Current Release: September 11th, 2007 | Vol. XXIV Iss. 10

Photo by Colleen Peterson

All come out to play at Lake Taylor Music Festival

By Katie Morris

Students came out to the annual Lake Taylor music festival to enjoy activities such as free airbrush shirts, food, caricatures and, of course, live music from local bands.

The four bands who played on Friday, Sept 8 at the concert were Snackbar Jones, Fighting Gravity, Polyester and Everyday Circus, all of which have played at the campus before. Snackbar Jones played at Lake Taylor last year and Fighting Gravity has played the campus several times. Everyday Circus's last performance prior to Lake Taylor was last semester's Lively in the Ivy, a long with Polyester whose first performance was there.

Ali Southard, the new director of Main Stage, said that the bands who played the campus repeatedly are bands that played events for them campus and got good feedback from the students. Though Southard has been a member of WAC for about a year, she only recently assumed her new, position and the Lake Taylor Music Festival was her first event.

Southard said that her main job was to work with the bands and to try to keep the event on schedule. Her main job is to make sure that the bands have what they need and to 'keep them happy'.

The other coordinator of the event is Leah Hammond, who also happens to be the sister of Matt Hammond, the drummer for Polyester. Leah was in charge of things such as decorating the event, getting together the airbrush and caricature artists and setting up the dinner.

Hammond went for a Woodstock theme in her decorating, which was very hippie, with a 60's feel to it. Hammond used things like tie-dye, flowers and peace signs to get the effect, and chose the theme because Woodstock was a music festival.

The first band to play was Snackbar Jones, which is local to the Newport News area and is made of Frank Hohl on vocals and guitar, Aaron Barlow on bass, Sean Lindfors on guitar and Ernie Sines on drums and vocals. Snackbar Jones covered various songs ranging from Johnny Cash, Billy Joel and The Proclaimers to Franz Ferdinand, The Killers and Fall Out Boy.

"Everybody was great," Said Hohl, "The sound guys were excellent. The crowd was pretty responsive."

Following Snackbar Jones was the Richmond band Fighting Gravity. The band is composed of Schiavone McGee, Rich Stine, Sinakone Phrakhansa, Dave Petersen and Mike Boyd. Fighting Gravity had a rather cumbersome obstacle to overcome as not all of their band was able to make it due to auto troubles. However, the members that did make the campus decided that the show must go on and performed with what they had.

Despite the fact that they didn't have their full band, the band still was met with an enthusiastic reception from the students that attended the event.

"The kids here had a great time," Said McGee, adding that they got up, were dancing and responsive to the music.

Fighting Gravity has traveled across the world, playing with many bands in several countries. Their new album, “Blue Sky and Black” will come out Sept 23, 2006.

Polyester was the third band to play at the concert. Comprised of Julian Schmied on lead vocals and guitar, Stephan Kaplan on guitar, Chris Talson on bass and Matt Hammond on drums, the band hails from Annapolis, Md., giving them one of the longest trips to make of any of the bands that played.

"We're really tired," said Talson, "But it was fun."

Though it wasn't as much of a major setback at Fighting Gravity had to face, Polyester did have a few technical difficulties of their own. At one point, Schmied broke a guitar string and Talson improvised, telling jokes and anecdotes.

Polyester is working on a new album, due out sometime in November, though work is still being done on it.

By the time the fourth and final band, Everyday Circus, took the stage, the crowd had thinned out considerably and there were only a few people left. However, the band, which is local to the Virginia Beach area, is made up of Eric Insley on bass and vocals, Phil Friedman on guitar and vocals, Kerry Knight on vocals and guitar and Rob Stallard on drums and vocals.

Though the crowd was pretty scarce, Insley said that those present were very responsive. Both Friedman and Insley are Wesleyan Alumni and Insley also said that when he attended VWC, the pattern was inverse. He said that usually there were less people during the day and more people at night.

All of the bands said that they'd want to play the campus again and said that their experiences at VWC were good. If their reception at the show was any indication, it's a very distinct possibility that they will be playing here in the future as WAC bases their music choices on feedback from the students.

"We're all ears," said Southard.