NAOMI LYNCH
Staff Writer
For the first time in three years, Fredonia will have a concert with a headliner — but instead of having it on what used to be FRED Fest weekend, the concert will be held Sunday, April 12, at Steele Hall Fieldhouse. Two bands will be coming to rock the stage: critically acclaimed Hellogoodbye and WNY natives X Ambassadors.
So what prompted the return of the headliner?
“When we were looking at the decision to end FRED Fest, [it] led to what comes next — how do we grow from this, what do we do with it? Instead of giving up a huge event, we decided to morph it into something else,” said Stephanie Willis, the president of Spectrum Entertainment Board.
“Going back on its roots about what Spectrum used to do, which was more headliner and concert based, we were kinda able to make a return with that and also keep the Dinosaur BBQ. A lot of it does stem from the ending of FRED Fest, but I think that we’re moving in positive directions, and we’re getting to do things that we couldn’t do before that are really making a difference for our club and and the students in it,” Willis said.
But is the campus really ready for another headliner after the fiasco that Lupe brought with him in 2012?
Willis thinks so.
FRED Fest 2012 was a year before her time, but she believes “by having this concert earlier in the year and on a Sunday, we can sort of avoid the whole Friday and Saturday night of FRED Fest “let’s destroy everything mentality.”
From the moment Spectrum was informed early last fall that FRED Fest would no longer be a event, Willis and her board immediately began planning to still have a concert.
“When you look at it, there’s a lot that goes into the booking process, and most people have no idea … there’s so many details we’re currently going through and coming through and making sure everything’s put together,” Willis said when it came down to choosing the musical guests.
“We took a poll at the beginning of the fall semester what kind of artists [the students] wanted to see brought to campus, and it was that indie-pop/alternative was exactly what we got [the most responses from.]”
And Hellogoodbye and X Ambassadors fit the Fredonian bill for what students wanted to hear.
Hellogoodbye has been around since 2001, most known for their 2006 breakout single “Here (In Your Arms),” which was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. They gained traction when they released their first self-titled EP in 2004. They’ve been through a load of different band members, but frontman Forrest Kline has always remained the same and so has his band’s distinct “power pop” sound.
Their most recent album, “Everything is Debatable,” was released in 2013, and the four-piece band has been touring since then. Touring is important to the band: they toured for two years before releasing their debut full length album, “Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!,” in 2006. Their most recent single is “I Wanna See The States,” a promotional single for PBS’s Learning Media, to assist children with geology lessons. They’re incredibly active on Twitter, often tweeting humorous tweets to their almost 30,000 followers.
X Ambassadors are Western New York natives who’ve had minor popularity that began when their song “Unconsolable” was featured in the 2012 video game “Need For Speed: Most Wanted.” Their song “Litost” was also featured in the 2013 feature film “The Host.” But the band said in a 2013 interview with Teen Vogue that their true claim to fame came when Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds heard “Unconsolable” on the radio and asked his friend Alex Da Kid to sign them to his label on Interscope Records ASAP.
The band is made up of brothers Sam and Casey Harris, Noah Feldshuh and Adam Levin. The first three grew up in Ithaca, NY, before relocating to Brooklyn and meeting Levin at The New School in Manhattan, NY. Between touring nearly non-stop, the quartet has released the Love Songs Drug Songs EP and The Reason EP, the most recent featuring their chart-topping single with Jamie Commons, “Jungle.”
This year is shaping up to be a big one for these men — they recently announced on Twitter that their debut album “VHS” will be released this June. The lead single “Renegades” has been making its rounds since it was released on March 3, 2015, and was featured in a Jeep commercial. The sound of the band is “a patchwork of different genres,” said Sam in the Teen Vogue interview, but they have a unique sound that will definitely be making waves in the near future when their debut album is released later in the year.
There are still tickets available, Willis said.
“We have a couple promotional ways you can get a free ticket — retweeting our poster is the one we’re doing right now,” Willis said.
The tickets are five dollars for students, $10 for guests and $20 for the general public.
“I think that Fredonia has such an interest in the music scene that bringing professional artists in is something that’s less to be overlooked,” Willis said.
Hellogoodbye, X Ambassadors and Fredonia’s own New Masons will be playing Sunday, April 12, in Steele Hall. Doors open at 6:30 pm.