As a large portion of the student population begins their exodus home for the summer from another year of academia, many of us wonder what will be left for the local music scene here on campus. This week, we get a chance to talk to some of Champaign-Urbana’s most active and upcoming bands of the past school year, hoping they will not leave the community hushed in silence without their music.
buzz: How has the past year treated you as a band?
Snowsera: We are incredibly lucky. It was a great year for us as a band. We were able to step into this local scene and make a home, made a ton of new friends and played some amazing shows. This is not an easy feat for student bands. Like we said before, we just feel so lucky.
World’s First Flying Machine (WFFM): Pretty damn good. We just started out this year and got to play a lot together. Our first show was Nov. 28 and we’ve played a lot of shows since then.
Tall Tale: When we started, we were just an acoustic duo. We’ve been very excited about playing with a whole band; it’s allowed us to play totally different types of shows. We used to play in restaurants and now we’re playing real venues.
buzz: What are the band’s plans for this summer?
Snowsera: We will be recording in Chicago with a producer. Before, we did everything ourselves, and having this opportunity will allow us to get an outside opinion and help us to grow as a band. It’s going to be a busy summer and we will be in the studio for all of June. Hopefully we can also get some shows going in the Chicago area and really continue to move in this industry.
Ben of WFFM: We don’t have any plans. We’re just going to go our separate ways and head home for the summer. I’m going to be a camp counselor for a couple months.
Brian of WFFM: I’m going to Europe for a month.
Zane of WFFM: I’ll be in India for a month, too.
Brian: We’ll spread the word about World’s First Flying Machine throughout the world.
Tall Tale: We already have a bunch of booked shows for the summer; hopefully we’re going on tour at the end of the summer. We want to write a lot in between our shows and record some demos.
buzz: What should we expect from you when everyone returns next fall?
Tall Tale: New material, we hope. Hopefully our new music will be a little more danceable. From an artistic standpoint, our new material will be different in that it won’t be written with just my guitar parts in mind and Tracey’s piano parts. We will be writing as a full band.
WFFM: We’re going to hit the ground running. Everyone seems a lot more comfortable with each other so we’ll be able to really focus. I want to sit down and record something next year.
Of course, Snowsera, World’s First Flying Machine and Tall Tale won’t be the only local bands with big plans for the summer and the upcoming school year. While classes finish and students return home, music in CU continues to fill the venues this summer, giving anyone reason enough to come back to campus for a refreshing glass of local CU music.
