Every spring, Longwood University plays host to bands from all over the country. In the case of this year, there were even bands who have toured overseas that were present during WMLU’s 20th anniversary Bandfest.
Jason Tsai, a senior English major and member of WMLU, said the whole committee was a little worried about the calls for rain on Friday afternoon. However, co-chairs Jake King and Keith Baldwin had to make the call about whether to move inside on Thursday. Thank goodness, they chose to keep the event outside; the weather could not have been better. When the first few bands were setting up, it was unclear what the crowd was doing. But, with Oozeball going on in the background, there were people who were constantly coming and going, and it was clear that many liked what they heard, for they stuck around. People danced as the winners of Oktoberfest’s Battle of the Bands started to perform.
She’s A Legend, a band comprised of three Longwood students and another from the University of Richmond, was the first to perform as winners of Battle of the Bands. Sean Flynn, a business marketing major at Longwood, met up with Alex McDilda and started an acoustic duo under the name Grace Kelly. Then the duo met Kramer Anderson, a Longwood senior who plays drums for them. Flynn described Anderson as the “first drummer love of my life.” The three students decided to make a full band arrangement out of it and found Joe Fecondo, another Longwood student who was a member of Flynn’s Jazz Ensemble, to play bass. And thus She’s a Legend was born. In December 2012, the four recorded six songs in five days and released an EP.
I sat down with the bassist of Danko Jones, JC Calabrese, and chatted for a few minutes about life on the road and what he thought about Longwood. I learned that Danko Jones has a huge following in Europe and playing in the United States, especially in a little town like Farmville, was few and far between. Calabrese said, “It’s not a hobby or a past time, it’s our life.” Smile Empty Soul also took a few minutes to talk with me. They have always had fun playing at college campuses, and they were not let down at Longwood. I was surprised to find out that Smile Empty Soul was actually kicking off a six-week tour with fellow Bandfest performer Hurt. Speaking of Hurt, I think perhaps my favorite moment of the day came after the King, announced Hurt to the stage. During what had to have been the first or second song, the lead singer, J. Loren must have just decided to get the crowd more involved in the set; he jumped up the stage and made his way to the hill, where many students were enjoying their lunch. He walked around singing, giving high fives to people and hugging fans. There were die-hard Hurt fans in the crowd who were stunned and having a fantastic time dancing and really getting into the music.
J. Loren spoke about the “home town curse” of being from Virginia and how he was really excited that he was near his family at least for one show. He absolutely loves being able to talk to his fans and hear them say that he has affected their lives in a positive way.. It was clear that he really loved being at Longwood and being able to hang out with his fans.
At one point, I was walking around asking students who their favorite performer was so far. I got a lot of mixed answers, but I heard people say Feed God Cabbage the most. Dylan Sajbel (vocals and drums), Kevin Beisel (bass), Aaron March (guitar and rhythm) and Jared Scherer (lead guitar), were all very excited to be interviewed. Apparently, the name of the band originated from something having to do with a phone number and a text. I think the band was even a little confused at that one. Sajbel, Beisel, March and Scherer were happy and thankful to be part of such good day of music.
Immortal Technique is huge in underground rap and has a huge following on campus. Immortal Technique is a very deep person with many philosophical views. I did end up asking some people what they really wanted to know about Immortal Technique and the overwhelming response was about the true story behind the song “Dance with the Devil.” If you have never heard that song, be prepared to possibly be offended if you do listen to it. It is what some would call a controversial song about rape and the offenses that people do to others. He spoke on the fact that the story behind the song had become an urban myth and felt very strongly about the fact that someone who commits that kind of horrible violation is really violating themselves and is, in turn, trading that feeling for a timed gratification that they have to carry around with them for the rest of their life. The way he thinks about music is about really putting things into context, trying to get people to understand what he is trying to say. Immortal Technique had never been to Farmville, and everyone heard that during his performance. There were so many people that told me afterward that they were truly touched by being able to see him live. I think he really did accomplish what he came to Longwood for; he got his point across and inspired many people in the audience with his raw talent.
Little Hurricane, a duo from San Diego, Calif. also really rocked out during their set. Anthony Catalano and Celeste Spina, who have been playing music together since 2010, really enjoyed the experience of playing on a college campus. I was really interested in the story behind their song “Crocodile Tears.” They were playing together in a dive bar, which was actually called Dive Bar and were approached to write a song for a movie starring Coolio. The really cool thing is that they watched the movie and then wrote a song for it, which they thought was a super unique experience. They played “Crocodile Tears” during their set at Bandfest and got huge crowd responses.Local H, the last performer of the night, was quite the experienced group. The told stories of being in Russia and other places in Europe where they have played. The band flew all the way from the West Coast just to play at Longwood, as did Little Hurricane. I wanted to know if they liked playing at colleges and was told that it really did depend on the crowd and how into the music they were. Local H, like many of the other bands, just chose the songs they were going to play when they were on stage. There was no set list.
The organization behind Bandfest was fantastic. WMLU did a wonderful job putting the event together. Their hard work really paid off, for Bandfest 2013 was a huge success with bands from all over, alumni showing up for the 20th anniversary and current students listening to new music and having a fantastic weekend.
Anthony Catalano of Little Hurricane, originally from San Diego, performs unconventionally.