BETHANY CLANCY
Staff Writer
This past week at BJ’s, three bands that have never played at the bar before, took the stage.
Opening the show was Fredonia’s own Eerie Shores. Eerie Shores is a four-piece pop/punk band that mixes in other genres like blues and alternative rock. Although this isn’t their first show in the area, it was their first time hitting the stage at BJ’s — which is quite the accomplishment.
The band is made up of Dan Calderone, a sophomore double major in music industry and communications, Alex Vasiloff, James Sprecker and Cheihk Proctor. They played mostly originals and then covered A Will Away’s “My Sitter” halfway through the set. Towards the end of the performance, they even invited a Fredonia favorite, senior exercise physiology major Jorian Holka, up to sing a song.
When it comes to local music and local shows in the Fredonia scene, Calderone said, “There’s so many talented musicians here of every genre just waiting for their chance to play, so places like BJ’s, the houses and the college itself gives the perfect place for people to start their career.” He continued with, “BJ’s especially is such a staple venue to Fredonia in the sense that if you play there, you feel like your band is ready to be taken seriously in the industry.”
Up next was American Nosebleed. This show was a big deal for them because it was actually their first show ever. Most members of the group had played BJ’s before, however they had never played together as a band. The members hail from different groups like The Traditional and Super American, which always bring a big crowd to the venue.
Fredonia’s music scene has a lot of roots in pop/punk, so American Nosebleed brought a new type of sound to the stage. Vocalist Anthony Musior has an angry yell to his voice, making the band have a sound more like Bungler or Turnstile.
“Having heavier bands isn’t too far off from the bands we usually bring. Bungler used to play here a lot, and we’ve definitely had bands that are more on the hardcore/punk side come through before,” said Lexi Reyngoudt, a senior audio/radio production major. “It’s kind of like a breath of fresh air to have a band with heavy riffs and vocals, since we don’t have them often, and I could tell the crowd was loving it.”
Closing out the show was Ghostpool. Relatively new to the Buffalo music scene, Ghostpool has a heavy mix of pop/punk, with an emphasis on the punk in their sound. Since their start, they have been pretty quiet up until this winter. With a sound similar to Joyce Manor and Title Fight is no doubt that they were a crowd favorite.
Reyngoudt further commented on Fredonia’s local music scene.
“It’s really important because it helps bring people together,” she said. “Building this local scene has been such a treat because no matter what band comes through Fredonia, there are bound to be people in the crowd who fall in love with the band and want that band to keep coming back.”