CHLOE KOWALYK
News Editor
Unforgettable.
That’s a word many have used to describe the local music scene in Fredonia, N.Y.
A music-lover can go into any show: a house venue, a bar show or even a campus event and they’ll instantly recognize how unique Fredonia’s music scene is.
When you walk into the doors of a house show, you’re instantly hit with a wave of love.
The bands are friends with the crowd, and everyone is connected.
When the music hits you, it runs through you, filling your veins with that sweet Fredonia allure that you couldn’t possibly get from any other local scene.
Moshing at a show connects you with both the artists and the crowd not just physically, but rather in a metaphysical sense of connection that no global pandemic can break.
When you join the scene, you’re tied in. You’re accepted. You’re loved.
Prior to COVID-19, the local music scene was more alive than ever, with venues such as the Creek House, The Light House and The Dentist’s Office housing some of the most memorable shows in Fredonia music scene history.
Halle Cook, a senior English adolescent education major, recalls times in her freshman year that she would attend shows.
Cook’s first show in Fredonia’s music scene was Cheap Peach, a local band from Buffalo, N.Y. at the Creek House.
She saw them play during her second week at SUNY Fredonia and said that when she got inside, “the music [was] just booming.”
Max Sheedy, a senior video production and public relations major with a minor in film studies, said that the 2019 Rockin’ the Commons, a fundraising event organized by Fredonia Radio Systems for Roswell Cancer Institute, was a special memory to him.
He said he got involved in the local music scene because he “wanted to always feel as good as [they] did that day.”
But, when COVID-19 cocked its ugly head towards Fredonia’s prepossessing music scene, the scene didn’t die.
It didn’t get sick. It didn’t wither away.
Instead, it stayed alive — and not just inside the hearts of those who went to the scene before.
The scene was still going, and in a way that kept everyone safe.
North Pole Strip Club (NPSC), a house venue, held shows online. They live-streamed on YouTube from the basement where bands like The Burkharts and Tooth played live sets for at-home audiences.
Despite the pandemic, the music scene kept rolling.
NPSC, previously known as The 37, became a staple of the post-pandemic scene. Shows were held in the NPSC basement for eight years.
Recently, bands and artists such as Fernway, Citrus Maxima, Tsunami Surprise, Johnny and The Man Kids, Carpool, Beach Tower, Cheap Peach, Violent Graffiti, Dylan Murawksi and Jake King and the Wired Band have become well-known and loved in the local scene.
Still more, who have not been mentioned, have had a major influence on the scene, and should be recognized.
Fredonia’s music scene has had an impact on many. It’s meant a lot to many, and the world to some.
This is how the many bands, artists, venues and students would define their local music scene, and furthermore, their stories.
The Music Scene at a Music School
SUNY Fredonia is, as most know it, a music school.
With over 500 music and music industry students enrolled in the college, according to the school’s website, Fredonia hosts a large number of students either a music program itself, or those who have an interest in it.
“Compared to other local colleges in Western N.Y., the amount of talent and creative energy that comes out of Fredonia is pretty astonishing. It doesn’t matter what genre it is, so much great music comes out of the local scene there,”
Dillon Slater of Cheap Peach
Jake King of Jake King and The Wired Band isn’t even a music major. Rather, he studies English.
John Marciniak of the band Johnny and The Man Kids said, “Everyone gets to be a rockstar in Fredonia and it’s a beautiful place.”
Fredonia’s music scene is one to welcome anyone — an attribute of the scene that many performers and students alike have come to enjoy.
Experience
To truly experience Fredonia’s music scene, you have to be there. You have to live it.
You have to get yourself in that mosh pit and feel yourself being pushed to the melody of the local scene.
Or, better yet, you have to get on that stage and perform until you physically can’t anymore.
Cheap Peach, mentioned above as the band playing in Cook’s very first show, has had a heavy impact on Fredonia’s music scene.
The band was formed back in 2016 and is made up of Tyler Will on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Dillon Slater on lead guitar, Jade Hoch on bass and backing vocals, Brendan Ryan on drums and Reilly Brouillard on keys.
Since the band’s creation, a plethora of experiences with Fredonia’s music scene weaseled their way into the hearts of the members and audience.
Slater said his favorite part about playing in Fredonia’s music scene is playing at house shows. “The energy radiating off the crowd gets us pumped and makes us play even better,” he said.
