Becton Regional High School’s Project Graduation Committee will be hosting a Night of the Becton Bands at the East Rutherford Civic Center on November 23, 2016.

Organized by the parent committee, the whole event will consist of great music from bands such as Joshua Novello’s Happenstance, Michael O’ Connor’s Blue Lizard and Cooper Boyd’s Lunatic Fringe. With admission being ten dollars per person, the event’s earnings will go toward Project Graduation. This essentially is the main objective of Night of the Becton Bands, along with allowing classmates to be supported by their peers.

As stated by Project Graduation Co-Chairman Mrs. Krystyna Almeida, “The money will hopefully help us get closer to reach our goal of $30,000 for Project Graduation.”

The Night of the Bands also revolves around the idea that there really is no competition involved. The event was mainly created for showcasing the talents of students who are willing to put themselves out there to promote their bands and play their music for a resourceful and beneficial cause.

“There is no winner nor is there a prize. It is just to get the name of their bands out there. The bands are incredibly talented,” said Mrs. Almeida.

Juniors Konrad Messyasz and Matthew Jimenez are excited for the Night of the Becton Bands. Both said that the event seems rather exciting with the whole mash-up of bands playing.“The night can possibly lead to some fun moments. I bet there will probably be plenty of music that I can listen to and enjoy. I have heard Cooper’s band in concert before, so there can be some promise,” said Matthew. Konrad added, “The whole idea of the night seems original, so it looks kind of interesting. I can’t imagine any other event for the school that seems to pertain to my interest with three bands performing at once. I have also heard quite a bit about some of the band performing and they all sound pretty decent.”

The three bands that will be performing in the showcase are Happenstance, Lunatic Fringe and Blue Lizard.

Lunatic Fringe is a group dedicated to heavy metal music. The band includes Senior Cooper Boyd. The band was formed in April when they met at the School of Rock in Montclair, which is a performing arts center dedicated to teaching students about music.  They decided to create the band after performing a heavy metal number. At the showcase, they want to perform covers as well as original songs.

“My favorite song to perform is an original called Welcome to Our Freak Show. I also enjoy one of our newest songs that has more of a surfer vibe to it, but we haven’t named it yet,” Cooper said. The band plans on releasing an EP in the future. To learn more about the band, you can follow @lunatic_fringe_official on Instagram.

Next, Happenstance includes Sophomore Joshua Novello. The band is newly formed and they hope that the Becton showcase can help get their name out there. The band was also formed at the School of Rock in Montclair. This group will only be performing cover songs. Joshua is very excited to perform the song Enter Sandman by Metallic because it is one of his all-time favorite songs. The band is planning on releasing original songs in the future. The only show they have scheduled is the fundraiser but to keep up with the band in the future, you can follow them on Instagram @happenstance_music.

Last but certainly not least, Blue Lizard includes Junior Michael O Connor. Michael and his cousin Ryan Lamon formed the band. The band has five original songs currently on their website that patrons can buy for 99 cents each. The songs are called Wild Stallions, Monkey Spitz, Wicked Thoughts, 15 and Hard. They hope to play shows in the future at bigger and out of state venues. The music they play gives off a 70’s vibe, and Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Alice in Chains have inspired them tremendously. To find out more about the band, one can visit their website bluelizardnj.com.