JORDAN BUDD
Staff Writer
There’s a long running history of rock shows being played in and around college campuses during the spooky season.
The annual Sound Services Halloween concert, Rocktoberfest, returned to the Williams Center Multipurpose Room (MPR) on Oct. 28.
Elena Fitzgerald, the treasurer for Sound Services, booked the three bands for Rocktoberfest.
When putting together a lineup, she was cognizant of what would sound good in the MPR as well as what would draw a crowd.
She said, “Generally speaking, Rocktoberfest has been an event where there’s usually some sort of heavier music.” While keeping that in mind, she also thought about how that would sound in the physical space of the MPR.
Elena didn’t want to lean too much into a heavy lineup, as it would result in a drowned out sound. On the other hand, a softer, more stripped back performance would be too tiny for the large hall. She looked for a perfect in-between.
She said, “Generally, we keep it to two on-campus, one off-campus.”
The lineup features We Were Blank, a band from Buffalo and two Fredonia groups, The Ryan Terry Family Band and Edelwood Creek. All three bands include either current Fredonia students or alumni.
We Were Blank dressed as Mario characters, Edelwood Creek were wrapped in Mystery Inc. garb and The Ryan Terry Family Band came as characters from Batman.
The first group to take the spider web strewn stage is The Ryan Terry Family Band.
This band is a newer one on campus that features familiar faces for those acquainted with the Fredonia music scene. Their lineup currently includes Sasha McCoy, Evan Donnelly, McClain Hinkler and the frontman Ryan Terry. The group, somewhat of a Fredonia scene coalition, features members from Beach Tower, Sasha McCoy & Co. and Violent Graffiti.
The band started off the night with an unreleased Sasha McCoy original called “Auto Zombification.” The song swaggered at a medium tempo complete with a jazzy drum part, alt-country twang, and some ripping guitar solos from Ryan Terry.
Later on in their set, “Mezzanine” gradually filled the room with a warm indie rock sound. The instrumentalists placed emphasis on the sad earworm chorus within the dramatic slowburner from Ryan Terry’s 2023 debut, “Daydreamers.”
The group launched into a tenacious cover of “Destroyed by Hippie Powers” by Car Seat Headrest. Terry’s growly vocals peak in the hollering chorus. The cover was also played at their debut Fredonia set, which was at the first BJ’s show this semester.
Terry outlined the differences between playing on campus in the MPR versus other venues outside the college’s borders. He said “There’s definitely a different energy when it comes to playing on campus. I think [for] campus gigs the audiences are less energetic, and I think part of that is the space, the MPR is huge.” He referred to how when audience members are closer together, the show can feel alot more lively.
He continued saying, “The MPR seems to be more [chill] versus something like Main St. or Creek House, where things get a lot more intense.”
Hinkler praised Rocktoberfest. He said, “I’ve been playing a lot of bar gigs the past couple of months and it’s good and well, but it’s just unfamiliar faces that are just there because they’re there for no particular reason. But everyone at Rocktober fest tonight wants to hear good music and have a good time, and it’s just nice to be a part of that.”
At the end of their performance they covered “Psycho Killer” by The Talking Heads, another band, admittedly a bit more well-known, who also once played at BJ’s.
Singing the chorus to the classic song and halloween favorite, Terry’s costume as DC Comics’ Joker stood out more than before. Breaking his eternal evil sneer, his facial expression filled with a focused passion while he sang the Talking Heads’ debut hit.
As this performance finished, the following group, Edelwood Creek, took the stage.
Their first song has an interesting title, “A Bird Won’t Rest On A Lion’s Fang.” The name reflects a more experimental section where Dennis McAndrew, the group’s lead guitarist, emulates a telephone-like beeping sound with his instrument.
As his guitar tone bleeps and sputters, I’m half expecting a serious voice to interrupt over an intercom warning us to evacuate. This section felt dire.
The rhythm guitarist, Michael Tumbaco’s discordant strums build up towards a dramatic reentrance from Hunter Lares, the lead vocalist. McAndrew ushers the group into a heavy breakdown with a mangled, dirty guitar lead rife with distortion.
Next up was “Moon,” an action-packed original that features a raucous beginning. Lares is a dynamic performer, leaning forward in his scooby doo onesie, and kicking his legs up like an excited dog.
As the song finished, Lares referred back to the group’s first ever performance at Battle of the New Bands in 2021, which took place in the same room. He said, “It’s cool to be back here.”
Since that initial show, the group’s lineup has changed slightly, adding a new drummer, named Hayden Battaglia, and bass player, Caden Leder.
Lares teased the followup saying, “The next one’s a cover and if you’re clever you may have already solved the
mystery.” Soon after they jumped into the perfect song to go with their Halloween attire, “What’s New Scooby Doo.”
Funnily enough, they aren’t the first band to cover this song in Fredonia, as a different alumni group, The Weather Might Say Otherwise often performs this track. The band recently performed their rendition on Sept. 9 at Main Street Studios as well as in the past when they played on a bill with Edelwood Creek at BJ’s on Oct.12, 2022.
Another original titled “We Became Telephones” closed out Edelwood Creek’s set effectively.
The headlining act, We Were Blank, an emo and alt-rock group took the stage dressed as Mario, Luigi, Waluigi and Bowser.
They played one of their more popular tracks, “Running Shoes” early in the set. The math-rock tinged guitar lines lead into an anthemic pop punk chorus, along with snarky yet sad verses. The dramatic halftime section ignited energy into the crowd.
The group played a mix of songs from their 2022 EP, “What Got Us Here,” as well as some of the more well known cuts from their 2021 debut EP “Sleeping in my Jeans Pt. II.”
On one song from the 2021 release, a breakup tune titled “BLANK,” the lead singer, Brendan Dougherty, passes the mic off to the drummer, Matt, for an emotional spoken word bit. Amidst the slower-moving sulky guitar driven section his maudlin words pierce back at the world. Getting back into form, and returning the mic to Dougherty, he smashes the cymbals on louder sections.
The following song, “Call Me Back,” continues with a similar sound, composed of soft despondent parts, and firework choruses. The song, their most popular to date, cloys for a call back from someone in an catchy power pop hook.
The group ended the night with four unreleased tracks.
The penultimate song, “I Listened to Pinegrove Once,” is appropriately titled. The track sounds a bit like the New Jersey americana group referenced, but if they took about three times the usual emo prescribed to them.
Amidst the mixed bill of college-rock, at this moment the taste seemed to cycle back to the early twangs of Sasha McCoy’s “Auto Zombification.”
Fitzgerald outlines three main goals of Rocktoberfest:
First, Rocktoberfest gives members of Sound Services an important learning opportunity. It’s also a comfortable, centrally located on-campus event for people to have fun during Halloweekend. Finally, it is a place for the local music scene to gather, both in Fredonia and Western NY at large.
By the end of the night, she could tick them off successfully.