Madia on guitar, Jon Alvarez on drums and Tim Ferrell on guitar, who is now abroad in France and missed by his bandmates.

Even without Ferrell, Lester continues to rock out in its signature style, "a more melodic, upbeat rock, with elements of pop-punk, emo and a teensy-weensy bit of metal thrown in for good measure." Though Lester has only been together for six months, the members say they always knew they would find each other and hope to have the same luck at NAZZ that group members have enjoyed in past years .

• NAZZ hits campus this weekend