ViCE to add Band Union to its board

Need an accordion-playing harpist-drummer who is into Afrofunk, trip-hop, blues and ska? Well, believe it or not, the Vassar Student Band Union (VSBU) probably has just want you're looking for, plus a whole lot more. With its growing online database of enthusiastic and talented musicians, not to mention its recent fusion with Vassar College Entertainment (ViCE) After Hours, one thing is for sure—the Union is ready to make like Spinal Tap and take the band scene at Vassar up to eleven.

"We've already gotten a lot of people interested and helping each other out with gigs, playing, collaborating, advertising, and all that goes with music and performance," said one of the Union's co-founders, Andy Dymond '12.

Ben Conant '12, the other founder of the group, got the idea from friend, former roommate and fellow musician Sam Caravaglia '12. "[Caravaglia] realized that there were a lot of campus bands and only two organizations to book them—VCPunx and After Hours," explained Conant.

VCPunx tends to be fairly genre specific, drawing mostly off-campus hardcore, metal or punk bands, and After Hours usually showcases singer-songwriters. VSBU plans to provide an outlet for all other musicians on campus: "Most student bands play accessible, pop music that's easy to dance to. It's stuff that a broad array of Vassar students would like," said Conant.

"I think the VSBU is here to make a quasi-music department outside of the formal one," said co-founder Andy Dymond '12. "It's a place where kids who want to get better at music can learn from others with more experience, find people to play with, and have a good time," he added.

After joining forces with ViCE, VSBU will not only act as the face of student bands at Vassar, but will also have the tools to grow, move forward and make things happen. According to Director of ViCE Peter Denny '10, "The structure of ViCE places all the concert entertainment programming committees under one umbrella organization. They can then communicate easily and share the same resources."

As far as resources go, equipment definitely makes the top of the list. Most Vassar bands struggle with limited access to sound systems and have a hard time transporting big, bulky instruments. "We want to purchase a drum set—a cheap one, a practice one, one that any registered member of VSBU could check out and use," said Conant. Partnering with ViCE gives the organization a sound equipment hook-up and a budget, so renting more or better equipment in the future is a feasible option.

In addition to getting equipment and funds, being a certified VSA organization will also help VSBU publicize bands. "We have a committee of people who are there specifically to design posters and to table and to come up with creative publicity stunts that will attract more attention. I think everyone is interested in student bands, but they have to hear about it. ViCE does a good job of getting the word out," explained Denny.

One way that the VSBU publicizes its own members is through a multi-faceted online database created by Dymond that consists of three different blogs. The first blog acts as the VSBU homepage. It describes the group's philosophy and exists as a place to post news and events. The next blog is a musician's directory that lists students who have sent Dymond information about their talents and goals as musicians. To navigate this section, users simply search based on genre, instrument or any other musical keyword. The third blog is mostly for advertising: It highlights all the campus bands interested in playing live. The list could easily be used as a booking agent for parties, campus events and concerts .
According to VSBU enthusiast Ethan Buckner '13, "As a freshman singer-songwriter without many connections to other musicians yet on campus, the VSBU's new musician directory has addressed the issue that so many of us artists have in finding, say, the perfect mandolin-playing-fiddler-harpist-drummer for a show."

In reference to the database, Dymond explains, "What's cool about the blog is that it allows you to browse through and find out what the campus is interested in overall, find exceptions, and maybe find someone you can make something really cool with. I think that at Vassar we have a lot of creative people who don't necessarily know what they're doing yet, so browsing musicians and experimenting is a really important part of getting better as a musician." To peruse the directory, check out campus bands, or contact Andy Dymond, search vsbu.wordpress.com.

Once musicians find each other, the next task is usually finding practice space, an issue the VSBU also plans to address. "We've thought about using [Josselyn House's] basement as a practice space, but what we'd really like would be a room in Skinner [Hall of Music]. We think it'd be a good thing for the Department of Music," said Conant. "We want a room with a drum set and a couple of amps. I don't think that's too much to ask," he added.
As far as shows are concerned, the VSBU has high hopes. What started out as a desire to raise the quality of Matthew's Mug shows quickly turned into a list of new and creative concert venues. "One idea is to have an open mic night for singers and song writers every Thursday at Zorona's hookah bar," said Conant. "It's awesome to get off campus, to have a show that's not in the Mug, and to get to dance and have a good time," he added.
This Thursday, April 22 will mark the first of these Zorona Thursdays, featuring three Vassar acts: The Giantman Band, Sharkwrangler and Anthony Parks '10.

The Facts and Figures, a student band featuring Conant and Dymond, recently had a show at Babycakes Cafe--a testament to the VSBU's community outreach ambitions. "The show was great, and it didn't cost anything," said Conant. "If you inject a little money into that type of show as far as staging and equipment, it could have been even better."
Next year, Conant will vamp up on-campus shows by heading After Hours. He'll leave room for singer-songwriters, but will also make a place for student bands. "We want to have staging and light shows. We want to do stuff with projectors and strobe lights and even have a show in 3-D," he said.

Conant and Dymond clearly have big dreams for the VSBU, and they're no doubt backed 100 percent by student musicians. "I am so excited and relieved that an organization is emerging that is purely focused on supporting the interests of good, old-fashioned, Vassar-grown musicians," said Buckner. Even though the VSBU is fairly new, they've definitely got the ball rolling in the right direction.