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AFTHE TER SHOW

MAR.

30 2017

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March 30, 2017

THE TEAM Carl Blankenship @carl_r_blank EDITOR-IN-CHIEF EDITORIAL MULTIMEDIA BUSINESS

Aleah Warner @aleahwarner MANAGING EDITOR Victoria Haynes @victoriahayness CHIEF COPY EDITOR Sammy Hanf @sammyhanf NEWS EDITOR

Jacob Oller @ollerifyouhearme BUSINESS MANAGER Jordan Boles @jorddb MARKETING DIRECTOR

Olivia Wilkes @theappalachian ADVISER

Angelo Errico @angeloerrico821 OPINION EDITOR Lee Sanderlin @lee_sanderlin ENTERPRISE EDITOR

CRIME LOG CAMPUS

MARCH 26

MARCH 24

2:00 a.m. I DWI Alcohol and/or Drugs Status Blowing Rock Road Cleared by arrest

8:00 a.m. I Larceny Student Union Further investigation

MARCH 26

MARCH 24

5:00 p.m. I Harassment Living Learning Center Further investigation

11:50 a.m. I Possession of Marijuana Rivers Street Parking Deck Cleared by arrest

MARCH 25

MARCH 22

11:00 p.m. I Vandalism Edwin Duncan Hall Leads exhausted

10:59 a.m. I Blackmail/Extortion Internet Further investigation

MARCH 25 9:45 p.m. I Underage Consumption of Alcohol Bowie Hall Student referral

MARCH 25 9:57 p.m. I Possession of Marijuana Greenwood Parking Lot Cleared by arrest

Halle Keighton @halle_keighton PHOTO EDITOR Maleek Loyd @maleekstuff VIDEO EDITOR Braxton Coats @brxcoats22 WEB MANAGER

Katie Murawski @murawskikm A&E EDITOR Jason Huber @_jasonhuber SPORTS EDITOR

Sydney Spann @spannooo VISUAL MANAGING EDITOR

MARCH 22 2:22 a.m. I Assault on a female Between Wey and Newland Hall Further investigation

MARCH 18 1:25 a.m. | Resisting a Public Officer Stadium Drive Cleared by arrest

SUBMIT ANNOUNCEMENTS

App News is a service of the Division of Student Development. Email wilkeso@appstate.edu for submissions with subject line: APP NEWS PAGE. Submissions should not exceed 100 words and must include the event title, date/time, location and cost, and a contact email, phone and/or URL. Announcements will be edited as needed and will run as space allows. Preference is given for events that are free or have a nominal cost.

WHAT TO DO FREE LEGAL ADVICE The Student Legal Clinic, in suite 324 in Plemmons Student Union, offers confidential advice, information, and referrals provided by a licensed attorney. The attorney can meet with any currently enrolled Appalachian State student and can advise students on any issue that is not directly adverse to the university. Make an appointment by calling (828) 2628284. More information at legalclinic.appstate. edu.

VISITING WRITERS SERIES The Visiting Writers Series is named in honor of Hughlene Bostian Frank (class of 1968), a 2013 Appalachian Alumni Association Outstanding Service award recipient, past member of Appalachian’s Board of Trustees, current board member of the ASU Foundation, and generous supporter of Appalachian State University. The Spring 2017 schedule of writers includes Rose McLarney - March 2, Bianca Lynne Spriggs - March 30, Al Young - April 6, and Robert Gipe - April 20 in Plemmons Student Union. Admission to all VWS events is free and open to the public. Parking is free on campus after 5 p.m. For further information on the Spring season, please visit english.appstate. edu/events/series/5 or email weinbergsc@ appstate.edu.

LEADERSHIP COACH

professional staff and graduate students from a variety of backgrounds. They are experienced leaders and are passionate about coaching our next generation of great leaders. Leadership can take place in the classroom, in campus clubs and organizations, in the community or in the workplace. Any ASU student who is currently in a leadership role or is interested in enhancing their leadership abilities is eligible! Please complete the AppSync form to express your interest in Leadership Coaching. If you have questions about Leadership Coaching, please contact Dr. Jim Street at streetjl@ appstate.edu.

UP LATE APP STATE “Up Late App State” is an experimental comic playground intended to make us laugh and think about issues, big and small. The show is produced, directed, and hosted by students on AppTV. Watch new episodes Monday through Friday at 10:30 p.m. and every night at 12:00 a.m. AppTV programming is available on campus on Channel 23.3 and off campus on Spectrum Channel 198 and SkyBest Channels 20/1020. Visit the show’s Facebook page to catch the past episodes: https://www.facebook. com/uplateappstate/. Interested in contributing? Contact Dylan McMurry at mcmurrydk@ appstate.edu.

SPRING FINANCIAL AID FAIR

have, or enjoy a game of corn-hole and free giveaways! Hope to see you there! For more info on this free event, contact Sheila Burleson at burlesonst@appstate.edu.

DIVERSITY CELEBRATION The Diversity Celebration will take place April 4, 2017 from 3-9 p.m. in Plemmons Student Union. The event features a wide array of local and international music, eclectic dancing, delectable food, and imaginative crafts. Appalachian students, faculty, staff, K-12 schools, and members of the local community are all invited to join us in this celebration of cultures through art and entertainment. If you have any further questions or would like more information, please feel free to visit celebration.appstate.edu or email Sarah Levine at levinese@appstate.edu or Lindsay Pepper at pepperla@appstate.edu Thank you for your support of celebrating diversity at Appalachian!

HEALTH SCIENCES FAIR Interested in working in the healthcare industry? Are you planning on pursuing graduate or professional school? Over 35 national and international graduate, doctoral and professional schools will be showcasing their healthcare programs at Appalachian State’s annual Health Sciences Professional & Graduate School Fair. Appalachian State MSN, Auburn School of Pharmacy, Duke Doctor of Physical Therapy, Ohio State University of Public Health and UNC School of Medicine are just a few programs attending. For a complete list of par-

Leadership Coaching is an opportunity for you to define your current skills and enhance your leadership ability. You will meet one-on-one with your Leadership Coach on a weekly or bi-weekly basis for one hour. Our coaches are

The Office of Student Financial Aid will be holding its annual Spring Financial Aid Fair Thursday, April 13, 2017 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Sanford Mall. Drop by to learn more about Financial Aid, ask any questions you may

THURSDAY, MARCH 30

FRIDAY, MARCH 31

SATURDAY, APRIL 1

Make your own Coping Tool Box

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” Screening

Repost:Rethink Trivia

7 & 9:40 p.m. I.G. Greer $1 advance, $2 door

3:30-4:30 p.m. Roan Mountain Room, PSU

“Hero” Screening

noon-1 p.m. Roan Mountain Room, PSU

Health Sciences Pro and Grad Fair 6-8 p.m. Parkway Ballroom, PSU

ticipating schools visit: http://careers.appstate. edu/health-professionals-graduate-school-fair The fair will take place Thursday, March 30 from 6-8 p.m. in Parkway Ballroom, 4th floor of Plemmons Student Union.

CAMPUS WIDE FOOD DRIVE From now until April 14, 2017, Staff Senate and the Office of University Sustainability are partnering for a campus-wide Food Drive to support the Food Pantry in the Sustainability Office. Items collected will benefit the campus and local community by way of this free resource located in the basement of East Hall.

