Five local bands, all with ties to the Harvard community, competed last night in a Battle of the Bands.

The Humming, a group of two Harvard students teamed with childhood friends from Vermont, and FinkFankFunk, a 10-piece funk cover band, shared the first-place prize of $500.

Stovepipe #9, whose lead singer works as a security guard at the Science Center, walked off with a second place check for $100.

The Dudley House Committee organized and promoted the event, which was staged at Lehman Hall in the southwest corner of Harvard Yard.

Robert Paluzzi, lead singer for Stovepipe #9, said he was excited to have the opportunity to perform at an event with such an eclectic mix of musical styles.

"We were like a mudslide coming in after a bunch of concrete. I felt like we brought an organic element into the mixture," Paluzzi said.

UsagiPop, the band that performed immediately before Stovepipe's set, featured an electric guitar, bass, keyboards and a DJ with turntables and a drum machine.

W. David Marx '01, UsagiPop's guitar-playing lead vocalist, said the band has gotten much of its influence from ambient and electronic backbeat sounds currently coming out of Japan.