This year’s Battle of the Bands contestants will bring everything from pop music, heavy metal and a mandolin to the stage. Get to know the bands before they take the stage at Tommy Nevin’s Pub this Thursday and Friday night.
Band Members: Kara Ali Goldsmith, Communication junior, lead vocals and rhythm guitar; Luis Pineiro, Communication sophomore, drums; Ursula Ellis, Communication junior, mandolin and back-up vocals; James Clemer, Bienen, Weinberg and McCormick sophomore, lead guitar; Nic Park, Communication junior, bass.
What are three words you would use to describe your music?
Nic Park: Jazzy folk blues rock. Blues rock hyphenated. Jazzy folk blues-rock.
Describe your first real show.
Kara Ali Goldsmith: [Battle of the Bands] will be our debut as a collective even though each of us in our own right are really fabulous musicians. I’m really happy that these guys are playing with me. I hope to keep collaborating with them, have them also write music for this collective band.
Describe your dream show.
KG: I guess for starters, Dillo Day would be awesome. [laughs]
Ursula Ellis: If they could reopen CBGB that would be a dream.
Luis Pineiro: Woodstock.
KG: Woodstock. If we could go back to the 1960s and play Woodstock, and I could meet Joni Mitchell when she was young too, that’d be awesome.
Do you have any musical and/or non-musical influences on your music?
James Clemer: I’m actually a classical guitar major, so my influences are all dead Spanish guys no one cares about. But in this group, my influences are basically U2.
KG: I’d say, if this hasn’t been made abundantly clear for me, 60s rock, Joni Mitchell and also I guess more contemporary, like some indie jam bands. I also really like Ben Folds, just throwing that out there.
LP: For me, I was in a blues club in high school, so what I’ve used in being a part of this process is everything I learned in playing blues music.
UE: So I guess for this project specifically, my influences are a lot more like alt-country stuff, kind of bringing in twang. So it’ll be like Chris Tile from Nickel Creek.
NP: Right now I’m definitely trying to listen to more R.E.M. or more of what Andrew Bird’s bass player does with him because he manages to keep things tight without being obnoxious.
What will your band bring to the stage at this year’s Battle of the Bands?
NP: I think the thing is, we’re able to play stuff that’s like at a lower volume but not at a lower energy, you know what I’m saying? If you, like, listen to our stuff, it’s like lower key, but it’s also really engaging. I think sometimes people will think they’re mutually exclusive.
JC: I think one thing that we’re going to bring that a lot of bands have a hard time doing is actually having orchestration and having dynamics.
LP: I feel like a lot of the songs, they do really start out relaxed and it kind of builds and allows the audience to get invested in the beginning and kind of like let it take over you.
If your band was an Internet meme, what would it be and why?
UE: It’s not a meme, but I think we would be that blog, [Dads are the Original Hispters].
JC: No, the Play Them Off Keyboard Cat. Have you guys seen those? Like Play Them Off, Haley Joel Osment Keyboard Cat.
KG: You know, I think because I have such an influence from the 60s and 70s, I don’t even know what a meme is.
NP: I think Keyboard Cat is pretty appropriate because there are no keyboards in this band.
Band Members: Frank Adamo, Loyola ’08, lead vocals and lead guitar player; John Picillo, Loyola ’07, bass and back-up vocals; Jake Sherin, Weinberg junior, drums; Dave Nebel, 5th year McCormick, guitar and back-up vocals. (Dave Nebel was only available for interview.)
What are three words you would use to describe your music?
Intense, heavy and stupefying. Yeah, why not?
Describe your first real show.
The first show was Reggie’s Rock Club in Chicago. It was a Battle of the Bands, and it was a lot of fun, actually. There were some nerves in the air, but we played a great show. Afterwards, we got a lot of compliments, we won the Battle of the Bands and overall it was a really good experience.
Describe your dream show.
It’s not always easy in a genre like metal, but when you can get people into it, to move around a little bit, those are the shows we always enjoy the most. You can kind of feel that, when there’s an energy in the room. The crowd and the band, you kind of just feed off it back and forth, there’s just that energy going back and forth. So that’s what you want out of the show.
Do you have any musical and/or non-musical influences on your music?
I would say some bands that we draw a lot of our inspiration from are bands like Metallica, Lamb of God, Mastodon. But then also classic rock, like Led Zeppelin, CCR, Boston, so it really melds a lot of different influences.
What will your band bring to the stage at this year’s Battle of the Bands?