FREE TAX HELP The Department of Accounting in the Walker College of Business offers a free tax help lab for students, faculty and staff beginning February 7 until April 12. Individuals can drop into Peacock Hall Room 4015 on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings between 5:00-7:00 p.m. Don’t want to wait? Get started now at: www.myfreetaxes.com. For more information, contact Dr. Mary Ann Hofmann at hofmannma@appstate.edu

SUNDAY, APRIL 2

7 p.m. Greenbriar Theater $1

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” Screening 7 & 9:40 p.m. I.G. Greer $1 advance, $2 door

MONDAY, APRIL 3

TUESDAY, APRIL 4

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5

THURSDAY, APRIL 6

“Life Animated” Screening

Diversity Celebration

Free Tax Help

Repost:Rethink Trivia

6 p.m. Greenbriar Theater free

3-9 p.m. Plemmons Student Union

5-7 p.m. Peacock Hall Room 4015

3:30-4:30 p.m. Roan Mountain Room, PSU

Free Tax Help

“The Protector” Screening

“Moana” Screening

5-7 p.m. Peacock Hall Room 4015

7 p.m. Greenbriar Theater $1

7 & 9:30 p.m. I.G. Greer $1 advance, $2 door

NEWS

March 30, 2017

All the members in Enharmonix. They are an a capella group at Appalachian State and are going to the semifinal of the International Championship of Collegiate A Capella (ICCA). // Photo Credit - Lindsay Vaughn

ENHARMONIX SINGS TO SEMIFINALS BY CELIA CALHOUN A&E REPORTER

n October 2016, coed a capella group

Enharmonix submitted an online audition video to the International Championship of Collegiate A Capella and were invited to compete in two more rounds. Enharmonix is composed of 20 members. They sing everything from pop and hip hop to throwback songs. “One of my favorites right now is one we did a couple of weeks ago in competition,” senior social work major Joe Wrenn said. “It’s ‘Ultralight Beam’ by Kanye West. It is a really moving piece and the way we’ve been able to interpret it has been cool.” In the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, Enharmonix sang “Barton Hollows,” “Parting Glass” and “Ain’t No Sunshine.” They also sang a ‘90s medley arranged by an Enharmonix alumni for quarterfinals, which was changed to Ultralight Beam for semifinals. Wrenn believes the group’s bond and energy set them apart from other a capella groups at Appalachian State. “We have performances on campus and around the state so we are constantly with each other,” Wrenn said. “I think our strong relationships and our energy when we are on stage sets us apart.” Quarterfinals were hosted in Knoxville, Tennessee. Enharmonix competed against nine groups in the southern region from the University of Tennessee, Vanderbilt University, Lees McRae College, Belmont University and Roanoke College. They placed in second there and advanced to semifinals in Athens, Georgia. In semifinals, they competed against nine groups from North Carolina State University, Georgia Tech, The University of Florida and College of William and Mary. They did not place

and advance at semifinals. To prepare for quarterfinals, the group came back from winter break several days early for a boot camp. At the boot camp, members practiced the songs and choreography for several hours at a time. “Repeating everything and getting all the movement was different for our group too because choreography is not something that comes that easy to people who are just singers,” sophomore public relations major Lauren Small said. They also practiced at their triweekly rehearsals for two hours at a time. As the competition got closer, members felt stressed and frustrated while repeating their arrangement. “I think we also had to remember how far we’ve come already and how we got there,” Small said. “We deserve to be here so keep your eye on the prize. Just be here and be present in the moment and live it up while we’re here.” Freshman electronic media broadcasting major Kierra Massi thought preparing for the ICCAs was the most difficult thing the group did this year, but that it was an enjoyable process. “It definitely did cause a lot of stress in our group wanting to make sure we were the best we could be,” Massi said. “But through the process it was a lot of fun. We got to compete with groups all around the country rather than just locally.” Small and Wrenn said they enjoyed watching the different dynamics of the groups performing at quarterfinals and semifinals. “If you’ve ever seen ‘Pitch Perfect,’ it’s pretty much just like that,” Wrenn said. “All the groups have their own unique dynamic and energy and it’s just really fun to watch because we see our groups at Appalachian all the time, but we don’t really get to see groups from oth-

er schools.” Small was surprised by how supportive everyone was, even though it was a competitive atmosphere. “It was interesting to see in such a competition atmosphere that everyone still wants to see everyone succeed,” Small said. “I think that’s a lot of the a capella community in general too that I’ve noticed.” Massi and Wrenn’s favorite part of the competition was being in Knoxville and Athens with the rest of the group. “Being there in a different place with people I love was very cool,” Wrenn said. Although Enharmonix did not advance past semifinals, Small thought it was a good learning experience and helped their group become better performers. “ICCAs was a lot of fun to compete in and even though we didn’t make it past semifinals I feel like it was a huge accomplishment for our group,” Massi said. In the past, two all male a capella groups from Appalachian State have competed in the ICCAs. Enharmonix is the first coed group to compete. “I would love to get to semifinal round again,” Small said. “I think it’s totally attainable and that we totally can do it. I’m excited to see what next year brings to our group, but I would love to make it to semifinals again at least and possibly further than that.” Enharmonix is performing at Acapocalypse April 8 at 7 p.m. in the Schaefer Center and will be holding their final performance of the semester April 28 at 7:30 p.m. in Parkway Ballroom. They will also be holding auditions for next semester August 28 and 29 at 7 p.m.

March 30, 2017

NEWS

STEELY PAN STEEL BAND STOLE THE SHOW AT SCHAEFER CENTER SATURDAY BY KATIE MURAWSKI A&E EDITOR

ppalachian State’s Steely Pan Steel Band played a free concert on March 25 at 3 p.m. in the Schaefer Center for Performing Arts. Steely Pan is composed of 22 students and director Byron Hedgepeth, an adjunct instructor of percussion. Hedgepeth took over the class three years ago after former instructor and the band’s creator Scott Meister retired. The band played a variety of tunes ranging from traditional steel band songs and children’s songs. Among them were Len “Boogsie” Sharpe’s “Birthday Party,” Roy Holman’s “My Band,” “Reptilia” by Julian Casablancas of the The Strokes, which was arranged by former student and Unaka Prong’s Jonathon Sale, “Pagliacci” by Ruggiero Leoncavallo, “Under the Sea,” by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman and “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King” by Tim Rice and Elton John. Phil Hawkins’ “Cha Cha Sandwich,” featured a solo by vibraphonist and junior music performance major Miranda Stone. The traditional songs were Aldwyn Roberts’ “Pan in A Minor,” Ellie Mannette’s “My Paradise,” and “Tamboo Bamboo to Steel.” Hedgepeth said these songs were some of the traditional steel band numbers played at the music competition, Panorama, happening late winter and early spring in Trinidad and Tobago, where the steel pan was introduced. Hedgepeth said the pieces are usually long and intense, but gave students insight into the culture of the music. The show closed with Alphonsus Cassell’s lively tune “Hot, Hot, Hot” during which the band members from each section came back on stage to dance and play the melody one more time. Hedgepeth said it is great to see students nail a performance and without them there is no band because the drums do not play themselves. “We learn from each other,” Hedgepeth said. “I need to be the one that leads but I’m learning from the students.” Hedgepeth said learning the instrument is difficult and takes dedication to learn it and play it. He said it takes about one year to really learn the instrument. “It is a very different type of culture that plays in Boone,” Hedgepeth said. “It is a beautiful thing, and takes a lot of heart, dedication and ability. They got that, it is the real deal.” Steely Pan is composed of 45 drums and nine sections: tenors, double seconds I, double seconds II, triple guitars, double guitars, cellos, tenor bass, basses and engine room. Aaron Collins, a junior electronic media broadcasting major, is in the basses section and started playing in the band in January. This is his first year with the group and he said one of the only challenges of playing pan is how they are arranged. “I think it is challenging how the drums are set up,” Collins said. “The instrument is not really predictable in the way that the notes are laid out so you have to really work and learn how the instrument visually looks and how to apply it.” Collins’ friends from his a capella group, Enharmonix, came out to support him on Sunday. Kiera Massi, a freshman electronic media broadcasting major, said the show was fun and she was into it the entire time. “It was so fun and colorful and brings a smile to

