BANGOR – Zivi Krieger is out to spread the gospel of ska.

He and his band, the Ska Rockets, along with four other area high school groups, played at the third annual Battle of the Bands Saturday night at the Hammond Street YMCA.

“We played our first show ever at the first battle of the bands in 2003,” Krieger said, excited after a high-octane set that kicked off the night. The five-member group, featuring Bangor High School students Zack Bence, Andy Eyerar, Rachel Weisman, Matt Ireland and Krieger, played an interactive brand of ska, commanding the audience to skank – the distinctive dance all ska fans know.

The Battle of the Bands was sponsored by the Interact Leaders Club, a youth group affiliated with the Bangor area Breakfast Rotary. With 18 active members, the group puts on many events throughout the year, including a Halloween carnival and the Bangor Y’s Spring Fair.

Isaac Rosen, president of the club and a Bangor High senior, says Saturday night’s event is one of the most fun things they are able to do.

“It’s a great chance to get some people together to play,” he said. “We get a lot of people to come every year.”

This year’s event drew nearly 200 people of all ages, raising more than $1,000 for the group, which supports various causes.

“Our global project this year is helping out the Youth AIDS Organization,” said Nancy Cambridge, adviser for the group and Youth and Family Director for the Y. “We also sponsor the art program at the Jackman School, and we put together gift bags at Christmas for people at Acadia Hospital.”

One popular band at the show was Oddly Appropriate, a five-piece group of Bangor High School students. Citing influences such as Dave Matthews Band, Guster and Radiohead, the band’s funky, laid-back style seemed to be a crowd favorite.

“We’ve been together for a year and a half,” said junior Elias Rosenblatt, who plays congas, bongos and other hand drums. He played so energetically he managed to break his djembe, a type of drum, partway through the set.

Daybreak Red, the only band on the bill not from Bangor High, has only been together for a month and a half, but were confident about the show that night. The Nokomis High School students rocked out some pop-punk, along with similarly minded Bangor High School band Children at Play.

Both bands recalled pop-punk favorites Green Day and Blink-182, though Children at Play’s Sam Chase, a sophomore, says he has a special name for the kind of music his band plays.

“I call our style ‘apple-core’,” he said. “We don’t want people to think of us just as pop-punk, so we made up our own terminology.”

There was no need to distinguish them from other bands, however, as Children at Play’s guitarist sported a gorilla mask throughout their set.

SLR rounded out the night, though the group announced they would be changing their name from SLR to Linden as of that night.

“SLR stands for Straight Like Ron, but we liked Linden better,” said Parker Harris, a sophomore at Bangor High. “We want to branch out and play stuff that’s different from the kind of post-hardcore, heavier emo stuff we’ve been doing.”

The crowd seemed to be enjoying themselves that night, dancing and jumping to the music and milling around with friends.

“People love to come out and see live music,” said Rosen. “It’s a great time.”

The Interact Leaders Club’s next event will be a fashion show, sponsored by J.C. Penney, at 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 8, at Eastern Maine Community College’s Rangeley Hall. Tickets are $15, and food and live music will be provided. For more information, call 941-2815.