Bands of all genres
Music fans will have an opportunity to experience an eclectic variety of music genres all in one night.
Hip hop/rap, alternative rock and indie rock will be heard throughout the Grand Ballroom in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union tonight at 8 p.m.
The bands, in a tentative order, are David Costa, Aurora Sky and Flying Just Below Radar.
The concert is a part of University Board’s Late Night at the Union Part Deux where students can gather at the union from 8 p.m. to midnight for games, music and a movie.
All three bands were set to play before Late Night was planned and the date for late night worked well because the bands were already here, said Pat Lamorte, UB mainstage coordinator.
A game show will happen in between the band’s performances. It will last for 20 to 25 minutes. Attendees of Late Night and the concert will be able to win Best Buy gift certificates at the interactive trivia game.
Costa focus is on hip hop/rap music from Indiana. He sings songs about love, lust, death and religion.
He is touring with Below Radar, an indie rock group from Chicago.
Below Radar’s members are Jaime Aguirre on guitar, John Poomduang on guitar, Betina Gozo on bass and Chris Foss on drums. All members contribute to vocals.
Foss grew up with Costa and when Below Radar heard that Costa started performing, the band wanted to tour with him, Aguirre said.
Aurora Sky is 5-piece alternative rock group from Antioch. Liz Smith does vocals, Ryan Kessler is the drummer and the guitarists are James Spannraft and Vlad Shapochnikov.
Mixing the genres is a way Lamorte picks selections that would appeal to a variety of students.
“Nothing says you can’t like indie and not hip-hop,” he said. “It will bring more people to the show.”
Most students do have an eclectic taste of music that can range from 50 Cent to Nickleback.
“(I like) to mix it up a little bit and give everybody something to see,” Lamorte said.
The bands also do not have a problem with playing alongside different music genres.
Below Radar members classify themselves as indie rock but prefer for the audience to decide.
“There are so many genres. We let them (listeners) decide for themselves,” he said.
Aurora Sky agrees that genres do not matter.
The band is used to playing with different bands that are a different genre, Shapochnikov said.
Although the genres are of no concern to the bands, the groups are concerned about putting on a good show.
It is Aurora Sky’s first time playing for a college venue and is excited to start at Eastern.
“It should be pretty fun,” Shapochnikov said. “We put on a pretty energetic show.”
Normally the band, which plays mostly original music, performs at local venues in Antoich.
The band will play some cover songs tonight from the group Thursday, one of the bands influences along with Death Cab for Cutie.
Below Radar has played for Eastern before last February.
“They went over well,” Lamorte said.
The band enjoys the college scene and would like to perform for college students more often.
“When we do, it’s definitely a good time,” Aguirre said. “We are pretty intense-wise.”
Aguirre contributes the intensity to their 5-foot-2-inch bass player, Gozo.
He said that she flings the bass guitar around her shoulders, which is something most men do not do.