Quinnipiac Band Earns Spot at Warped Tour

In the final round of the East Coast Independent Battle of the Bands, held at The Space in Hamden, Conn. on Saturday, Voted Most Random was named the grand prize winner, beating an estimated 25-30 bands from Connecticut and New York. The prize: the chance to play at the Hartford, Conn. Vans Warped Tour.

"It was the best show we've ever played," lead vocalist Ian Reibeisen said via email. "We got to debut our new song that we were really excited about. We were so psyched for the possibility to play at Warped Tour but it wasn't really in my mind the day of the show. We just wanted to play our music for people."

Voted Most Random is made up of Quinnipiac University juniors Ian Reibeisen on vocals, Salvatore Salemme on drums, guitarists Scott Gunter and Bennett Pisaniello and sophomore Joe Mauti on bass.

"It's like every nerve in my body is running in circles with smiles on their faces," Salemme said via email. "It's amazing to think that just five shows into our career we're playing one of the biggest shows that [will] come to Connecticut."

The Vans Warped Tour is now in its 16th year as a national music touring festival. The day long festivals bring together the best of popular music, specifically pop/punk and tend to showcase lesser known artists trying to break into the industry. This year major headliners include Dropkick Murphys, Motion City Soundtrack, Sum 41, The All-American Rejects and We the Kings.

Recently, Voted Most Random played an acoustic benefit concert at Toad's Place in New Haven, Conn. as the opening band for We the Kings. Voted Most Random has released a rough cut of their single "Party Naked" on their MySpace page and will also be releasing their entire demo within the next few weeks. The demo will be available at Warped Tour and also for free on the band's Purevolume.com page.

Members of Voted Most Random agree that they owe a lot of their success to the dedication of their fans.

"Thank you to all of our fans that came out and supported us," Mauti said via email. "Yes, we play the music, but we wouldn't be able to have made it without you guys. All of our fans make our shows so much fun and exciting because they love being there just as much as we do."

Voted Most Random will be performing at Warped Tour on July 11 at the Comcast Theater in Hartford, Conn. Tickets are $28 plus fees and can be purchased at www.vanswarpedtour.com.