After winning an online contest, the student band North House will head to San Francisco this weekend, one step closer to its big break.

The Internet company iuma.com (Internet Underground

Music Archive) is holding a nationwide "battle of the bands" tournament that will culminate with the four final bands opening for Primus this Saturday night.

North House--whose members include Alfred Bennett '00, Andrew C. Eggers '99, Altay M. Guvench '03, Jose L. Sandoval '01 and Wellesley College student Becky Warren--could win $10,000, a contract with a small record label and the chance to be published in Rolling Stone magazine as part of the "MusicOMania" online contest.

The contest, which drew entrants from more than 80 colleges nationwide, began with small "battle of the bands" competitions at each campus. From there, bands faced off online. Iuma.com posted links to each band's website so voters could listen to mp3 samples of their music. The highest vote-getters advanced.

"It's kind of like an NCAA tournament," explained Dan F. Aquino, artist support manager for iuma.com. "Now we're down to the final four, who will be flown out to San Francisco to open for Primus on

Saturday at the Fillmore Auditorium before nearly 1,500 fans."

North House members campaigned by knocking on doors and passing out flyers asking for support in the contest.