(Bethany Clancy/Staff Photographer)
BETHANY CLANCY
Staff Writer
What’s a better way to spend your Saturday morning after a long night out with friends than being in the on-campus Tim Hortons? Being in the Tim Hortons when Rhythm and Brews is going on. Set up by the Music Industry Club, three musical acts play acoustically every so often on Saturdays at noon.
Matt and Alex, an R&B duo, started off the show. They did two covers and two original songs which they opened up about. Singer Matt Usack had no problem getting personal and sharing what his songs were about. The first original was a heartfelt flashback on how he and and his best friend used to hang out before his friend began battling AIDS. They covered Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine” which had everybody bopping along, even if they were just getting their morning coffee. They closed out their four-song set with a more uplifting original. When introducing it, Usack said that, “You can’t really grasp the meaning of this song, it’s hard to explain, it’s about doing what you want to do and overall being satisfied with the life you live.”
With their catchy rhythms and memorable lyrics, Matt and Alex had everyone feeling good by the end of their set. More of Matt’s original music can be listened to at MattUsackMusic on SoundCloud.
The second act up was a group that went by Johnny and the Man Kids. The influence from The White Stripes and The Strokes was obvious in their original songs, so much that they covered The White Stripes’ “Fell In Love With A Girl” followed by “Still Together” by Mac DeMarco. The three original songs they performed were catchy with the indie/alternative vibe they had going on. The last song they played, “I’m Just A Man” was just released and is on Spotify. It is their only song up on Spotify as of now, but they are working on adding more.
Closing out this week’s Rhythm and Brews was John Vaughan of Kill The Clock. His first song was all instrumental, featuring him playing around with backbeats. He mentioned how much he loved the American Football tuning for his guitar and specifically wrote the second song he played in that band’s tuning.
He followed up with a song he wrote with Mike Tomasulo for their band JVX called “Love You Still.” After fumbling around for a few minutes on figuring out what song to cover, he switched it up and played “Placeholder” by The Story So Far. Vaughan ended his set with an original song he wrote about having a very fun time in Wegmans and using the chorus of Blink-182’s “First Date” to finish it off.
All three acts were different from one another but still made for a great Rhythm and Brews.