The heaviest sound around. I think that we’re going to provide just a very different sound than everyone else. Whenever you put on a show, even if you don’t like the genre of music, I think you have to respect what you’re seeing in front of you, and we constantly do. So, I think we really want to show our musicianship and our energy and just really present the music the best we can, and I think that if people just appreciate music, they’ll appreciate what we have to show, what we have to offer.
If your band was an Internet meme, what would it be and why?
The Unforgivable videos. It’s basically this guy ranting towards a camera in the woods. But it’s just that he puts up this front to look like he’s really angry and upset at the world, but he breaks character often and is just laughing, and that’s kind of what we’re about. We play aggressive music, that’s what we love, but at the root of it, we’re all goofy guys. We like to just joke around with one another. So as long as people don’t take it too seriously, we like to have a good time onstage to show that we’re not actually assholes.
Band Members: Eric Cross, McCormick sophomore, lead vocals and guitar; Jeff Eiden, Communication junior, bass guitar; Dan Dozark, Bienen and Weinberg sophomore, keyboard; Chad Burstein, University of Illinois at Chicago junior, drums; Carson Potter, McCormick freshman, guitar; Emma Javois, Bienen sophomore, back-up vocals; Gabriella Kaplan, Weinberg freshman, back-up vocals. (Eric Cross was only available for interview.)
What are three words you would use to describe your music?
That’s tough. I guess pop, rock, electronic, something along that area.
Describe your first real show.
My first real show with this band was Battle of the Bands last year. With Battle of the Bands last year we had no equipment, no practice; it was two weeks before that we decided we were going to do it. And then we played, and it was great, it was really fun.
Describe your dream show.
A great show would be at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Philadelphia because that’s where I’m from. I went to so many concerts there. There’s this big lawn section, it overlooks the Delaware River, there’s always a sunset. It’s cool. It’s like the staple memory from high school.
Do you have any musical and/or non-musical influences on your music?
For musical influences, I love Billy Joel. Billy Joel is my absolute favorite. One thing I’ve always stuck by with Billy Joel is, I’ve read a lot about him and, besides the fact that he was an alcoholic and crashed his car into trees, he always tried to tell stories in his songs. I always thought I try to do that too, especially in the newer songs than the older ones.
What will your band bring to the stage at this year’s Battle of the Bands?
We have a lot more well-known original songs than other bands. I know a lot of other bands are going to be playing mainly covers or mashups. A venue like Nevin’s, it’s going to be a lot of really drunk kids who are just looking to listen to music. We’re playing mostly original songs, and I’m hoping that these original songs will provide as much energy as the other bands who are doing covers.
If your band was an Internet meme, what would it be and why?
I don’t really have an answer for that.
Band Members: Cooper Carter, Weinberg senior, lead guitar; Adam Hoffman, Emory University ’11, lead guitar and vocals; Matt Lipkins, Emory University ’11, keyboard and vocals; Jaron Pearlman, senior at the Art Institute of Atlanta, drums; Scott Schwartz, Emory University ’11, guitar and vocals; Ben Williams, Oglethorpe University ’11, bass.
What are three words you would use to describe your music?
Cooper Carter: Energetic.
Adam Hoffman: Soulful.
Jaron Pearlman: Dynamic.
Ben Williams: Loquacious.
Describe your first real show.
CC: The first show that all six of us played together was the 30A Songwriters Festival [in Florida] in January at Pandora’s to a ridiculously packed room of drunk people.
AH: That was a great show, kind of a party show.
Describe your dream show.
AH: Red Rocks in Colorado. It’s probably the most beautiful venue maybe in the world and some of the most amazing concerts have happened there, some of the best concert films have come from that venue.
CC: I’d say three out of 10 kick-ass concert DVDs are from Red Rocks.
BW: But also, as long as it sounds good, it matters very little where it is. It’s more about the band having fun and the people having fun because that’s what everyone comes there to do. So if everyone comes through on that, then the show’s a dream show.
Matt Lipkins: Dream show is when the crowd is singing the lyrics, when they’re dancing and the energy is up.
BW: We’re hoping to have one of those shows next week.
Do you have any musical and/or non-musical influences on your music?
JP: Our individual influences are really varied. As a band, there’s a lot of R&B, a lot of smart pop music. We also just kind of go off on different limbs. It’s pretty eclectic.
CC: The ironic thing is [the members of] The Shadowboxers’ rhythm section both come from hard-core metal backgrounds. Definitely 80s hair rock.
BW: Definitely rock ‘n’ roll for me and Jaron, and jazz.
