MASSENA - A local band hopes to open for Godsmack, Shinedown, Papa Roach and more Aug. 25 at The Syracuse Fairgrounds, but they need the public’s help.

With one day of voting remaining, Doc Rhythm is participating in the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands competition for the Syracuse region, and they’re asking supporters to cast their votes online before the deadline.

The group is comprised of Ben LaValley on vocals and guitar, Matt Wargo on bass and Greg Currier on drums.

The competition has been taking place for about six weeks, according to Mr. LaValley, and Doc Rhythm was leading the pack as of Wednesday.

“We found out about it on the Internet. There was a lot of time for voting. The challenging part was to keep people voting for us. You can only do it once a day,” he said.

“In terms of votes, we’re leading by a significant amount for the Syracuse region. I believe we’re somewhere between fourth and sixth nationwide,” Mr. LaValley said.

He said they’ll find out the winner on Saturday.

“They’ll contact us and let us know if we indeed get the spot,” he said.

If they win the Syracuse region, they’ll be playing the UpRoad Festival in Syracuse. The band that wins the entire competition will play 20 dates in the 2013 tour, according to Mr. LaValley.

“There’s only one grand prize winner. That’s a pretty big deal if you can win the entire thing,” he said.

Votes can be placed at http://battle.rockstaruproar.com/u/docrhythm. You can also find out more about the band by visiting their website www.docrhythm.com.

Since forming, Doc Rhythm has released two full-length albums, the first which was recorded in 2009 and the second that was recorded in 2010. They have also won multiple awards, been named artist to watch by the nationally published magazine “Skope” and performed publicly on a regular basis over the last two years.

“Basically I had played in quite a few cover bands over the years. I just wanted to play with an original band and write songs,” Mr. LaValley said.

The group has played locally from Massena to Malone to Waddington, he said.

“The first couple of years we played more locally,” he said.

They have since branched out to other areas.

“We did a show in Ottawa last summer. We just played Atlantic City, New Jersey this past weekend. We’re starting to get more gigs like that. We’re trying to get more shows,” he said.

The group rehearses three or four times a month, Mr. LaValley said, “sometimes once a week or every other week. We have families and jobs. That makes it really tough.”.

Mr. LaValley balances the band with website design and computer repair at Northern Computers and Technology in downtown Massena.

Doc Rhythm’s next show is Friday at The Livestock in Lisbon, and then they’ll await the news on Saturday to find out if they’ll be playing The UpRoad Festival in Syracuse.

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