In the April 10 Redmond Reporter, we turned the spotlight on Universal Soul and Manic Highway, two Redmond-connected bands competing in the semifinal rounds of the third annual Classic Rockathon, at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 17-18 at the Old Fire House (OFH) Teen Center, 16510 NE 79th St., Redmond. Admission ($5 per night) will benefit the OFH. Music lovers of all ages are invited. Other semifinalists are:

PERFORMING APRIL 17

• SILVERFIELD, based in Bellevue.

Members: Taylor Moe, 18, Bellevue High School (BHS), bass, keyboards and background vocals. Ryan Odegard, 18, BHS, guitar, background vocals. Jeren Young, 19, BHS, vocals. Mauricio Martinez, 18, BHS, guitar. Rob Granfelt, 16, Eastside Catholic High School, drums.

Style: Classic rock/grunge.

Influences: Led Zeppelin, Rush, The Who, AC/DC, Nirvana.

Heard about the Rockathon from: “My dad received an e-mail from Donn Bennett Drum Studio and he passed it along to us.” — Young

Motivation to enter: “Was really based in our love for the music style. We like to consider ourselves classic rock artists because we love to keep the style alive. … It’s going to be a great opportunity to play and have fun, which is what music is all about.” — Moe

Strengths/weaknesses: “Every one of us loves classic rock above all else. We really feel we understand a lot of what it makes it so good. Also, coming from a high school, we have a fan base that will stick with us. Yet we have some serious disadvantages working against us. Silverfield has not actually performed before. Jeren and Ryan had a big success with another band at our school and I played as an add-on for a show or two. … But we are not worried. … Win or lose, it doesn’t matter. We are here for the music.” — Moe

• BO TREE, based in Sammamish.

Members: Jeff Marshall, 17, Eastlake High School (EHS), lead guitar. Dune Butler, 17, EHS, vocals and bass. Andrew Cristallo, 17, Skyline High School, drums. Jay Bennett, 17, EHS, rhythm guitar.

Style: Classic rock.

Influences: Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Guns ‘n’ Roses, The Who, The Beatles, Buddy Guy.

Heard about the Rockathon from: “We have attended the event for the past two years … (and) thought it would be a great opportunity for us to play our favorite genre of music, so we applied this year.” — Marshall

Motivation to enter: “Every member of Bo Tree agrees that classic rock is their favorite genre of music and we want to express how it has changed our lives and the way we play and write music.” — Marshall

Strengths/weaknesses: “We have so many favorite classic rock songs to choose from, we need to be able to pick the one we will play best. Our biggest strength … is also that classic rock is our favorite genre. The music we write and play is derived from our love of classic rock.” — Marshall

• FLAME BROILED FACE, from The Paul Green School of Rock in Seattle.

Members: Dylan Walsh, 14, guitar, bass and keyboards. Sadie Norkin, 15, guitar. Ayo Ryan, 15, guitar, bass. Kyle Morrison, 13, guitar, bass, vocals. Jacob Lindloff, 14, guitar, bass, vocals. Kay Gill, 10, bass, vocals. Chase Hager, 11, vocals. Reilly Montgomery, 14, drums. Tristan Medjo, 13, drums, vocals. Lydia Vadapolas, 15, bass.

Style of music: Everything that is classic — classic rock, punk, metal, etc.

Influences: Led Zeppelin, Metallica, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones.

Heard about the Rockathon from: “On the radio and from someone at school.” — Walsh

Motivation to enter: “A desire to play and we think we can win! Prizes are good, too.” — Walsh

Strengths/weaknesses: “We have a large amount of people to support us and a lot of experience playing together.” — Walsh

PERFORMING APRIL 18:

• CHAOS THEORY, based in Bellevue.

Members: Arta Majd, 18, Skyline High School and Bellevue Community College, guitar. Brian Johnson, 18, Mt. Si High School (MSHS) guitar. Matt Pauw, 18, MSHS, drums. Ryan Donnely, 16, MSHS, bass. Ryan Westra, 17, The Bush School, vocals.

Style: Rock/metal

Influences: Children of Bodom, Motley Crue, Led Zeppelin, Pop Evil, Metallica, Audioslave, Van Halen.

Heard about the Rockathon from: “Our friends who were helping put it together. We’d just gotten our line-up figured out and they thought we should enter. We looked over the requirements and thought it’d be a great first gig … and now we’re in!” — Majd

Motivation to enter: “Honestly, I don’t see how the prizes wouldn’t provide at least a little motivation. … With that being said, classic rock has still played a huge role in our musical influences. The majority of us listen to plenty of new music, but we still listen to, learn and drive way too fast to classic rock songs.” — Majd

Strengths/weaknesses: “Our band, with its current lineup, has never played a show. We’re still confident, though. We just want us and the audience to have a great time. …Our biggest strength is that we know a lot of the people that are running the show, as well as many who will be attending. Hopefully, we’ll rack up enough support to win, but we’re mostly excited just to play and see the other bands.” —Majd

• MASTER MAHAN based in Renton.

Members: Neal Harris, 18, Bellevue Community College, bass and vocals. Nathan Jones, 16, Hazen High School (HHS), guitar and vocals. Garrett Triplett, 16, HHS, drums and vocals. Zack “Gilki” Gilkison, 16, HHS, guitar and keyboard.

Style: Punk/LOLternative.

Influences: Food, animals, Blink-182, Smashing Pumpkins.

Heard about the Rockathon from: “A Bandpool show at the OFH and I think we entered mostly because we’ll take any chance to play that we can. I think the prizes and the fact that it’s all classic rock just makes it extra special.” — Jones

Strengths or weaknesses: “When we started playing together three or four years ago, all we played was classic rock until we got good enough to realize that it was way too complex for us, so you could say we have some experience with the genre, but I think our biggest strength is that we just know how to have fun and try to teach everyone else, too.” — Jones

• ODAN, based in Sultan.

Members: Ivan Peck, 17, Everett Community College (ECC), guitar and vocals. Hunter McAllister, 16, Arlington High School, bass. Kacey Randall, 19, ECC, drums.

Style: Rock/jam/acoustic.

Influences: Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Ozzy Osbourne.

Heard about the Rockathon from: “Bo Tree and we really wanted to play some cool classic rock covers that we don’t play often — and we love the set-up at the Fire House.” — Peck

Strengths or weaknesses: “I think our weakness will be (missing) an audience of supporters. We have been playing a lot of shows lately and many of our fans have come to many of them but most of our fans live 30-40-plus miles from the Fire House.” — Peck

For more information about the Classic Rockathon, visit www.theoldfirehouse.org or call (425) 556-2341.