When local eclectic band Bad Mamma Jamma opened the fourth annual Battle of the Bands competition at the International Center on Friday night, the night was young and the crowd was small. But the band rocked on stage as if hundreds of people were screaming right along with it.

The crowd eventually grew, enthusiastically cheering and dancing while 11 energetic bands sang their hearts out to win three coveted gift certificates to Elderly Instruments, 1100 N. Washington Ave., in Lansing.

But the environment at the Battle of the Bands was a big switch from where Bad Mamma Jamma began performing — at a barn-turned-bar in Bancroft, Mich., complete with hay on the ground and a cook who looked as if he had just been released from prison, said lead singer and flute player Bonique Johnson, a music performance senior.

Now, the band plays at Harper's Restaurant & Brewpub, 131 Albert Ave., on weekends, which brings out a crowd of about 300 people.

"All of us love music so much and all that it has to offer," Johnson said. "It brings us together from very diverse backgrounds. With music, there's no color line, no boundary and no expectations."

The band's music is as diverse as its members. They write and perform reggae, hip hop, jazz, fusion funk and Latin music during their weekly rehearsals in a small, dimly lit and damp basement on Beech Street.

"When we first start, we just fool around," said MSU alumnus Alan Sloan, the band's saxophone player and backup vocalist. "We play with it and see what feels good and what doesn't. As the playing continues, we suggest what should stay and what shouldn't. When we come up with a definite form, we write it down and run through it a couple times. It's a really great creative process."

Inspiration for songs can come from anywhere at any moment, said bass player Brad Barrett, a music performance and finance senior. Members don't look to one specific idea for continuous motivation, he added.

"It's whatever we're going through at that time," Johnson said. "Whatever we're feeling."

The band began about a year ago with Barrett, drummer Aaron Miller, a jazz studies and hospitality business senior and guitarist Dan Suppnick, a human biology senior. Barrett and Suppnick both lived in Gilchrist Hall during their freshman year and Barrett knew Miller from MSU's jazz program.

Johnson was the next person to join, wowing the band at an audition last summer. Trombone player Robert Ball III, a music performance and interdisciplinary humanities senior, was a friend of the band and joined after Johnson.

Sloan joined the band after they met while both performing at Rendezvous on the Grand, 226 E. Grand River Ave., last summer. The band was looking to "beef up" its sound and found that special something in Sloan's saxophone-playing skills, he said.

The most recent addition to the ensemble was keyboardist Alex Gauthier, a third-year no-preference student. He had played with Barrett and Miller previously and joined their group in January.

All seven group members have been playing instruments since they were young. Johnson began playing the flute in sixth grade and has sung in choirs on and off for years. No one even knew she could sing until she joined Bad Mamma Jamma last summer.

"I wanted to go back into singing, I just needed something to start me out," she said. "But my preference is both — flute and singing. I love the flute because of the power it has over the other instruments. It is so soft yet classy and can reach heights other instruments can't."

Barrett started piano lessons in first grade and later switched to the upright bass and the electric bass. He also writes most of the group's lyrics.

"I think you can say a lot with music that words can't say," he said. "It's art and I like music because it's not like other art, like a painting where you can look at it and dissect it. Music is art of the moment. You hear it and it's gone.

"No one can ever hear it again. That's something I've always been drawn to."

Music also enabled the seven people from diverse backgrounds to bond through a shared interest.

"It's definitely made new relationships we never thought we would have," Miller said. "We create some beautiful sounds together because we're all so different."

The beautiful sounds the band played for the Battle of the Bands competition included "Get Up and Get On Out," "Afflicted and Conflicted" and an upbeat, dance-friendly tune titled "Funkadopalicious," a staple in the band's vocabulary and not coincidentally the pending title of their future first album. Five volunteer judges graded the 11 bands on musicality, originality, stage presence, audience reception and overall performance. Each band had 15 minutes to perform. If they went overtime, points were deducted.

First place and a $1,500 gift certificate from Elderly Instruments went to Frontier Ruckus, an original, organic-inspired band.

"I feel surreal," said Frontier Ruckus vocalist, guitarist and harmonicist Matt Milia, an English sophomore. "I didn't really expect it. I feel fulfilled because it really brings us together. We appreciate something and now other people appreciate it too. Keep an eye out — definitely."

At the end of the night, Bad Mamma Jamma walked away empty handed, failing to place in the top three.

Despite the loss, the experience alone was worth it, Miller said.

"It was a cool event," Miller said. "We're just thankful to be playing at the event and getting our name out there."