Concert unites campus bands

By Moira Gleason Collegian Reporter

With a range of genres from Irish music to progressive rock and motown, eight student bands showcased their talent on April 4 for the SAI benefit concert in Plaster Auditorium.

The concert was hosted by the Sigma Mu chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota, the Hillsdale women’s music fraternity. Proceeds from the concert went to SAI Philanthropies, a nonprofit organization that supports music education projects such as providing instruments and music programs in schools.

Sophomore Emily Griffith, president of SAI, said the idea of a benefit concert featuring music fraternities and campus bands has been in the works all semester.

“During a chapter meeting one day, we were saying that there are so many amazing bands on campus,” Griffith said. “A lot of them are bigger bands that perform in CHP, and a lot of them are just single people or a duo that do things like Concert on the Quad. We really wished there was a way for everybody to come together to do a single performance, and we realized that this would be a good opportunity for that to happen. And then also by charging a small fee for entry, we could have people vote for a winner and also raise money for SAI philanthropies.”

Griffith performed with fellow sophomore SAI members Fiona Muller and Phoebe VanHeyningen with their trio band, Tuition and Fees.

“We put together a set of songs that we’ve performed previously around campus and at Rough Draft,” Griffith said. “It was really nice being able to perform as SAI members because usually we try to disassociate from SAI when we are performing as a band because we don’t want people to just think that we’re SAI members– and that’s it because the band is a separate thing. It was really nice being able to come together and use our musical talents for the music frat through the band.”

According to VanHeyningen, performing in Plaster was a new experience for Tuition and Fees, which usually performs completely acoustic at Rough Draft.

“It was different because we actually had a stage and we couldn’t see the audience because it was dark,” VanHeyningen said. “But ultimately, once we start singing, it’s not that different. You just connect with each other, and you look at each other, and you just go.”

While Tuition and Fees stuck to their usual sound with covers of indie-style songs in three-part harmony, the Schizmatics and Diet of Worms took the venue shift as an opportunity to try a slightly different sound.

The Schizmatics performed a set list of chill classics like “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears.

Diet of Worms followed with a few classic motown songs including “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Hit the Road Jack,” and finished with “Forget You” by Celo Green.

According to freshman and Diet of Worms pianist Erik Teder, the transition from pop music to motown was natural for the band.

“Aidan and Rachel both have really great voices,” Teder said. “I feel like a lot of the songs that we play don’t showcase the fact that they have really nice soulful voices because a lot of pop songs don’t in general. For me, it was really cool to hear both of them sing in a much more comfortable style.”

The new student band Larry Arnn and the Liberal Artists, composed mostly of Diet of Worms members, made their debut by covering multiple Rush songs, as well as “Every breath You Take” by The Police and “Dean Town” by Vulfpeck.

Teder said junior Carter McNish formed the group as a Rush cover band. They don’t have a lead singer yet, so they pulled freshman Aidan Christian, the lead singer of Diet of Worms, from the audience to sing for the concert.

“I think we’re still finding our direction as a group,” Teder said. “Most of what we’re focused on playing is stuff that is more technically interesting, like Rush and ‘Dean Town’ and things like that.”

HillsGaelic, Hillsdale’s Irish music band, took the stage following Larry Arnn and the Liberal Artists and won the vote/award for fan favorite.

“It was a close race,” Griffith said, “but they put on very touching renditions of some classic Irish songs that were very fun, and they won the audience over.”

Two duos, Jillian and Abigail; and Big Mac, also played before Diet of Worms closed out the evening.

Griffith said that she was impressed by the variety of musical genres represented in the concert.

“There wasn’t actually a theme,” Griffith said. “But it did end up being really diverse because we had people that were more indie like Tuition and Fees, which has like some bluegrass influence, and HillsGaelic obviously has Irish influence. But then you have people like the Schizmatics and Diet of Worms who are doing songs you hear on the radio with a bigger band, so I guess depending on what time of the night you came in, there was a wide range of music that was performed.”

Freshman Catherine Graham said she enjoyed the range of music and the opportunity to see bands that usually play at events like Jukebox and CHP expand into new genres.

“It was really neat to see the Schizmatics and Diet of Worms in that setting because they were able to play slower songs and explore different genres than they normally play at their gigs,” Graham said. “I thought they sounded really good, and it was neat to be able to see that creative range. It was also really neat to go to the lobby in between sets and hear the different artists talking to each other and being really supportive of each other.”

Senior and SAI fundraising chair Mikela St. John said she was impressed by the turnout. With over 100 people coming in and out throughout the evening, SAI was able to raise over $300 for music education. After SAI almost went inactive last year, St. John said, she is happy that the fraternity is growing again and hopes that the benefit concert will become an annual event.

“It’s been really fun to watch how much we’ve grown with membership and also now we actually have an on-campus presence for the first time in a really long time,” St. John said. “So it’s just a joy to watch it all grow.”

VanHeyningen said that she was grateful for the opportunity to perform with her SAI sisters and enjoy the talents of other musical students on campus.

“It really made me realize that this is what I’m going to remember about college,” VanHeyningen said. “Creating music and watching my friends create music and just enjoying things like that. It’s not going to be exams or anything. It’s going to be blowing off exams to watch my friends perform and do what they love.”