By Kimberly Ilkowski
Features Editor
A bright full moon and fresh orders of cheese fries began the first Tuesday night CUBRat show of the semester which featured a highly anticipated performance by Sorority Noise and the local outfit Archie Alone on Feb. 3, in the Rathskeller.
Archie Alone opened the evening and played several new tracks for the Rat audience.
Vocalist Nicole Mesce, guitarist Cindy Ward, bassist Tony Mastrolia and drummer Pete Clark played songs like “Alone,” “Broken Pieces” and “Furlough,” a song inspired by the cult favorite Netflix original series, “Orange Is The New Black.”
The band, based in Essex County, N.J., is in the midst of recording an EP that is set for release in March.
In anticipation of the new music, the band is playing a show with nostalgia-heavy emo rockers, Hawthorne Heights, at the Stanhope House in March.
There was an angry edge to the band’s performance which boded well in the Rat’s intimate, dark setting.
As Sorority Noise took the stage, students pushed their way to the front to get in on all the musical action.
Comprised of Cameron Boucher on vocals and guitar, Ryan McKenna on bass, Adam Ackerman on guitar and Charlie Singer on drums, the band hails from Hartford, C.T.
The group played multiple tracks off its May 2014, debut full-length “Forgettable,” like “Mediocre At Best,” “Blonde Hair, Black Lungs,” “Dirty Ickes” and “Still Shrill.”
The end of its high-energy performance featured a quick cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs,” which inspired 30 seconds of chaos as people pushed and shoved each other in a pseudo-mosh pit.
The band is often compared to The Front Bottoms due to its earnest lyrics while stylistically following suit to fellow emo-revivalist, Modern Baseball.
Sorority Noise signed with Topshelf Records last month and just completed recording a sophomore LP set for release this summer.
“It’s definitely a more mature-sounding record,” frontman Boucher said.
In May, the band is set to play the third annual Skate and Surf Festival in Asbury Park, N.J., featuring other alternative acts.
“It was so crazy,” Boucher said. “Adam told me that morning, ‘I just got us tickets to Skate and Surf,’ and I was like, ‘Well, you’re gonna have to sell them ’cause we just got booked to play it.’”
