Heavy On the Music

Epic Event features mix of bands, CD release.

By Jim Sullivan
Berklee.edu Correspondent
February 23, 2007

Spiritual Rez plays horn-driven reggae and funk-rock at the annual Epic Event, which featured the release of the new Dorm Sessions Volume 4 CD.
Photo by Phil Farnsworth

The result: a seamless performance that rocked hard in many places and even accommodated, at the last minute, the addition of an eighth band, the Click Five.

The Click Five—four of the five band members are Berklee alumni—played a Cheap Trick-like pop-rocker, "Jenny," to the near-sellout crowd at the February 7 show. Six other groups played two songs each from the new Dorm Sessions Volume 4 CD on Berklee's Heavy Rotation label. In a shift from last year's concert, which was slanted toward hip-hop, this was more of a rock show—some hard, some soft, with many of the bands shifting gears between the modes, changing direction within songs.

"I felt the students did a great job promoting the show, the artists played well and respected each other, and the audience responded in kind," said Jeff Dorenfeld, associate professor of music business/management and the man at the helm of Heavy Rotation Records. His senior class—with Jessica Wolfe and Erica Duncan running the class and the show—chose the bands for the album, and, hence, the concert. The only act on the CD not to play was Aiden Eve and the Innocent. The bands, each of which was assigned a "road manager" for the gig, shared one main drum kit and bass gear. "I was happy to see most of the audience stayed 'til the end," said Dorenfeld. "I enjoyed all the bands. Backstage, they all cheered the other bands. My students, you can't imagine how much work they do to fill that house—Facebook, the web, flyers."

September Twilight, which formed back when the band members were all in middle school and won the national runner-up nod at last year's Emergenza International Battle of the Bands, began with "Inferno" and "Where the Path Divides." They showed U2 and Metallica influences—a thick and hard attack with guitar, bass, and drums topped with higher-pitched, ethereal vocals from Bill Bloom.

	Madi Diaz takes to the stage, performing tunes "Canvas" and "Goodbye Goodbye."
	Photo by Phil Farnsworth
	Dave McWane, the singer with Big D and the Kids Table, performs at the Epic Event.
	Photo by Phil Farnsworth

Next up: Madi Diaz, with the night's softest, most singer-songwriter-ish segment, playing "Canvas" and "Goodbye Goodbye." You could hear Sheryl Crow strains in her folk-rock-blues mix.

The Teenage Symphonies got points right away for nicking their name from Brian Wilson's description of the Beach Boys album Smile as being composed of "teenage symphonies to God." Their songs, "West Coast" and "Summer," showed how much four East Coast kids love Wilson's mythical California and its sun. They were infectious, full of optimism.

The Click Five, which (logically enough) has had the Teenage Symphonies open for them, followed with the full-bore power pop of "Jenny." Singer Eric Dill expressed that quintessential male lament: "First you say you won't/Then you say you will."

Kid: Nap: Kin played "Introduction" and "(Lovely Day for a) Parade." It threw a lot into its sonic blender: grunge, thrash, crunchy chords, soft passages, shredding vocals, melodic guitar riffs.

Spiritual Rez was a smart choice to precede Big D and the Kids Table, the night's closing act. The septet played horn-driven reggae and funk-rock, with "Vex" and "Peaceful Warrior." The latter had a classic reggae theme with its rolling "We fight and we fight and we fight for freedom" chorus, but Spiritual Rez, like most everyone on the bill, mixed it up by crossing genres. For Spiritual Rez, the punchy horn lines brought the party to the politics.

Big D and the Kids Table closed the concert with three tunes; though two of their songs are featured on the "Dorm" CD, they played other favorites: "Shinin' On," "Noise Complaint," and "Strictly Rude"—the latter the title track of their CD due out March 20. The ska punk band, which just finished a tour with Dropkick Murphys, has graduated to SideOneDummy Records, the label run by Vans Warped tour promoter Kevin Lyman.

Big D formed as a 10-piece at Berklee, but has evolved to a septet. Both their inclusion on the album and their set seemed like a way of saying thanks to their alma mater. Did they feel like the headliner?

"The only way I felt like a headliner," said singer Dave McWane, "was in that I felt old. And the only reason I felt old was because everyone else talks so fast and is so excited, and I realized I have been on the road for nine years."

McWane summed up the show and the Berklee experience: "The whole approach is so great. First you got a bunch of kids surrounded with such top musicians. You could see the creativity and that being nonconventional was acceptable, either by the instrumentation or sound. People being completely open and saying to fellow band members 'What can you come up with?'"

Jim Sullivan is a Boston-based freelance writer.