ERIKETA COST
Special to The Leader
BJ’s Bar and Grill, check.
Loud music and live bands, check.
Local Fredonia Musicians, check.
Last Call Entertainment will be hosting Candy Ambulance, Elemantra and Skulking Ghost on Sept. 12 at BJ’s Bar and Grill from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Last Call Entertainment is a company that originated in 2015 by SUNY Fredonia students, with the aim to organize gigs and promote local student musicians and bands.
Alex Vasiloff, a music industry major, speaks about his position as Assistant General Manager.
“I supervise every aspect of our Last Call team, which includes promotions, media and marketing, graphic design, show production and logistics, videographers, photographers and PR,” he said. “I make sure, as a whole, we’re accomplishing our main objective, which is to create a platform for musicians to promote their artistic abilities in a medium that is cost-efficient for new talent and consumers.”
Vasiloff and General Manager Pat Walker books the majority of the shows.
The main venue for Last Call is BJ’s Bar and Grill in Fredonia, which is a venue that’s been hosting shows since 2004.
“Last Call has a relationship with [BJ’s], and we’re able to do our thing while bringing in customers for the venue. We’ve been blessed to be able to put on shows there — it’s without a doubt the coolest and most authentic punk dive bar around!” Vasiloff said.
Candy Ambulance will be making their first appearance at BJ’s. Members are Jon Cantiello, aka “Dirtguy” and English major grad, on the drums; Caitlin Barker on vocals and guitar; and Jesse Bolduc on bass and vocals. The group has been together for four years.
“I call us pop-grunge. Most of our audience walks away saying we’re punk, but thats because of all the yelling and playing-in-our-undies business,” said Barker.
The group will be touring this September.
“We’re elated to play at BJs . . . We’re ready to let loose after a busy summer. Let’s get freaky,” said Barker.
Elemantra will also be performing that night, with their newly released third album, “To Know Better.”
Members of the band include Justin Woodmancy, media arts major at UB; Nick Beiling, political science Fredonia alumnus; Brent Bergstrom, a biochemisty Fredonia alumnus and Jonah Rosel, a music industry Fredonia alumnus.
“Our most recent method of describing our sound is ‘creamy and dreamy’ alt rock, but we really draw too many influences to pick one genre. Shoegaze, dreampop, post-punk, post-rock, alternative, noise, really any work fine,” said Rosel.
Members of the group started playing with each other in 2011, but officially formed a few years after that.
“We consider our ‘actual’ start to be late 2013 or early 2014, when we really solidified our lineup and got into the habit of consistently gigging and writing music,” said Rosel.
Lastly, Skulking Ghost is a returning group that will be also be performing that night.
Members include John Harrington, Griffin Jones, 2017 Fredonia grad; James Sprecker, junior music industry major; and Andi Pszonak, senior music industry major.
“Our style is really eclectic, so we’ve had a lot of trouble pinning down a good response to that question. Most of the time we stick towards experimental or alternative rock with some metal, garage and early hard rock influences. We also branch out into some more aggressive takes on fifties’ style ballads and jazz influences,” said Pszonak.
“We change up our sound a lot from song-to-song, but I’d like to think that it all has the signature Skulking Ghost spice,” said Sprecker.
The group strives to constantly challenge themselves, all while making the process enjoyable.
“This is by far the most fun group I’ve ever been a part of. Everyone brings a lot to the table and we challenge ourselves songwriting as you’ll see the latter half of the set,” said Harrington.
The group is excited to be performing with Elemantra again.
“I think this is the first time we’ve fit in with any of the other bands at a show. I’m pretty happy that we’re on the same show with Elemantra because we played with them in the woods and their music was exactly as weird as I was hoping it would be,” said Jones.
This show is 21+ with $1 admission, and limited under 21 access for $5.