The young mother with the camcorder next to me in the balcony was bouncing like a 9-year-old on a candy bar jag. Her young son was slashing away at his guitar with his equally young band on stage already into its set full throttle. A sea of 1,500 kids bobbed up and down wildly.

"Aren't they great?" she asked me.

I was fixing to answer when the song ended. The crowd erupted in a roar. It was nuts.

"You hear that?" I asked her. "That's the sound of you saving $30,000 in college tuition. He's caught the bug. He's got a taste for blood now and it isn't going away."

A guitar and a dream. It's a calling that some parents hope is simply a phase. But now with the information super duper highway and all, more kids can have a band, record that band, book that band, pimp that band, and get closer to "the dream" than previously ever imagined. And with Water Street Music Hall's battle of the high school bands series, young bands get to live that dream now... or see how far away it really is.

Water Street holds three battles a year. The first two each take 16 area high school-aged bands and a panel of local music scenesters whittle them down to eight. The finalists fight it out at the third and final show.

It takes a visionary and a true music fan to run these events, organize the bands, and help them tune into their potential; to hear the bristling embryonic beauty others may quickly dismiss amidst the cacophony. David Sieling (who also plays with the band Remember Tomorrow) has promoted these high school band battles for the past two years and sees the hope and potential beyond the virgin havoc. He helps cut the cord.

"In the battle of the bands we've got bands that have just formed," says Sieling, 21. "They just got the guitar for Christmas and said, ‘Let's do this.' And in two years they're going to be something amazing. That's why when you go to a battle of the bands you can't be like, ‘Oh, they suck,' you know? You're watching something grow. You're watching something being born."

You can see it in their eyes when they hear their music booming out of a major-league PA for the first time, or when the girls scream (in a good way). Of course, there are the young fans, too

"A lot of these kids have never been to a show before," Sieling says. "The bands and the fans; a lot of these kids are coming to a venue to see live music for the first time. There are a lot of firsts going on at any battle of the bands."

Sieling tries to keep each battle to one school per district. Now some of these schools are getting behind the bands as well, sponsoring their own battles to determine who represents the school at the larger battle. So it smells like school spirit, too, with the kids rooting for their classmates' band.

"What is the difference between your school's rock band and the football team anyway?" asks Sieling.

The daunting task of qualifying for the battle, preparing for it, and promoting it helps weed out those who aren't ready.

"Getting 16 bands of kids whose parents can't get them to clean their rooms and give them all the responsibility to take care of these tickets and promote themselves, and show up to the event...that's great," Sieling says. "We're actually doing something they care enough about to put that effort into it."

The bands are required to sell a minimum of 50 tickets to the show, which in turn guarantees them at least a core following, even if that includes mom and dad. With all the bands selling tickets, it guarantees all of them a packed house and a chance to win over new fans.

"What speaks more about your band?" Sieling asks. "If everyone you brought loves you? Or if everyone everyone else brought loves you?"

As a promoter, these battles of the bands serve to Sieling's advantage as well. Sieling works on other shows throughout the year at Water Street Music Hall, some featuring national bands that he pairs with local teen bands as opening acts.

"To me, it's more about those shows I'm going to be able to do with those bands the rest of the year," he says. "This is their chance to show that they're worth being on one of those shows. This is throwing the kids in the pool to see who swims. I've been able to make a lot of dreams come true for some bands by putting them with their favorite bands growing up."

Sieling still gets a thrill watching it all bloom within these battles.

"I've seen bands created by it," he says. "Bands that lost one of the earlier battles, reforming and changing stuff up, learning from their mistakes. I've watched individuals in bands and I know the next band they start is going to be amazing and I wanna watch it. I wait for it."

High School Battle of the Bands

Water Street Music Hall, 204 N Water St.

Friday, September 14

5:30 p.m. | $7-$10, parents free | 325-5600