The second annual Pagliacci Battle of the Bands went down at Neumo’s last night. I put on my judging pants and joined the Weekly’s Aja Pecknold, Eli and Peter of the Croc, and Matt and Troy from Easy Street Records in ranking the victims—I mean entrants.

A note about judging band battles: You cannot judge in a vacuum. Pete and Eli maintained standards impossible to achieve—comparing these fledgling acts to Arcade Fire is bound to yield disappointment. Only after testing the field a bit, understanding the general level of talent that you’re working with, should you establish a standard.

That said, there were a few awful entries last night, a few promising bands, a good band with an awfully-dressed frontman, and a surpise finale.

The fact that the Michael Hutchence-looking lead singer of the People Now immigrated from Romania to Seattle to join the band after reading an online want-ad was astounding. It also excused his otherwise inexcusable frilly Ren Faire attire. The band was really, really OK but didn’t come out on top.

Better was Murder Dice and the Rodeo, a wonderfully sloppy funk/hiphop/R&B outfit fronted by a goofy, charismatic MC. At times it seemd each of the five members was playing a different song all at once, which was actually endearing—their energy level far outpaced their musicianship and put them in the lead til the very end.

At which point, around 12:30 a.m., Cobra Starship Iceage Cobra took the stage and somehow tipped the scales in their favor. Still recovering from a thick and snotty head cold, I was forced to bail out after just a few notes of their set, confident that they wouldn’t unseat Murder Dice, who we all had as frontrunners. I was wrong—they took the crown in the end, given perhaps as a concilliatory gesture. Apparently they narrowly lost in last year’s contest, and apparently they kicked ass this year. Congrats Jefferson Starship Cobra Age!

Also, big props to Pagliacci for putting the battle together. I’ve been involved in a number of similar contests in the past, none of which were as well organized or attended. All proceeds went to the Vera Project, and according to Pagliacci honcho Matt Galvin, they totalled a whopping five grand. Plus the pizza chain shut down all 20-something of its locations early last night so employees could attend the battle. Each of the bands had as a member at least one Pagliacci crew member, which is the reason the battle was put together in the first place. Que bello!