What will your band bring to stage at this year’s Battle of the Bands?
Scott Schwartz: We’re bringing energy, we’re bringing a lot of soul. There’s some people who don’t know who we are, and we’re going to make them know who we are within 30 seconds.
ML: We’re going to try to make the audience feel as at home as possible.
SS: We want to break down the barrier, let everybody feel like they know us right when the song starts. We have that sort of relatability.
If your band was an Internet meme, what would it be and why?
AH: #notifyyourface
CC: It’s going to be a meme. You’ve never heard of it yet.
JP: It sounds much more abrasive than the concept actually is.
BW: Basically it means you got to act and you got to play and you got to be exactly how you feel all the time.
Band Members: Mori Einsidler, Communication sophomore, guitar and lead vocals; Sam Trusley, Weinberg senior, lead guitar; Ben Millstein Communication junior, bass and backup vocals; Andrew Abramowitz, Weinberg sophomore, drums; Emilia Barrosse, Medill sophomore, keyboard and backup vocals. (Mori Einsidler, Sam Trusley and Ben Millstein were only available for interview.)
What are three words you would use to describe your music?
Sam Trusley: Pretty fucking sweet.
Describe your first show.
Mori Einsidler: Our first show was at the Elbo Room in February. We had like 10 people come out for us. It was a really fun first show, the sound was pretty solid and the burritos that followed were superb.
Describe your dream show.
ME: I’d love to play Bonnaroo.
ST: Tech bathroom 1 a.m.
Ben Millstein: That tree, naked, ukulele animals around me.
Do you have any musical and/or non-musical Influences?
ME: My biggest influences are probably Tegan and Sara, Dashboard Confessional and Death Cab For Cutie. Life is my biggest non-musical inspiration.
ST: LSD and Glenn Beck.
BM: Condoleezza Rice and Vlad the Impaler.
What will your band bring to the stage at this year’s Battle of the Bands?
ME: Catchy tunes, high energy and Ben’s six-pack. We’re going to have a lot of fun.
ST: A life size cut out of David Hasselhoff.
BM: Lots of money for whoever votes for us.
If your band was an Internet meme, what would it be and why?
ST: What’s a meme?
BM: Is it a kind of fruit?
ME: LOLCats. Totally LOLCats because that’s actually how I talk in real life.
ST: Honey Badger. I’d put that as our inspiration.
Band Members: Sasha Bayan, Weinberg and Bienen junior, guitar and vocals; Alexander Hunt, Weinberg junior, percussion; Samuel Suggs, Bienen junior, double bass, piano and accordion.
What are three words you would use to describe your music?
Samuel Suggs: Hm…danceable. And fiery, some of it’s fiery. What we’re doing with the band is fiery. It’s Latin –
Sasha Bayan: But it’s not all Latin.
SS: It’s hard to say. What would be the best way to say it?
Alexander Hunt: Gold. Not only for the fact that our name is based around gold, but kind of like us, gold is malleable, it can be thin, it can be thick, it can be a brick, it can be round — but it still has essential properties that make it gold.
Describe your first real show.
SB: “Espresso Expressions” was what it was called and it was in the Jones Great Room.
SS: It wasn’t too big of a deal, it was pretty low key.
SB: The crowd really got it.
SS: Yeah, the crowd really liked it. I lived in Jones my freshman year and that’s where we met, so it was nice to go back there and play for them.
Describe your dream show.
SS: I don’t really think of dream shows. I’m really excited for Battle of the Bands because it’s gonna be a high energy crowd who’s interested in hearing us. I don’t have an ideal situation that I’d play in, I just really love playing live music.
Do you have any musical and/or non-musical influences?
SS: Eastern music, Latin music, Spanish music.
SB: We’re all drawing from different backgrounds. We all have our collective background in Western classical music, we’ve all studied it. We know the ropes of that. We’ve all explored jazz to one degree or another, so those are backgrounds that unify us.
AH: I take a lot of rhythms from different subsections of what the United States likes to call Latin music. So I take rhythms from Brazilian samba, I take rhythms from Afro-Cuban music. I collectively put them together and kind of take this melting pot of rhythmic music.
What will your band bring to the stage at this year’s Battle of the Bands?
AH: The first thing that came to my head was dancing. From my experience, looking at what kind of groups come and play and who gets picked and all that kind of stuff, it got me thinking. Yeah, people can kind of groove and bob their heads to other groups, but the stuff we play more or less has roots in dancing and is meant for dancing. Not only can you tap your thigh or bob your head, you can dance to it.