With over 42 steel pans on stage, each of the 22 performers have to work hard to keep up. // Photo Credit - Matt Sloyer your face,” Wrenn said. “It was a good time.” Tom Furmanek, a junior interdisciplinary studies major, is in the tenor section and has been playing steel pan for six years, although it has been his passion for almost 10. “I heard their unique voices I just wanted to learn more and learn how to play them,” Furmanek said. He said once he really learned how to play about three or four different types of steel pan, he wanted to start learning how to make a pan. Although Furmanek has not been to Trinidad or Tobago, the closest he has gotten was two years ago when he went to Pensacola and met a man named Alan Coyle. Furmanek described Coyle as “truly one of the greatest steel pan makers in the world.” Furmanek said Coyle learned from the creator of the steel pan, Ellie Mannett. “That was my first taste at the real world of steel

drum making,” Furmanek said. Stone said even though the instrument takes some getting used to, her favorite part is getting to play for community events and elementary schools. “That is actually how I got into steel pans, because I saw this group, not knowing it was this group when I was in second grade,” Stone said. “Then I didn’t find that out until after I was in this band. That is a big recruiting event.” Steely Pan plans to play at the elementary school in Hiddenite, North Carolina on April 7. Brady Kennedy, junior music performance major, is the percussionist in the engine room section for Steely Pan and said the band is shooting to record and update the 10-year-old album. Kennedy said hopefully that will happen next semester.

PROFILES

March 30, 2017

THE BANDS OF HAYES SCHOOL OF MUSIC

Logan Smith playing the alto sax on stage. He is one of the members of local band Vanilla Envelope. // Photo Credit - Courtesy BY MARIAH RENEAU A&E REPORTER

usicians come from

different backgrounds, whether they have been singing with a guitar their whole life, they stumbled onto music or they have been classically trained throughout their education. Several musicians throughout the Hayes School of Music have reached out into the community, where they perform with rock, indie and ska bands. Sophomore music education major Logan Smith is one such person. Smith plays saxophone with the ska band Vanilla Envelope, where he performs at venues like Black Cat and Third Place locally, and has also just recently been on an East Coast tour with the band. When he is not on stage rocking out with his fellow band mates, Smith is in a practice room or a concert hall playing classical saxophone or working towards getting his jazz certificate. Luckily, since he plays the same instrument in both settings, Smith said he only sees “minor differences.” Smith said that he does see a huge benefit from being classically trained while also playing with Vanilla Envelope. “We’re all music majors we have a higher level

of thinking when it comes to writing songs,” Smith said. “We throw in all of these stupid little things that only music majors or people that play instruments would understand like crazy time signatures and stupid stuff.” His classical training has also improved because of Vanilla Envelope. “I’m getting a taste of every kind of [music] concentration,” Smith said. “That really helps me as a music person to really know what every kind of concentration goes through.” Smith will play with his band Vanilla Envelope at Galileo’s on April 10 at 7 p.m. Junior music industry majors Taylor Wafford and Hinton Edgerton play with the indie folk band The Blue Wild. Wafford’s experiences are quite different in the two different music settings, especially when it comes to writing music. “I write better when I’m not thinking about music theory, but it’s there anyways. It’s embedded in my brain and I can’t get it out,” Wafford said. Wafford also plays guitar in the band, which causes her to have to change the way she performs. “[It’s hard] Having to reorient your body [while playing guitar] when you’re so used to being able to perform free and supporting your voice. It’s all just very differ-

ent,” Wafford said. What she sees the most beneficial in what she’s been able to take from The Blue Wild to her classical studies is the emotional connection with music. “Having a different setting to perform songs that I am emotionally connected to and practicing stage presence really transfers into my classical studies,” Wafford said. Edgerton’s primary instrument in the music school is trombone, but he plays a variety of other instruments as well. In The Blue Wild, Edgerton plays Mandolin, fiddle and electric guitar, which are all very different from his classical studies. “It’s cool to have different outlets. The reason I play so many instruments is because I get bored so easily,” Edgerton said. Even though his experiences in each musical outlet are so different, Edgerton still feels like he’s benefited from the experience as a whole. “It’s helped me define musicality in general,” Edgerton said. “My whole [classical] upbringing has culminated into what we’re doing right now which is pretty cool.” Though they play different instruments, Wafford and Edgerton find it extremely valuable to be in a

March 30, 2017

PROFILES

The lead singer of the band The Blue Wild, Taylor Wafford, and drummer Will Canady performing at Battle of the Bands in Legends. // Photo Credit - Halle Keighton

band outside of school. Being in a band not associated with college is a way to relax and avoid getting burned out, Wafford said. When many music majors spend five or six hours a day practicing, she said having a different mode of expression helps keep creative energy alive and prevents a disconnect from local culture. “In my opinion, being a great musician is a delicate balance of having the left-brained side of music, which is like reading music, music theory and good technique, and having the right brained side of music by expressing emotions and feelings through the art,” Edgerton said. “Performing outside of school helps you reach both sides.”

As music industry majors, both Edgerton and Wafford benefit by being able to meet all of the local musicians as well as learning marketing and recording techniques. The two will be playing next at Boone Blossom April 21-23 and at Village Vision on May 6. Freshman music industry major Nate Anderson is just starting to get involved with the music scene with his band Evan Button and the Tribe. He said he also sees a lot of benefits to being in a band. “It’s a great performance experience as a musician and I feel like it’s really broadened my abilities as a trumpet player,” Anderson said. “I feel like it’s motivated me a lot to improve my playing and improv abilities

on both of the main instruments I’m playing.” Playing with Evan Button and the Tribe has also caused Anderson to change how he sees his career going. “I could definitely see myself performing as a live musician after college,” Anderson said. Because he’s just starting out, Anderson and his band also use other Hayes School students as role models for being bands outside of school. “I heard bands like Vanilla Envelope [and] Arson Daily and I was like ‘That could be me one day. I could be playing shows around town,’” Anderson said. “I took them as some inspiration and definitely wanted to be in a band.”

