By Melissa Natividade
Staff Writer
With an air of both nostalgia and camaraderie, familiar faces and performers came together to support their fellow musicians at CUB Alt’s student band night on Friday, April 8, in the Brower Student Center. General Collective, Save Face and Gang King each revved up the small crowd with their pulsating individual music styles.
The night opened with General Collection, a four-piece alternative progressive rock band that began with its single “Pictures of Progress” from its EP, “The Plan.” Wrapping up its festival-vibe-filled set, junior marketing major and lead vocalist Nick Macioci announced the band’s upcoming appearance at the Local Legends Festival in Vernon, N.J., in June, as well as a new EP early in the fall.
“Nick’s band has gotten really good,” said Jake Rubin, a junior communication studies major and frontman of the band Good Luck Spaceman. “We used to play with them when the Rat was still around and they did an awesome job tonight, even with all the awkward lighting and, you know, just general awkwardness of the venue. The same goes for Save Face. They started off as this regular punk band but since then, they’ve developed this awesome authentic sound that really works.”
After four years of performing at various venues at the College, Save Face, composed of all senior students, performed its last student band night show. The band opened up its final set with its latest single, “Preoccupied,” a fan favorite that got most, if not all, of the crowd singing and foot-tapping along.
“In all honesty, I’m mostly here for Save Face,” senior electrical engineering major Eric Mauro said. “I’ve known them for a while now, but their new stuff is just really great. I am glad I stayed for Gang King, though.”
The feeling was mutual as the crowd really took to the three-piece’s comedic hip-hop, rumbling with random laugh spasms as each song seemed to become more and more awkward, yet impossibly entertaining. A highlight was when the spotlight honed in on Fat Matt, who opened Gang King’s set with the single “Hallidays.”
“Maybe more than performing, we were all looking forward to seeing Gang King,” senior computer science major and lead vocalist of Save Face Tyler Povanda said. “We’re good friends of theirs and have played with them before, so we really just wanted to hear what they’ve been up to recently.”
The trio wrapped up the evening in what can only be explained as a chance for audience members to throw some insults at them, though nobody had recovered from the laughs to even attempt to buy into the opportunity.
Students have another chance to enjoy a night of hilarity when CUB Alt brings Beth Stelling to perform on Friday, April 15, in the Decker Social Space at 5:00 p.m.