SB: We’re not just playing for the audience, we’re playing with them. We sort of escape the paradigm of audience and performer, because we invite the audience to join us, not only in listening, but in moving and dancing and feeling the music.
If your band was Internet meme, what would it be and why?
AH: I feel like we need to make one.
SS: I don’t know. They’re all pretty negative. Maybe socially advantageous penguin? Like the opposite of the socially awkward penguin?
AH: I’m going to go make our own now.
Band Members: Chris “Danger” Miller, Bienen senior, lead guitar; Dave “Custom” Sumberg, Bienen and McCormick senior, bass; Zack “Luscious” Levine, Weinberg senior, drums; Charlie “The Funk Dr.” Dwyer, DePaul senior, rhythm guitar; Charlie Moonbeam (Charles Haines), DePaul senior, vocals and keyboard; Big Nick the Sun (Nick McMillan) lead vocals; D-Pop Fantastic (David Haines), vocals, congas and sex appeal.
What are three words you would use to describe your music?
Chris “Danger” Miller: Well, our band name is whysowhite, so you could start with that. But three words to describe us would probably be color, dance and rhythm.
Big Nick the Sun: Color, truth and love.
Describe your first show.
CDM: Our first show was at the DePaul Student Center on October 14, 2010. It went pretty well. We were told that the Student Center hadn’t been rocked that hard in recent history.
Describe your dream show.
CDM: We’re all either from Chicago or staying in Chicago, so I guess Lollapalooza would be our dream show. We actually just opened for [Kids These Days, who are] playing in it this year.
D-Pop Fantastic: Our dream show would be on a raft in the middle of the ocean.
Big Nick the Sun: Or on our own island, and we could pay for everyone’s flight there.
D-Pop Fantastic: And we would play forever. There would also be free boat rides.
Dave “Custom” Sumberg: Or we can ferry everyone there and serve hors d’oeuvres.
CDM: It’ll be like a drive-in movie but using a boat and on our own island.
Do you have any musical and/or non-musical influences?
CDM: We have so many influences, but I’d say life is our biggest influence, as corny as that sounds. We talk about philosophy and all forms of art, films, comedians, like people in the band are trained stage actors and comedians. We all read a lot, too, and are fascinated by words. Our three main vocalists are all wordsmiths. Musically though, The Roots are probably our biggest influence. But with seven people you have innumerable influences.
Big Nick the Sun: Burritos, burritos are a definite influence. And Aladdin.
Charlie Moonbeam: No, that’s not an influence of mine. I think Seinfeld is a major influence on the band.
Big Nick the Sun: The Incredible Bongo Band and Chicken Shack.
DCS: Color theory.
What will your band bring to the stage at this year’s Battle of the Bands?
CDM: The highest energy show you’ll see in a while with a huge, seven person sound. We’ll let people dance for a long, long time.
Big Nick the Sun: We’ll bring free love at Dillo Day…and big hugs.
CDM: It’ll be like a roller coaster everyone can fit on.
If your band was an Internet meme, what would it be and why?
CDM: We’re original enough that we aren’t a stereotypical joke like Internet memes.
CM: Two Camels and a Tiny Car.
DCS: Not “Cat Standing on a Couch?”
CM: Because in what context is that the case?
Band Members: Doug Kaplan, Communication senior, guitar, drums, vocals and the omnichord (electronic auto harp from the 80s).
What are three words you would use to describe your music?
Loops, noisy, melodic.
Describe your first real show.
Seventh grade talent show. I played Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here.” It was a long time ago, though. I sang and played the guitar. Everyone liked it, I didn’t mess up, had only been playing guitar for a while, played on a 12-string electric that I got for a week before on eBay.
Last year I started performing with these specific songs and the technology I’m using. It was in the fall of 2010 where I played a show at the Subterranean in Wicker Park, and I played because they offered our band [The Earth is a Man] a slot to play, but our guitarist was still abroad, so I played solo.
Describe your dream show.
I wouldn’t break any strings and a lot of my friends would be there and everybody would be happy and everyone would know when to clap and when not to clap.
Do you have any musical and/or non-musical influences on your music?
Sonic Youth, Nick Drake, Delicate Steve, Dustin Wong, Robert Fripp, Brian Eno.
What will your band bring to the stage at this year’s Battle of the Bands?
I’ll be generating the most noise from one person.
If your band was an Internet meme, what would it be and why?
Not really an Internet-y person, to be honest. I have no idea. I‘ve been interviewed a good amount, and this is probably the hardest problem I’ve ever been asked.