PROFILES

March 30, 2017

RAPPING FOR JESUS Phillip Martin rapping on stage in the Whitewater Lounge. // Photo Credit - Myles Toe BY MYLES TOE A&E REPORTER

hillip Martin is a local gospel rap-

per who uses his poetic art form to convey his message of hope at Appalachian State University. “My message is to promote God and to get to non-believers who don’t believe in him,” Martin said. “I want people to realize that he is real.” Martin is a freshman at Appalachian State University majoring in forensic science. He was born in Winston-Salem, but was raised in Lexington, North Carolina. “I grew up in a Christian home and my strong faith in God makes me want to share his goodness,” Martin said. Martin’s father is the minister of the Mt. Carmel Missionary Baptist, Martin’s church home. Gospel’s influence on him came at a young age when he first saw a gospel rapper perform at his church. He said it drove him to pursue gospel rapping as a hobby and then eventually it became a means of ministry for God’s message. He used his poetic abilities to not only express himself, but also to spread his message of God’s love for all. Martin writes his own lyrics and said the most difficult part is finding the proper motivation. “It’s hard for a gospel writer to write because it all has to be driven by the spirit,” Martin said. “I think about what’s happening today and use my rhymes to make a positive statement about that.” Martin also creates his own beats, something he said he wishes he knew how to do better. He feels that eventually after his load of schoolwork calms down he can take classes at Appalachian State that will further his beat-making abilities. “I want to take classes here at App State to get better at making the music behind my bars,” Martin said. “I started buying studio equipment a year ago, but

I’m still growing to make my sound better for the lord.” Martin said his rap style is very southern and one of his favorite southern rapper and influence is Lucrae, a fellow gospel rapper. “I love Lucrae, he’s one of my favorite artists,” Martin said. “I would love to see him live. I compare myself to Lucrae.” Martin’s love for hip-hop and his drive to rap didn’t come from a happy beginning, it came after a terrible accident including his family and a drunken driver. When Martin was just three years old, he was struck head-on while driving with his parents. The driver of the car was drunk and the accident traumatized Martin. “I was scared and crying. My mother was hurt and screaming pain,” he said. “With me being a momma’s boy, it affected my mental state.” Martin’s father rescued them from the wreckage and helped them get to safety. “This is what made me become a gospel rapper because after the accident I developed a stuttering problem,” he said. “It would affect my pronunciation of words and how I read things.” Due to the incident, Martin was left with an inability to speak properly which affected his work and home life. “It would leave me frustrated and angry all the time because people would pick on me,” he said. “My second grade teacher would see me as somebody to ask questions to because she knew I would stutter. She said I would never make it, she said if I did make it, I would have no social skills or probably be working at McDonald’s the rest of my life.” Martin’s stuttering was the direct impact of the accident and found that speaking correctly was nearly impossible. Prior to accident, however he still rapped, but not for the Lord. He always felt something was missing and after the accident his ability to rap dropped because of the stutter.

One night, Martin said, through his faith in God he was miraculously cured. “I had a dream where God brought back the image of the car wreck,” Martin said. “It felt scary, but there was a reason for that. He said I needed to change, to get better, and to better the kingdom of the Lord.” Martin said he began to use gospel rap as a means of communication and a way to express the anger he felt concerning the accident. Through his dedication to his craft and faith in God, Martin was able to overcome his stutter and use his gospel rapping abilities to reach others. His abilities are still growing today and every day he works at it, he said he becomes stronger and stronger. “In the New Testament, it says use your gifts for the lord, use them and work hard at them and grow,” he said. “If you have a gift from the lord and you don’t use it properly you will not grow.” Now Martin’s next challenge is to figure out a way to balance school, work and rapping. “I see college first, then music,” Martin said. “Yeah, I would want to go in the booth and get started on dropping bars, but education, based on this time of day, is important for survival. If you don’t have it, the system will see you as a statistic. I would love to rap as a career, but I see education as far more important.” For now, he is studying and working hard on getting his degree, but he never forgets the impact rapping has on the people around him. He feels that God blessed him with this gift to reach others. “I believe this is a ministry,” Martin said. “I showed my friends in high school that I was a gospel rapper and some said they didn’t care. One guy I ministered to was going to drop out of high school because he was over 18 and he was a gangbanger.

March 30, 2017

And I talked to him and rapped to him. He encouraged me to rap for God and I encouraged him to finish school. He graduated and his faith in God pushed him to do so.” Martin said he feels that anyone can become an artist, even a gospel rapper, they just have to find the proper motivation. Martin said that the feedback he gets from his music is mixed and that sometimes there are those who don’t feel the same way he does about God. He said that does not discourage him and he’ll keep rapping if it means more souls being saved. Some students who have heard Martin rap say that it’s one of the best things they’ve heard in a long time. “When I heard Philip rap I was shocked, I don’t listen to gospel, but I’d listen to this kid,” junior environmental science major Jack Hertzfeld said. Martin said he gets reactions like that often when he tells people he’s a gospel rapper. Some love it, others don’t, but they like the way he sounds. “I am an unashamed Christian artist and as a Christian artist you get both sides, the influential and the opposition,” he said. “It goes both ways, you just have to know how to approach it. People are going to have their opinions at the end of the day. People are going to say this and that as long as you do it for God no one else’s approval matters.” Friends of Martin say that everyone should listen to his lyrics and hear Martin’s message. “Support my bro, his stuff is good and it will change your life,” junior exercise science major and friend of Martin Amin Aminu, said. Martin’s music can be found on SoundCloud as Phillip Martin II and will be available on Spotify soon.

PROFILES

March 30, 2017

Charles Walker performing in Wilmington. He is a sophomore communications major at Appalachian State and is a touring singer-songwriter. // Photo Credit - Courtesy of Katie Marshall

CHARLES WALKER

NEW IN TOWN STUDENT SINGER-SONGWRITER BY ADRIENNE FOUTS A&E ASSOCIATE EDITOR

he first time Charles

Austin-Zimmerman, known on stage as Charles Walker, remembers performing music live, he was 12 years old and playing guitar on a patio at his mother’s friend’s birthday party. Since then, the now 19-year-old singer-songwriter has released a record that he made in his bedroom closet, gone on tour and is in the process of recording his second full-length album. Austin-Zimmerman, a sophomore communication major at Appalachian State University, has always had music in his life. His grandmother is a classical pianist, and his mother was a musician in the ‘90s and early 2000s. “So I sort of gravitated toward music naturally because it was everywhere,” he said. “I started writing my own stuff when I was about 10, and playing piano and guitar, and I guess that’s how I began, I was just constantly around music.” At 16 years old, Austin-Zimmerman recorded his first album, a stripped-down acoustic record called “Truth Be Told,” in his soundproofed closet at his family’s home near Charlotte, North Carolina. At that point, he was becoming serious about writing, recording and performing music. “‘Truth Be Told’ was the transition from ‘Music’s fun’ to ‘I want to be doing this forever,’” Austin-Zimmerman said. Austin-Zimmerman’s original plan was to attend community college for two years and then move to Nashville to pursue his music career. But after a semester at South Piedmont Community College, he grew tired of the lack of campus life, opportunities to meet people and resources that bigger universities would have. Austin-Zimmerman always knew

he wanted to come to Boone, and made the decision to transfer to Appalachian in January 2017. Having not recorded anything since 2014, Austin-Zimmerman immediately wanted to work on an album when he got to Boone. And since his songwriting had developed a lot since he was 16, he said, he wanted to use a more professional studio rather than another budget recording in his closet. However, the recording studio in the Hayes School of Music is mainly reserved for the music industry program and artists with Split Rail Records. “I got here and I was like, ‘I gotta make a record this year, but I gotta figure out how, I have to make connections with the recording kids or something,’” Austin-Zimmerman said. “But then one night my friend texted me and said there’s a studio I could use all the time. And I went to the studio that night for six and a half hours and tracked most of a song.” The studio Austin-Zimmerman uses now is actually the audio recording room in the lower level of Belk Library. Like his original “studio,” the recording room is a closet-sized, soundproof room, but it is equipped with double-screened computer monitors, a keyboard, multitrack mixer and audio interface. In addition, students can connect their own instruments and check out a variety of microphones from the tech desk. All of these services are free for Appalachian students. “The resources from Boone and App State are ridiculous,” Austin-Zimmerman said. “Studio time normally costs so much, and it’s ridiculous that I’m recording this much. I spend about 15 hours a week in the studio. For me to rent a studio anywhere else in the world would be impossible.” Austin-Zimmerman is working on his second album, which he plans to release this summer to coincide with a month-long tour. The first single, “Castles,” will be

