The 7th Street Underground will turn into a concert venue tonight at 5:30 as the Colleges Against Cancer group hosts its second Rock it for Relay concert.

The benefit concert will feature the three local bands Good Morning Midnight, Cured by Fire and Madison’s Avenue, and one solo musician, Jenna Jackley.

Tickets are $5 at the door and can be purchased starting at 5 p.m.

All proceeds go to the Colleges Against Cancer’s Relay for Life team, and will ultimately be given to the American Cancer Society.

Kyle Swalls, guitarist and vocalist for Good Morning Midnight, has witnessed the devastation of cancer first hand. Swalls said his grandma is fighting against cancer.

“It’s a constant struggle dealing with it,” Swalls said. “A lot of time the chemo won’t be as effective, and they will try a new method and stuff. And so just knowing the constant struggle makes me want to do something like this and raise money for an individual who is having the same, who is dealing with the same kind of suffering.”

This band along with Cured by Fire is playing at Friends & Co. later in the evening. They were willing to book two gigs in one night to show their support.

“We feel that playing this gig will allow people to see that rock and roll and the whole style of it isn’t just about being on your own and not really caring about anyone else,” Logan Richardson, Madison’s Avenue lead singer, said.

“We really do care about the issue of breast cancer and cancer in general,” Richardson continued. “Because some people close to us have had it and, luckily, they have recovered from it.”

Many of the bands playing are new to Eastern’s campus. Richardson said performing at the concert would be an opportunity to expose students to a different kind of local music.

Good Morning Midnight is an indie and alternative rock band. Beginning nearly a year ago and stationed in Marshall, the group is fresh to the Charleston music scene, but has played in the 7th Street Underground before for a canned food drive.

Cured by Fire is a Charleston metal band. Megan Givens, the concert coordinator said the group sounds similar to Metallica or Godsmack and does a good job of getting a crowd going.

Their influences come from those bands and others like Guns N’ Roses, Motley Crue and Black Sabbath.

Jenna Jackley is a Mattoon High School student who plays the guitar and sings.

“She is just memorizing to watch,” Megan Givens said. “She is in high school, so she is still very young, but the caliber of voice she has is just amazing.”

Madison’s Avenue is another young alternative rock band from Charleston that has been putting out their own music for eight months. The group has played all over Charleston, in Havana and in Centralia, but tonight will be one of their first times playing on campus.

Givens, a junior elementary education major, said all the bands are hard working and were booked because they came recommended by other artists.

The Colleges Against Cancer has raised more than $5,000 through their fall breast cancer T-shirt sales and other fundraisers. They have pledged to raise $8,000, and across campus different groups have pledged to raise $70,000 for the American Cancer Society.

Last year, the concert drew a small crowd, but Givens is hoping for more public support.

“What ever little amount can put towards the American Cancer Society will help in some way,” Givens said.

Colleen Kitka can be reached at 581-7942 or crkitka@eiu.edu

Good Morning Midnight band members Elgin Combs (guitarist), Michael “Woody” Woodring (drummer), Kyle Swalls (vocalist and guitarist) and Chad Barton (bass guitarist and vocalist) volunteered to play tonight at the Rock it for Relay event to help raise m

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Jenna Jackley is a Mattoon High School student and will be playing at the 7th Street Underground tonight at 5:30 p.m. (Photo Courtesy of Jenna Jackley)

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