Amidst academics and extracurriculars, some students at Northwestern still find the time to embrace their musical talents. Even with limited rehearsal spaces, dozens of student run bands have formed across campus. Michelle Hwang and Jerry Wu have the story.
ALMOST TWO WEEKS AGO, THE SONGWRITER ASSOCIATION AT NORTHWESTERN OFFERED A RARE WINDOW INTO THE ABUNDANCE OF MUSIC TALENT ON CAMPUS.
ITS ANNUAL BATTLE OF THE BANDS EVENT HOSTED SEVEN STUDENT BANDS FEATURING INDIE, POP, AND ROCK MUSIC. ONE BY ONE,THE PERFORMERS SHOWCASED HAND-SELECTED ORIGINAL SONGS.
STUDENT BANDS ACROSS CAMPUS HAVE PERFORMED AT VARIOUS CAMPUS EVENTS, FROM MAYFEST TO BATTLE OF THE BANDS HELD BY WNUR.
BUT… HOW DID THEY FORM, HOW DO THEY MAKE THEIR MUSIC, AND HOW ARE THEY SO GOOD? THE FIVE-MEMBER ROCK BAND REVERE WAS ONE OF THE BANDS THAT SHOWED UP TO THE BATTLE OF BANDS EVENT.
THE BAND’S ORIGIN DATES BACK TO A YEAR AGO WHEN THE CURRENT MEMBERS HAD MET AT A BAND FORMATION EVENT HELD BY SWAN.
NabiI Hussaini: I think we were all interested in joining a band at that point. I saw the four of them talking about it, and they wanted a vocalist. I was like, yeah, I can do that. We all have the same music taste, so we wanted to form a band.
THAT WAS MCCORMICK SENIOR NABIL HUSSAINI, THE VOCALIST FOR REVERE. HE SAID THE BAND DOES NOT JUST SPECIALIZE IN ROCK MUSIC BUT MANIFESTS ITSELF IN COLLISIONS OF DIFFERENT REALMS OF MUSIC.
Hussaini: I would describe it as a mesh of punk, metal, grunge, all those different rock genres. We all have different kinds of tastes within those genres. We kind of have melded that together into something.
DURING ITS REHEARSALS, THE BAND THRIVES OFF ITS SPONTANEITY, SAID WEINBERG SOPHOMORE AND REVERE’S BASSIST, ROHAN SUBRAMANIAM.
Subramaniam: All our stuff is original, people bring in ideas. Our most recent idea is the most incongruous, like, mesh of like genres, but it’s how it works. I’m a big Joy Division fan, so I brought in this bass lick that that sounded like Joy Division or New Order.
THE BAND MEMBERS HAVE GROWN TIGHTER AS THE MONTHS HAVE GONE. WHENEVER A CONFLICT ARISES, WEINBERG SOPHOMORE AND GUITARIST ZHANRAN SHI GIVES HIS TAKE FROM EXPERIENCE.
Shi: There was no team chemistry. If we had a problem we just duel by pistol. (group laughter)
AFTER THEIR RECENT PERFORMANCE, THE BAND IS LOOKING TO INCREASE THEIR PERFORMANCES AND EXPOSURE.
THE SIX-MEMBER THESEUS, SPECIALIZING IN FUNK POP MUSIC, HAS RECENTLY HIT THE SCENE. STUDENT BANDS TRADITIONALLY STRUGGLE WITH FINDING PLACES TO REHEARSE.
AS A JUNIOR IN MCCORMICK, RITVIK KARRA, THE BAND’S DRUMMER, SAID THAT UPON COMING TO NORTHWESTERN, HE WAS MET WITH DISAPPOINTMENT AT THE MUSIC SCENE.
Karra: Coming into Northwestern, I was super disappointed with how little there was like no culture for music at Northwestern when I first came here. I mean, the lack of access to practice spaces is insane. Um, I, that’s something I’m super passionate about, which is why I’ve been trying to make people more aware of the facilities that the Music Fraternity has and like to offer it to other people as well.
KARRA IS PART OF THE MUSIC FRATERNITY, PHI MU ALPHA, WHICH OFFERS A PRACTICE SPACE FOR BANDS ON CAMPUS, INCLUDING THESAURUS, TO REHEARSE. WHILE BALANCING SCHOOL WORK WITH A COMMITMENT TO A BAND, HE THINKS BEING PART OF THE BAND IS WORTH THE EXPERIENCE.