released March 30. Describing his music as “experimental folk,” Austin-Zimmerman takes influence from artists such as Ben Folds, the Avett Brothers and Sufjan Stevens, but he also said hip-hop is his favorite genre and is inspired by experimental artists like Bjork. Since releasing “Truth Be Told” when he was 16, Austin-Zimmerman said that his sound in the studio has greatly changed, getting “progressively heavier,” with added instruments and musical styles. He calls the first album an Americana record, while the upcoming album has Americana songwriting with more rock instrumentation. “I’m also trying to create something people haven’t heard before with this new record,” Austin-Zimmerman said. “I’ve just become a little jaded with the whole ‘white dude playing a guitar’ thing; there’s synthesizers on the new record, there’s weird vocal effects, and I’m just trying to break out of the whole folk-rock-dude mold.” That’s where artists like Bjork offer inspiration, when they constantly reinvent themselves and their albums. Every time Bjork drops a record, Austin-Zimmerman said, it’s the best record he’s heard since her last, and every time it’s something completely different than anything he’s heard before. “I want to take that kind of mindset, where I want to re-imagine it in as many ways as possible,” he said. “I want to say who’s influencing it, but the whole point is that I don’t want it to sound like anyone.” Production-wise, that’s what Austin-Zimmerman is currently trying to tackle: walking the fine line of making his songs sound different and creative in the studio, while keeping them true to their

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Charles Walker performing at the Hard Rock Cafe in Atlanta. He is a sophomore communications major at Appalachian State and is a touring singer-songwriter. // Photo Credit - Courtesy of Brit La Palm original selves and not forcing anything. The songwriting aspect, though, has not changed much. Austin-Zimmerman is still rooted in folk songwriting, sitting down and writing a bare-bones folk song on guitar before eventually transforming it in the studio. However, he said his songwriting has reflected on him growing up, developing more complex themes compared to his earlier songs. “I’d never been in love at the time, I’d never been through a breakup, never thought about world issues, there was just a lot of stuff I didn’t have the mental capacity to think about back then,” Austin-Zimmerman said. “So I was writing love songs, but I didn’t even know what love was, so I was writing about what I thought it was.” Themes of love and religion are prevalent throughout his music, he said. “Castles,” the upbeat first single from the new record, is about unrequited love and an ode to moving past hard times. Writing is his first instinct whenever he gets hit with a feeling or anything big happens in his life, whether it’s

something good or something painful, Austin-Zimmerman said. “If you go through something hard and you can turn that pain into a productive thing, it feels like it wasn’t for nothing,” he said. “It feels like it wasn’t just a bad day, it was worth it.” Right now, Austin-Zimmerman is in “recording mode,” focusing on recording the songs he has already written rather than frequently writing new songs. He likes to get songs 90 percent finished in the studio and then let it sit for a month or so while he works on other songs. At the end, he will listen to all of the nearly-completed songs and fill them in together, so that he has a fresh perspective, the songs share elements and the record is cohesive. Austin-Zimmerman tries to play everything he can in the studio; he always writes and produces the music and performs his own vocals, guitar and piano. For “Truth Be Told,” he played everything except the instruments he knew nothing about, like trumpet and violin, but for the new record, he’s let go of the idea of

11 doing it all himself. “I’m still playing most of it, but the idea of me playing drums and bass is ridiculous when I have friends who are incredible at them,” he said. “The song deserves more, the song is only the sum of its parts and the more perspectives of musicians you can get on any music project, the better.” Friends from home and other musicians Austin-Zimmerman has known over the years are enlisted to play drums and bass on the album, and when he was seeking someone to play a horn line, he posted in the Facebook group App State Classifieds asking if anyone could do it. Sophomore music education major Emily Russell responded, and plays the two recorded horns for “Castles.” Austin-Zimmerman’s tour this summer, which he plans to last about 30 days from mid-July to mid-August, will be his longest yet, and also his first time touring without a full band: he’ll be joined only by his girlfriend, Katie Marshall, who has been singing harmony with him for years. His first official tour was during the summer of 2015, a run of five shows in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, while he and his four bandmates, calling themselves the Charles Walker Band, were still in high school. One member of the band was Timothy Emmerich, now a freshman at UNC Greensboro, who met Austin-Zimmerman in sixth grade and began to play music with him a couple years later. Emmerich was the bassist during the tour, and said that Austin-Zimmerman has always been dedicated to his music and success: made clear by the fact that he produced an album and single handedly booked two tours while they were still in high school. His mother and grandmother even came along for the ride during the first tour. “We thought we were like rock stars, it was very cool, but looking back it’s just funny because we only played five shows and we lost money or whatever,” Austin-Zimmerman said. “But it didn’t matter. Just the idea of getting up in the morning, being in the car for five hours and then playing music that we loved, it was just fun.” The next summer, Austin-Zimmerman brought three bandmates, the only consistent members being himself and Marshall, on the road for nine shows in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia. The highlight of that tour was headlining the Hard Rock Cafe in Atlanta, where they sold 115 tickets. “Then a few days later, we played this diner in Charlottesville, Virginia, that was so tiny, our drummer had to sit at a booth and set his drums up there,” Austin-Zimmerman said, laughing. “And our bassist crawled in the booth and hung upside down like a little kid would do. It was just fun, we loved it. That’s how touring is, you just don’t know what will happen.” This summer, Austin-Zimmerman is linking up with other artists during sections of the tour to perform shows on the same bill. Four of those shows will be with Jon Charles Dwyer, a musician now living in Richmond, Virginia, but who used to live and play music in Boone. The two met about a year ago when Austin-Zimmerman walked up to Dwyer and his former band, Junior In His Prime, at a rest stop and asked, “Hey, are you guys in a band?” “I could tell he was fearless,” Dwyer said. “He had no awkwardness about him and was excited from the get-go to simply meet other musicians. His ambition is fueled by his confidence and I’m very excited to be around that type of energy in the months to come.” His naturally outgoing nature makes Austin-Zimmerman a confident showman. Performing live has always been his favorite part, he said, and he has never felt shy or nervous about it, characteristics he says he got from his mom. The upcoming record and tour are very Boone-centric, Austin-Zimmerman said. It was recorded in Boone, many of the other musicians on the album live in Boone and sections of the tour are joined by other Boone artists. “App’s been really receptive of my music in general,” Austin-Zimmerman said. “I’m really glad to be here.” Charles Walker will be performing on March 31 at Reckless Arts and on April 21 at 3rd Place. His new single “Castles,” other music and tour information is available on his website.