Beach Tower, a band which started right here in Fredonia, N.Y. in 2019, has found their home in Fredonia’s local music scene. The band is composed of Evan Donnelly on bass guitar and piano, Cascio Fonseca on lead vocals, Joey Porth on drums, Ryan Terry on lead guitar, Johnny Zareski on rhythm guitar and backing vocals and Connor Bessey-Nolan, who works on management and serves as the band’s hype-man.
Terry has found who he truly is through Fredonia’s music scene. “I love the Fredonia music scene,” Terry said. “I feel it has deeply affected the way I view myself and what I believe a community should be. I’m a rather anxious person, so this scene has allowed me to come out of my shell and be a person I can say I’m proud of.”
That’s just what the local scene means to those who occupy it: a way to find yourself.
This has been especially true for Ryan of Cheap Peach. He said, “The local music scene means everything to me as it’s given me a home and opportunity to push myself [to] places where I didn’t know were possible. I’ve found a place to grow musically and personally alongside my best friends and people who love the energy of live performances.”
Many of those in the audience have felt the impact of the local music scene as well.
Sheedy said, “Before I found the scene, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to still be at Fredonia. I wanted to transfer, [but] discovering this little hidden scene changed everything for me and had a huge impact on my college experience.”
The local music scene in SUNY Fredonia is unique.
It connects people, helps them find themselves and gives people a place where they feel they truly belong.
Community
Fredonia’s accepting and community-based scene is what several artists who performed there tend to remember most.
One such band is Johnny and The Man Kids, which was started seven years ago with John Marciniak and Andi Pszonak on guitar, Tyler Marciniak on bass and Alex Bogart on drums.
“The local music scene in Fredonia is the best in the world in my humble opinion,” John Marciniak said. “We were accepted with open arms and played to people we’ve never met before who sing along to every song we play.”
Perhaps one of the most impactful aspects of the scene is the close connection between bands, performers and viewers.
Dan Doyle of NPSC said “the love, support and the close knit community” is what makes Fredonia’s music scene unique.
“I’ve been to a lot of other DIY spaces around the country, and it’s extremely hard to find a place like this — a place that means so much more to people than just a house venue. There are more people with NPSC tattoos than I have fingers and toes,” Doyle continued.
NPSC has hosted many of the bands that have played in Fredonia.
One such band is Jake King and The Wired Band, which started last semester in fall 2021. The band is composed of Jake King on lead vocals, Felix Kellogg on guitar, Miles Pierce on bass and Cameron Bunch on drums.
King said, “People in Fredonia are generally excited to see music, which is weird, they come out and they know your band… there’s like a tight knit little circle of people who are just familiar.”
Starjuice, a band from Buffalo, N.Y. with Sidney Flanigan on vocals and guitar, Corey Wilde on bass, Spencer Eck on drums and Jake Maurer on lead guitar, saw the Fredonia community come together at the Soulstice Jam event on April 23, 2022 organized by Fredonia’s Music Industry Club.
“The local music scene is like a home. It’s more than a scene, it’s a community, a family. It’s a place where multiple mediums and forms of expression meet and collaborate.”
Members of the Band, Starjuice.
Starjuice continued, “We lift each other up, empower one another, give each other a place to feel safe and grow and feel unified. We change the world by changing each other. We all have our place and something special to offer by being who we are.”
Terry of Beach Tower also said he firmly believes that “anyone present in the music-making process is involved in said process, which makes live performance one of the most satisfying things in the world to me … hearing people react to what we’re doing in the ways that they do reaffirms to me that this truly is something we should be doing.”
Fredonia’s music scene has a community that you won’t find anywhere else. It’s strong and full of love.
Future
The future of the local music scene in Fredonia, N.Y. is still a mystery.
After COVID-19 shut down many venues and shows, the scene is still trying to recuperate. Plus, the closure of NPSC has left many with a hole in their hearts.
Some have speculated that some old house venues may open back up to fill the gap left by NPSC’s closing.
Shows at BJ’s and other bars in Fredonia are set to continue next year.
And, with COVID-19 restrictions loosening, more on-campus concerts and events are happening at SUNY Fredonia.
Cook even suspects that local music scene venues may “double” next semester.
But, many of the rumors floating around campus and the local scene are just that — rumors.
To find out the true future of the local music scene in Fredonia, we’ll just have to wait until next semester.