Karra: My major is hard. I don’t have a lot of time, but you just kind of have to make time for it. I guess if it’s important enough you’ll make time for it. So we’ve all like collectively decided that we’re gonna have consistent rehearsals
[music as transition]
WHO WE ARE ISA FOUR-MEMBER INDIE POP BAND FORMED AT THE BEGINNING OF FALL QUARTER TO PERFORM AT SWAN’S BATTLE OF THE BANDS.
[nat sound of the band’s performance at Battle of the Bands]
BOTH THE BAND’S FRONT WOMAN, SENIOR LYLAJEAN BURRIS, AND DRUMMER, JUNIOR NATHAN PRINE, HAVE PRIOR EXPERIENCE AS SOLO ARTISTS.
BURRIS STARTED PLAYING GUITAR AND WRITING SONGS WHEN SHE WAS 17. HER SOLO RELEASES ARE ON BANDCAMP AND YOUTUBE. AND THANKS TO HIS MOTHER, PRINE HAS BEEN A PART OF THE MUSICAL WORLD SINCE HE WAS NINE – TAKING UP DRUM LESSONS AND JOINING HIS SCHOOL’S BAND PROGRAM.
[solo music from Burris and Prine]
FOR THE TWO MUSICIANS, MAKING MUSIC IN A BAND WAS A BUCKET LIST ITEM.
PRINE EXPLAINED THAT HE KNEW THE COMMITMENT TO BEING IN A BAND WOULD PUSH HIM TO PERFORM LIVE – SOMETHING HE HAS ALWAYS WANTED TO DO.
Prine: Booking out the time to be with a band and accountable to other people for that too, like I’m going to have the wherewithal to do that and … you know basically hold myself accountable for that.
LYLAJEAN SAW STUDENT BAND MOONTIDE PERFORM AT LAST YEAR’S BATTLE OF THE BANDS, AND THAT’S WHEN SHE KNEW.
Burris: It just became a dream, like I saw myself in their shoes. I just pushed myself to make the time.
TIME WAS CERTAINLY AN OBSTACLE. WITH THE PRESSURE OF THE QUARTER SYSTEM AND EVERYONE’S DIFFERING SCHEDULES, EVEN ESTABLISHING A PRACTICE SCHEDULE BECAME A GAME OF TETRIS.
Burris: Right now it’s um, Wednesday at 9pm. This is the time that works for our band. That ended up being our weekly rehearsal time just because no other more reasonable time worked.
Prine: You know, I guess that’s kind of the nature of being a Northwestern student. Is that like ‘Oh, I’d love to be in a band’ and then suddenly you’re looking at your schedule. It’s like, “Okay, where does this fit?”
DESPITE THE SCHEDULING CONFLICTS AND SCRAPPY REHEARSAL TIMES, BOTH BURRIS AND PRINE STANDBY THEIR BAND AS A MEANINGFUL OPPORTUNITY, ONE THAT NOT ONLY CULTIVATED THEIR MUSICAL CHOPS BUT ALLOWED THEM TO DEVELOP CRUCIAL LEADERSHIP SKILLS AS WELL.
Burris: I didn’t really want the set and the band rehearsals to be all about me and my solo music. I wanted to make sure everybody was having fun, enjoying themselves and adding their own artistic touches. So definitely a balance with that in my leadership.
AND MORE THAN ANYTHING, A MEMORABLE PERFORMANCE EXPERIENCE.
Prine: That was definitely the largest crowd that performed for, and it was super fun. And it was a fantastic experience. You know at one point I was on the drums and like clapping the sticks about my head and everybody started clapping and I was like man, that was cool.
LIFE AT NORTHWESTERN CAN SOMETIMES FEEL LIKE A NEVERENDING SOLO ADVENTURE, FROM CLASSES TO CLUBS TO SIDE GIGS. BUT IN FINDING EACH OTHER, THESE NORTHWESTERN STUDENT BANDS HAVE BEEN ABLE TO CREATE A BOND THROUGH MUSIC THAT HAS BEEN ABLE TO STAND THE TESTS OF TIME– AND CRAZY REHEARSAL SCHEDULES.
FOR WNUR NEWS, WE’RE JERRY WU AND MICHELE HWANG.