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March 30, 2017

ELECTRIC JELLY FUNK PREPARES TO RELEASE FIRST ALBUM

Two bands, Electric Jelly Funk and Yugo, pose for a group photo outside of Black Cat. // Photo Credit - Lindsay Vaughn BY ASHLEY GOODMAN A&E REPORTER

lectric Jelly Funk

is probably best known by Appalachian State students right now for its recent win of the 2017 Battle of the Bands, an annual competition held at Legends, this year on Feb. 23. EJF is a self-described funk fusion band featuring eight Appalachian State students that has been recently signed by Split Rail Records. After winning the Battle of the Bands, EJF will receive its own show at Legends next semester. The eight students comprising EJF, three sophomores and five freshmen, combine classic rock instruments such as guitars and drums with the sounds of trumpet, trombone and saxophone to mix funk and jazz influences. Over their time in high school, the band members combined influences of the various genres they listened to before settling on a combination of funk and jazz voices. “We all find our own artists, but generally as a group of friends who’ve known each other for a long time and developed our musicianship together, we all settled on jazz and funk,” Matt Guard, a freshman music industry major and the band’s keyboardist, said.

Since coming to App, the group has fleshed out their sound’s brass components, with sophomore Rob McCormac on the trumpet and freshman Zach McRary on the trombone, both majoring in music performance. Today, the group has advanced far since beginning its career at App State last semester. They have since been signed by Split Rail Records, a student-run record label. Though they feel that they are the same musicians and play the same music as they had before signing on with the company, they do feel that their opportunities have changed since signing. “Without this, we definitely wouldn’t be where we are in the process of building ourselves and getting our material out there,” West said. Their three-year contract spans the majority of their college career, leaving the musicians a semester after the end of the contract to decide where to go next. “They’re providing us with a really good foundation to jump off of, and once the contract is over we’ll have no problem taking ourselves wherever we want to take ourselves,” Guard said. Since signing with the company, the group has embarked on entirely new project: releasing their first album. Although the official title has not been confirmed, the band is considering Room 300.

“Every single time we practice, it’s in Room 300 of the music building,” McCormac said. “That’s where all of our creativity happens.” The project will be unveiled during its album release party, speculated to be sometime in late April. Within the album, the group tried to make sure that each song was different, with an entirely different sound than the last. Each artist is featured somewhere in the album, whether in playing the melody or simply supporting in an intricate and technical role. “I think we did a perfect job of representing everyone and what they bring to the table musically, imaginatively, and creatively,” Guard said. “Everybody has their creative influence shared pretty equally throughout the album.” The release of the album will also celebrate the winner of a graphic design contest the band started. Previously, EJF’s logo was simple: a jellyfish with the band’s initials. With its new album, however, the group wants a more signature image, and one with the band’s full name on it. Rather than employing Split Rail’s graphic designer on retainer, EJF asked the App State community to help them design a logo. They advertised a

March 30, 2017

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Matt Guard playing the keyboard during the Electric Jelly Funk performance at Black Cat. Guard also sings for band. // Photo Credit Lindsay Vaughn competition in which artists could send in their own designs. The winner would receive a $50 cash prize, as well as a signed album and tickets to the album release show. The contest, which ended March 25, will determine the future logo the band will use. “We all really liked this idea because it really opens up what we’re doing and the process of us working on this project to the public,” Jesse Maltby, the band’s drummer and a freshman majoring in industrial design, said. “Not only do they see it happening, but they get to be involved in how it happens.” With a new record label and their first album in progress, EJF’s members have been busy trying to juggle their time between school and performing. Many of the bandmates are music majors, having to meet the requirements of their group as well as those of the school ensembles they perform in. “It’s still super stressful trying to manage our schedule with gigs for us as a band with gigs we’re

required to play with school,” McCormac said. Though multiple members also participate in the school’s ensembles and bands, everyone agreed that the busyness was worth it. “It’s a good kind of stressful,” Guard said. “I’m making time to do something that I love, and if I wasn’t doing it, I would a lot less happy.” As their album release date comes closer, EJF is reducing its number of live shows. Though the band will be performing some concerts and numerous events in the next month, the members are being conscious to cut back some, in order to increase anticipation and excitement about the album release show. “It makes it seem unimportant if we’re playing every weekend and then there’s just another show where you can buy a CD,” McCormac said. Despite the record label signing, the new music and the rising demand for gigs, the band still wants to maintain a modest mission. “Our mission is to make people feel as good as we do when we’re playing our music. Our music is about

the people who are listening to it just as much as it’s about the people who are playing it,” Owen Myers, the group’s guitarist and a sophomore majoring in music industry, said. The band takes pride in the fact that its members share a friendship. Through high school, well before EJF truly began, many of the band’s members spent their weekends together, writing songs and making music. Coming to App and forming the group officially, this vibe hasn’t changed. “As a friend group, this is how we hang out, by playing music,” Myers said. “When we’re up on stage jamming, we’re hanging out. We’re having fun.” For the next month, EJF will be focused on completing its new album and preparing for its release show. “We’ve spent a lot of time and hard work on this album. It’s not the first project we’ve done, but it’s gonna be the strongest,” Guard said. “It’s gonna be something awesome.”

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March 30, 2017

(Top) Appalachian State music major Maya Brown. (Bottom) Senior music major Kelsey Lynch. // Photo Credit - Courtesy of Jamie Patel

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A MUSIC MAJOR BY JULIANNE BLAYLOCK A&E REPORTER

elsey Lynch sits down in one

of practice rooms and holds her cello like the instrument is an extension of her body. She places her fingers on the instrument and plays a piece silently in her head. “The classes are hard because you have to take classes like music theory and music history,” Lynch, a music performance major with a concentration in cello, said. “I’m a music major because music has always been a part of my life since I could talk. I honestly do not really know what else I would do because I have always been a really artistic person.” Lynch, like many other music students, spends most of her days in the Hayes School of Music with few breaks. For many music majors, days are filled with practice, lessons, classes and meetings. On top of

it all, here is still homework to finish. “My time here at Appalachian has been really helpful and it has helped me grow as a musician and as a person,” Lynch said. Another music student, Maya Brown, is a double major in child development and music education with a concentration in instrumental music. “Basically if you are on time, you are behind because you just have so much to do in both majors,” Brown said. Brown is taking 22 credit hours this semester, which she said is fairly common for a music major. Because Brown is a double major, she said she will not graduate in four years. Her day starts by working in the child development center. After work, she goes to her physics of sound class and then on to performance seminar. “Performance seminar is basically an hour where we get to listen to our other colleagues,” Brown said.

“Sometimes music education majors have breakout, in which we play our secondary instrument or we have speakers come in and talk to us.” After performance seminar, she has an hour of coaching by a professor for her quartet group. Then, she plays for a few hours with no breaks. “I like to sit down and practice when everything is fresh on my mind,” Brown said. Students in the Hayes School of Music form a close-knit family and enjoy socializing with each other in the little free time that they have. “We are studying our instrument. We are studying the repertoire. We are studying our orchestra music, the theory behind it and the history,” Brown said. Brown said with all the time spent in the school of music, the community naturally becomes close. “You end up getting close just because you guys are all here and you are all going through

