Citizens of Rexburg might have heard Bands, Bands, Bands on Wednesday night with the bass beats cranked up to the max.

Rexburg Housing invited five rock bands to perform four to five songs for the concert in the Rexburg Tabernacle.

Kim Chantrill, Rexburg Housing marketing manager, said they hosted the band concert for their residents. Audience members could get in for free by showing their Rexburg Housing card that they receive when they move to a Rexburg Housing approved unit.

“We host two to three things a year [for our residents] because we really like to encourage kids with talent,” Chantrill said. “Rexburg doesn’t offer them enough opportunities to perform.”

The Fortunate Son opened the concert with guitar, voice and synthesized sounds working together to create rock music.

The Ben Mathews Project next played songs such as “Fine Line” by Paul McCartney and the Beatles’s song, “Help.” Ben Mathews, a senior from Thousand Oaks, Calif., started the band only a week before it performed on Wednesday, but he had played before in school bands with his different band members.

The Ben Mathews Project also played a song written by Mathews called “Anatomy of Shakedown,” which got people to stand up in front of the stage and rock back and forth to the beat.

“I’ve been writing music since I was sixteen,” Mathews said. “I’m a jazz studies major so that helped [me know how to write music]. But before college I had no training except for piano lessons as a kid.”

Halfway through Bands, Bands, Bands, Rexburg Housing had a ticket drawing for prizes. Audience members won items including an iPod, Lord of the Rings trilogy DVDs, gift certificates to Hollywood Video, a $25 gas card and a personal DVD player.

First Estate, a band formed in September, also performed original songs, such as “Leave it up to Me” and “Carolee,” written by Will Anderson, a senior from Keller, Texas.

“I love playing with guys who are super talented. Everything comes together so easily,” Anderson said. “[But to be in a band,] it takes time and hard work.”

Searching for Todd Kennedy, which just released a CD, also played at Bands, Bands, Bands, followed by Trace.

“I really liked Trace because they got everybody dancing and everyone was into their music,” said Squire Johnson, a freshman from Walla Walla, Wash. “I thought the concert was great.”