Tonight, student performers will take one last bow at Quadzilla before the grind of finals hits. The music festival, organized by Bowdoin Music Collective (BMC), will feature 10 student acts along with art projects by the Art Club and food provided by Residential Life.
Quadzilla is BMC’s biggest event and offers bands to showcase the fruits of a year’s practice. Despite its short history, it is considered a tradition among club members.
“Since BMC has only been around for four years, our traditions are being formed as we go along. This is one of the ones we’re most excited about,” said Nate Joseph ’13, BMC co-president.
Although Quadzilla immediately follows Ivies, the mood of the concert feels a little different to the students who attend. Dave Raskin ’13, co-president of BMC, believes this is because it is more focused on the art of the performances.
“People have described it to me as ‘hipster Ivies,’” said Raskin. “I think there is a degree of open-mindedness about this kind of outdoor celebration that’s not necessarily present at the Ivies concert.”
BMC expects a large student turnout, especially given the sunny weather forecast.
“We’ve generally seen consistently close to a couple hundred people out on the Brunswick Quad hanging out,” said Raskin. “There’s generally a pretty decent sized chunk of people right in front of the stage watching the acts.”
Even with such high attendance, the performers are not too worried about the event.
“Even though there tend to be a lot of people there, it’s still [not], I don’t think, the most high pressure environment, just because everyone’s hanging out and having a good time,” said Joseph.
Quadzilla comes at the time of the year when bands are beginning to crystallize their sound.
“This is always a fun time of the year because all the bands have really had a chance to work on their material,” Joseph said. “Oftentimes the Quadzilla set is the culmination of what bands have been working on all year.”
The festival will include both cover songs and original songs with each band playing a 15-minute set. Some acts, like Ivies-opener Phar\os, and campus favorites like Suck my NESCAC and the NARPS are well established. For students who missed the Battle of the Bands performances, the two runner-ups, Treefarm and Circus, will be playing as well.
Newer acts, many of which formed at the Build-A-Band Workshop held earlier this semester, will also perform. According to Tom Keefe ’14, one of next year’s BMC co-presidents, the bands are well prepared for their performances.
“We’ve all played before,” he said. “So, it’s not things that they haven’t seen. It’s really just practice, figuring out what set you want to play and making sure that you can play everything right.”
Students can expect to hear an array of different music styles. The acts range from folk to pop to electronic.
“Not since my freshman spring have I seen so many bands active on campus,” said Raskin.
Quadzilla has always been an event that takes more planning and coordination than the other more informal events throughout the year. Compared to past Quadzillas, BMC has made the event bigger by collaborating with the Art Club to provide fun art projects.
“In addition to a collaborative art project, we’re going to have art club members there painting faces and bodies to kind of let the art move around the space, so to speak,” said Raskin. “I like to think that it will be the same thing but smoother, maybe a bit more incorporated.”
For outgoing co-presidents Joseph and Raskin, planning for this event has been a way to slowly hand over responsibility to incoming co-presidents Keefe and Sam Roberts ’14.
“As the year’s gone on I’ve been having to do less and less because members of the BMC have been doing more and more,” said Raskin. “It’s less stressful than other previous events.”
Although BMC has been a huge part of his Bowdoin experience, Joseph said he is confident that he and Raskin are leaving the organization in good hands.
“I’m really happy to see that the club is still running strong, and I think next year’s presidents will do a great job continuing what we’ve built,” he said.