March 30, 2017

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Senior music major Andres Orench. // Photo Credit - Courtesy of Jamie Patel the same things,” she said. “You guys are all pretty much taking the same classes together. We play together so much. In order to successfully play, you have to bond with the other people.” Andres Orench, a music education major with a concentration in instrumental music, has a different perspective as a music major, because this semester he is student teaching at Asheville Middle School. Orench arrives at Asheville Middle School at a quarter till eight in the morning to set-up the band room. The children are allowed to come practice in the morning before class officially starts and Orench is there every morning giving students help. “The one-on-one time is really good for them,” Orench said. After classes officially begin, Orench has the seventh grade class. The class is preparing for contest, where the band prepares three pieces that they play in front of a panel of judges and receive a score. “It’s a huge deal. It’s the biggest event that happens for them in the spring semester,” Orench said. Right after seventh grade band, he teaches a seventh grade jazz band next. “The teachers have been kind enough to let me completely take over that class,” Orench said. After that class, Orench has a lunch break, which he said is one of the few moments to take a break during the day. “It is very busy. It is something you learn the

first time you step foot in a school having to teach,” h,” Orench said. “It is nonstop and constant. You do not even have a moment to be bored. There is constantly tly stuff going on.” After seventh grade jazz band, Orench teaches hes sixth grade students. “These are the most interesting ones because they ey have been playing for only a few months,” Orench ch said. “They started back in August on new instruruments. Some of them do not even have any musical cal background at all, which is fine. That is how most ost people start in band,” Orench spends all day at the middle school. Occasionally, he comes back to Boone for college meetings. He feels that Appalachian State has provided him with the instruction, opportunities and atmosphere he needs to be successful in the professional world. “The most rewarding thing is when the students struggle with music at first,” Orench said. “You help them out and they work really hard. Then, they finally get it. Their faces just light up when it finally makes sense. They pass that test and go onto the next level in their music. That is the best thing for me.” Students in the Hayes School of Music, like Lynch, Orench and Brown, all have had similar experiences during their time at Appalachian. “Music is a universal language and you can connect with anybody,” Lynch said. “I just want to make people happy.”

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March 30, 2017

STUDENT-RUN, ENSEMBLE PLAYS TUNES FROM VIDEO GAMES

Director Adam Campbell conducting the Video Game Ensemble. // Photo Credit - Lindsay Vaughn BY MARIAH RENEAU A&E REPORTER

hough the Hayes School

of Music has a variety of ensembles, one that takes a different approach to a typical sit-down ensemble is Video Game Ensemble. The Video Game Ensemble’s repertoire is a bit different. All of the music is from video games. The group plays every kind of game music, from popular new games to the old classics. So how did this group come about? It all started with junior music industry major Adam Campbell. Campbell came to Appalachian State as a freshman and wanted to have an ensemble that was more accessible to students who weren’t

music majors. “I’ve always been a huge fan of video games and music, and having individuals who aren’t music majors playing music has always been a really big passion of mine,” Campbell said. “I thought that combining those three ideas together would work really well.” At the time the process was intimidating, he said. The ensemble was an automatic hit among music and non-music majors alike, and gathered a lot of interest. After hanging up flyers, Campbell held an informational meeting about the group. “I set up 30 chairs and I was just like ‘I’m going to go leave and get some food and come back,’”

Campbell said. “I came back and there was standing room only. There were about 50 people in the room.” Senior music education major Jacob Todd said the show was such a hit because of the childhood nostalgia the music brings on. “This music, these are pieces that have memories associated with it,” Todd said. Campbell was astonished that there were so many students willing to put in the extra time. Many of them are music majors who take over 40 hours a week of classes. “There is no reason why 50-plus students come to rehearsal every week getting no credit and listen to a fellow student and follow his conducting and play their music well,” Camp-

March 30, 2017

PROFILES

Video Game Ensemble members all practicing the song “Pokemon.” // Photo Credit - Lindsay Vaughn bell said. “They are here because they want to do it, which every day I still find amazing.” One of the ensemble’s biggest appeals is that, since it’s not an official school ensemble, it’s more accessible to non music majors. This creates a more diverse group of musicians with different skill levels. “As music majors we live and breathe music all the time,” Todd said. “Sometimes it can lose it’s magic. Having non majors is a good reminder that music should be fun.” Campbell felt this was an extremely important aspect of Video Game Ensemble when he originally created the group. “I just think that even though you’re not a god-like or crazy level player, playing music is so important because music is something that breaks down age, race and gender and it’s everyone communicating towards a common goal,” Campbell said. It’s not just popular with those in the ensemble itself. The Video Game Ensemble pulls over 600 attendees to its shows and holds its

concerts in the Schaefer Center due to the large crowds. “I feel like, specifically with Adam, since he’s a student he knows the best way to get students involved,” Todd said. “A lot of professors are like ‘I want you to do this,’ but they’re a professor so they don’t understand what it means to give up time since they are teachers.” Freshman music education major, Caroline Porter agrees. “It’s nice to see someone make mistakes,” Porter said. “Someone who is the same as you, a couple years older, why they chose music ed and then you get to see what it would be like because they’re running it and that could be you one day.” Because of it being student-run, Video Game Ensemble has seen lots of changes in the past couple years. The student run executive board is one of it’s biggest changes. “There are so many moving parts: reserving rooms to rehearse, getting sectionals running, keeping up with section leaders, sending emails, organizing the room, keeping up with the money

and the bylaws,” Campbell said. One of the ensembles other big changes is the addition of vocals. “This ensemble is very good in that it encourages the communication between people that play different instruments whether it’s a singer or a wind player,” Todd said. Regardless of what originally appealed to members, they agree it is a lot of fun. “That’s what’s great about this ensemble: it’s basically just fun,” Todd said. “It’s also a good break for music majors because we’re playing something that’s fun, not just the same stuff we’re always playing.” Porter agrees saying that it Video Game Ensemble is very reminiscent of the type of carefree and fun musical atmosphere provided by middle and high school bands. Beside a performance at Nerd Con, Video Game Ensemble is holding a concert May 1 at 8 p.m. in the Schaefer Center. Music includes selections from “Dark Souls,” “Pokemon Emerald,” “Skyrim” and “Super Smash Brothers.”

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March 30, 2017

People gather around for an improv session at the Old-Time Jam. The jam session take places every Thursday night, from 7:30-11:00 p.m. at The Jones House Cultural and Community Center. // Photo Credit - Olivia Bowyer

JONES HOUSE JAMS: OLD TIME MUSIC IN A MODERN AGE BY STEVEN CAUGHRAN A&E REPORTER

very Thursday night,

musicians of all ages travel to the Jones House Community Center on King Street to play music together. The Jones House provides a space for anyone to come observe and join in on keeping the traditions of old time music alive. Lessons for musicians begin at 4 p.m. and free for all jam sessions are from 7:30-11 p.m. Mark Freed, the Town of Boone cultural resources coordinator, created the Jones House Jams because there was nowhere else for musicians to go and play old time music. “Without any money, I could start a jam session here. All I had to do was open the door and turn the lights on and people could come to play music,” Freed said. Before the Jones House Jam Sessions, there was an old time jam at the Todd General Store, but none in Boone, and when the Todd General

Store was sold, the jam sessions stopped. “The store got bought and the jam started changing,” Freed said. “All these people that were out there playing old time music were feeling alienated, and they didn’t really have a place to play. People started hiring bands to play instead, and the scene changed.” Freed started the Thursday night jam sessions because a new place was needed for an old time jam. “There were several places you could go to play bluegrass music, but there weren’t really places that you could go to play and listen to old time music,” Freed said. “It’s sort of a different branch of the string band tradition.” In old time music, the fiddlers take the lead role, with the other instruments providing support. This differs from bluegrass music, where all the instruments pass around breaks and solos, often with vocals in addition to the instruments. “Bluegrass is more of a performance style of mu-

sic, and this is more functional music,” Freed said. “This was made for dancing.” Old time dance music was played all over the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries, whereas bluegrass began in the 1940s and was much more localized. “It’s not just mountain music, it was all over the place,” Freed said. “There were fiddlers in Iowa and the Ozarks that contributed to it. It was more of a rural American thing and it just happened that more of the mountains were rural than other places.” This kind of music traces back to early settlers and has been present in America since. “There wasn’t really a label for it, it was just music at one point,” Freed said. “The fiddle was introduced by Anglo-Americans, and the banjo was brought over from Africa, and those instruments and their repertoires combined to make that style of music.”

