Bear Hands may have rocked the house last month, but few people know that this Brooklyn-based band got their start at the Eclectic Society’s annual Awesomefest. The music festival, which celebrates its 24th anniversary this Saturday, exclusively features bands that have never played a show on campus before as a way for them to get a start in the University’s music scene and show the community just how hard they rock.

This year, there are 19 new bands scheduled to play in a range of genres from indie rock to surf rock to ska. After they perform, senior bands Saurus and Flora and Fauna will take the stage. To manage the large number of bands playing at the festival, organizer Dylan Bostick ’13 has engineered an innovative system: two stages will be set up within Eclectic, with one band playing on one while the next band is setting up on another. Each band will be limited to a set time of 10 minutes each, in order to leave time for senior bands to perform later that night.

“Get there early, ‘cause who knows, maybe the next famous Wes band [will come] from Awesomefest,” Bostick said.

Awesomefest is not merely a concert, however; it’s also a competition, and a chance for rookie bands to prove their talent to veteran performers. A committee of senior Eclectic members will determine a winner and runner-up. The winner will be awarded a portion of the money collected from admission charges and the runner-up will receive a pizza.

Awesomefest will begin at 8:30 p.m. sharp in order to make sure all of the bands are have enough time to set up and play. Admission costs $1, the proceeds of which will go toward funding the festival as well as the band prize money.

Bands playing at this year’s Awesomefest:

– Aaron Burr and the Hamiltones

– AllThingsResembleNumbers

– CalliMousike

– Chiknissz n’ the Craque      Connection

– Froot

– Funky Forest

– Handjob City

– Islamic Steve

– Lemonpussy

– Merry Jame Eyre Plain

– Miami Heat

– One Track mind

– Ovid American

– Rug Smell

– Spliff Puppy

– The Taste

– Treasure Island

– Yeoman’s Omen

– You Right