Another Kind of Buffalo was crowned winner of the Undergraduate Student Government’s Battle of the Bands just minutes after the competition ended.

The show took place in the Rathskeller on Wednesday night.

The alternative rock quintet will be the opening act for FlashFest in the M.A.C. Center on April 28. Along with the opportunity to share a stage with Bruno Mars and We the Kings, the local band received a $200 cash prize and free recording time at a local studio.

The band’s vocalist, Sam Sawan, said they plan to record an EP and will put the prize money toward “necessities” such as drum sticks and microphone stands.

“I think we’ll bring straight, solid alternative rock to a festival that will be mostly pop-oriented,” Sawan said. “Which is something you don’t get a lot of these days.”

The runner-up, Rio Vincz, will perform in Manchester Field before FlashFest. She was also awarded a headlining show at the Rathskeller and a spot on Welcome Weekend’s Blastoff 2011.

“It’s great that the crowd in attendance is represented,” said Alex Tucker, USG programming board member. “If two bands are neck-and-neck, the crowd voting will ultimately determine who wins.”

Tucker said the numbers were very close, as they have been in previous years. Pop punk quartet Exit Cleveland came in third place. The absent fourth act, All That’s Mine, had to drop out of the competition at the last minute due to personal reasons.

The judges, who counted for 75 percent of the total votes, included Gene Shelton, journalism and mass communications professor, the general manager and music director of Black Squirrel Radio, as well as the winning and runner-up acts from last year’s competition. The crowd ballots counted for the other quarter of the votes.

Another Kind of Buffalo’s Facebook page.

Contact Anthony Dominic at [email protected].