March 30, 2017

Freed likened the music to jazz, where there is a common repertoire of tunes, that people learn from other musicians, without sheet music. “People were talented, you had to be,” Freed said. “If you wanted to entertain yourself, you had to have somebody around that told stories or played music. If you wanted to have a dance, you had to make the music. It was before radios, before phonographs, when this music was being developed.” Cecil Gurganus, a string instrument teacher for the Jones House, stresses the importance of learning old time music traditionally, without the aid of sheet music. “The people that learn the music tablature or music seem to be tied to reading it off that paper,” Gurganus said. “But if they learn it by ear and get it, they really retain it quicker and they can remember it better.” Gurganus also said that learning a tune by ear gives old time music its character, because each musician plays the tune differently. “It’s all the same tune, but there’s different nuances in the bowing and the way that person hears it comes out,” Gurganus said. “If you try to take that and write it down, someone will become locked into the notes written on the page and not have the creativity of someone who learned by ear. Learning by ear means that all the variations of the same tune that make it special to each musician can be heard.” Gurganus teaches string lessons to children of all ages, and now teaches an adult beginner fiddle class as well. “I had a woman come in here that played violin in high school way back, but wanted to learn how to play fiddle and old time music,” Gurganus said. “This originally started as a kid’s after school teaching program, but we have adult fiddle classes now too because there’s demand for them.” Gurganus said that there was not a difference between the violin and fiddle, it is only played in a different style. “A lot of people say that a violin has strings and a fiddle has strangs,” Gurganus said. Gurganus has also formed an old time band with some of his students called Strictly Strings, which plays gigs all over North Carolina to keep the tradition of old time music going. Strictly Strings plays in Boone regularly at Lost Province and other bars, and makes appearances annually at Merlefest. The members, apart from Gurganus, are all part of the Junior Appalachian Musicians. “We all got started here with the classes, and now we all teach here too,” Strictly Strings band member Willow Dillon said. “I’ve been coming here for about five years now. Dillon’s primary instrument is fiddle, but she also plays banjo and ukelele. She has been teaching at the Jones House for two years. “I think it’s really important to keep this style of music alive because not a lot of younger people enjoy it and play it,” Dillon said. “It’s traditional music passed down through musicians, and if we let it die out there will be nothing left.”

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March 30, 2017

TRUDGE

A DIY METAL BAND BY MAKAELAH WALTERS A&E REPORTER

The drummer of Trudge, Luke Giduz, performing in a garage. They are a hardcore band located in Boone, North Carolina. // Photo Credit - Courtesy of Errick Easterday

hat began as a small project between senior industrial design major Luke Giduz and his friend Jeel Storelli is now Boone’s own DIY, five-piece hardcore, doom metal-influenced band, Trudge. Trudge is vocalist Nicholas Presson; bassist and electronic media broadcasting major, James Owens; drummer Luke Giduz; and two guitarists, Jeel Storelli and AJ Taylor. Deciding they wanted a space to play heavy music, they all began to play together over a year ago. “Jeel and I recorded some really crappy little demos and showed them to a few people who were like, ‘This is sick. You guys should actually try to be a real band,’” Giduz said. Presson said he contacted Giduz because he wanted to play music, and Giduz followed up by asking him what he wanted to play. “He asked me drums or guitar, and I said neither. I want to do vocals,” Presson said. Giduz said the band members were not good friends before they formed, but he knew Storelli, and they connected later online. Owens said he had just started school at App when he joined the band. “I had seen a few of Luke’s other bands before joining,” he said. After a post Giduz made on Facebook, they picked up Owens. Presson said it was just the four of them for a while, but Taylor was picked up recently to add more guitar to the recordings. Trudge officially came together in September 2015, though they didn’t take it very seriously. Giduz said that personally, Trudge started out as a joke. “We didn’t go into it with a mission or anything. At first I was just goofing off,” he said. When the band thought Storelli might move, they worried about the future of Trudge. “We didn’t know where it was going because we all had feet in different projects, and that felt like it wasn’t going to go anywhere,” Presson said. When things got challenging is exactly when Trudge reigned in their creative focus. Together they were able to create work that’s more mature both musically and lyrically than work they’ve done in the past. “In the very beginning, from a lyrical standpoint, it wasn’t anything but just pure ignorant, pissed off music,” Presson said. Presson doesn’t have much of a hand in the writing but said he is proud of Storelli and Giduz, who do most of the writing, for how much they’ve improved and matured for Trudge’s upcoming release. “It’s definitely next level and way more thought out,” Owens said. Giduz said part of the process for writing new music was often just recording snippets on his phone and working with Storelli until they were the best they could be. Though Trudge had to tighten up on their creative process, they insist on only two things when it comes to their shows: having fun and not hurting anyone. “Hardcore shows can get a little rowdy but we’ve never been about any of that,” Presson said. “Our whole scene’s pretty tight.” Giduz said that when they play, the energy is always high, and said that the way the audience “gets rowdy” is an inspiring sight. “All of our fans are just our friends who bring their friends,” he said. Because of this, Trudge has watched their local following grow. “It’s really crazy that such a heavy band could come out of a place like Boone, but it’s also super cool,” freshman English major Parker Smith said.

March 30, 2017

PROFILES

(Top) The band Trudge, a hardcore outfit based in Boone. (Bottom) Drummer Luke Giduz performing in a garage. // Photo Credit - Courtesy of Errick Easterday

Presson said they have a local following in Boone, and are often connected to what he called their “father band,” Junior in His Prime. Giduz said the intersection of hardcore and DIY makes for a pretty cool community. “Some bands contact you, you make a Facebook event page, people show up and pay a little bit of money at the door, then they get to watch these bands play in a basement or a garage or whatever and everybody has a good time,” Giduz said. “It’s all do it yourself.” DIY also means that Trudge is not backed by a record label so they are left to book and promote their own shows, print their own merch and even pay recording and travel expenses out of pocket. Presson said the band is not out to make money and has made a lot of friends at their shows.

“There are a lot of places we go where people just say ‘here’s my living room, have some fun,’ and when a group of people are of that mindset a lot of people show respect.” Tucked away behind a salvage lot on Westview Heights Drive is Boone’s own DIY spot known as Westview House. Presson said the house has been a blessing, and that performing new music is the most vulnerable you can make yourself. “It’s a cool thing that everyone gathers at a random address that somebody gave out and wants to watch that,” he said. Trudge’s new EP, “Left to Rot,” is set to come out within the next month or two. “This new release was a long time coming,” Giduz said. “For a while I felt like we were playing shows that

were higher caliber than the music we had online, so it’s cool to have new songs that we want to play live, and these are the songs we want to be known for.” Trudge plans to premiere the first single from this EP with a music video recorded by Errick Easterday. “He’s very talented and we are so lucky to have worked with him,” Presson said. This summer, Trudge will embark on a small tour up the East Coast with Promise Breaker, another DIY hardcore band from Pennsylvania. “We have a very small but loyal fan base and it’s cool to see people care about what we do so we want to give them music that makes them keep caring about what we do,” Giduz said. Trudge’s music can be found on Bandcamp and until the release of “Left to Rot,” people can enjoy two previously released demos.