Snowchella 2020 is just around the corner. On Jan. 25 at Howard’s, 25 unique bands from in and around Bowling Green will perform. Here’s what five of those bands have to say about themselves and their upcoming performances:
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Mango Tree – Joe, Denise and Joshua
Aubreyonna Van Hoose | Reporter
Q: How would you describe your music?
A: Our music stands out because we’re an acoustic group, but most importantly we stand out with how we interact and address the audience. We strive to make our audience feel like our friends by the second song.
Q: How do you plan to leave your mark at Snowchella?
A: We have some plans to make our show fun to watch, but honestly we tend to leave our mark by connecting to our audience. We connect to our audience on a deeply emotional level by our powerful, emotional lyrics, while interacting with the crowd to leave a mark on everybody.
Q: What do you hope to learn or get out of Snowchella this year?
A: We are hoping to get a bigger audience and prepare everyone for our upcoming album that comes out in May.
Q: Are there any hints or teasers you can tell us about your upcoming Snowchella performance?
A: If you listen to the BG radio you’ll hear one of our favorite songs that we will be playing during our set at Snowchella. For any of our fans here’s a hint: ‘Hey don’t be insecure, run to the car and be someone at Snowchella. We are not done yet in 2020.’
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Half Kidding - Madison, Kate, Conor, Mike and Trey
RC | Reporter
Q: How would you describe your music?
A: Angsty hypersexual bubblegum pop.
Q: How did the bond as a band form?
A: Every one of us loves music and the music the community gives us. With everyone being on the same page, it made it so easy to be close.
Q: What do you hope to get out of Snowchella?
A: We’re excited to finally play a full band set after a couple acoustic sessions and shows we played without the full lineup.
Q: As a fairly new band, how do you plan to leave your mark on Snowchella and the BG DIY scene?
A: We’ll be ripping a lot of gigs in 2020, so I don’t think BG has a choice but to love us.
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The Juice Company - Chris S, Chris F, Grant and Eric
Andrew Bailey | Pulse Editor
Q: How would you describe your music?
A: We’ve always had kind of a folk-punk background. We started off pretty dominantly folk-punk, but we’ve kind of evolved into a newer sound. Our own style though. It’s like folk-punk but indie alternative as well, but we’ve never really been able to pinpoint a genre. We have been compared to The Front Bottoms and Violent Femmes as well. Sort of in that ballpark.
Q: How do you plan to leave your mark at Snowchella?
A: We’ve always had a decent crowd of our own with family and friends who come out and support. They haven’t really experienced the whole DIY scene a whole lot themselves. I think that the people we bring in, exposing them to the scene and then showing the scene our crowd as well will help us leave our mark in our own way.
Q: What do you hope to get out of Snowchella?
A: We’re actually recording an EP right now. But we’ve also kind of taken a break for the last month or two from shows, so Snowchella will be our first show in a while. We’ll try to get our EP out there and announce that to the world with our first show back in a while. It’s kind of our way of kicking off the year.
Q: Is there anything you would like to add?
A: We’re just really excited to be playing Snowchella. There’s going to be so many good bands there and we just can’t wait to play.
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Willow Hill Motel – Damian and Elijah
Lauren Gregory | Reporter
Q: How would you describe your music?
A: We’ve been describing it as psychedelic emo because we try to incorporate different aspects of both psychedelic and emo music. Nowadays the new music I’m writing is primarily more emo, but the majority of our stuff I would describe as psychedelic emo.
Q: How do you plan to leave your mark at Snowchella?
A: I feel like I might be giving away secrets of the set if I say too much. But then again, I don’t know if we have too many secrets. I’m really just trying to have a fun show and just meet a bunch of new people. A lot of times bands kind of just stick to talking to their bandmates or other performing artists, and my goal is to talk to everybody. I want to meet as many people as possible. Not just the performing artists, but also all the people coming out to jam out and enjoy the music. It is so important to engage with everyone coming out because that’s what keeps people coming to shows. That’s actually what kept me coming when bands would talk to me before or after their sets and stuff.
Q: What do you hope to get out of Snowchella?
A: I hope to make some friends and maybe make some new fans. I hope to get our name out there more because the majority of the people that really know about us are just in Pittsburgh. I hope this will give me an opportunity to really get the ball rolling on this project because I have so many more things planned for this band and for future releases that I want to make happen, but I know it can only happen if we have the support behind us.
Q: Is there anything you would like to add about yourself?
A: I’m always trying to think of ways to address or promote environmental consciousness in the DIY scene, but it’s really hard to do because you can’t really ban people from drinking out of plastic or aluminum and then just tossing it on the ground. My girlfriend and I just brainstormed starting a clothing swap at one of the venues I play in Pittsburgh. It’s a pretty frequented venue and it’s a perfect idea to start recycling because there are a bunch of clothes that I don’t really use anymore and I don’t want to see them go to waste. I think other people might be interested in wearing some of my old clothes and I might be interested in wearing other people’s old clothes. I just always like to think of new ways to promote sustainability and make sure we are doing more to help the earth.
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Teamonade – Osi, TJ and Ryan
Q: How would you describe your music?
A: We find it hard to describe our sound. We really try to bounce around and explore a lot of different sounds. Our released music is definitely more indie rock. There are a lot of rock and roll vibes to it. Our newest single definitely is very punk. I guess one thing that we try to keep specific throughout all of our songs is a hot riff. That is our genre: hot riffs, hot beats, hot baselines and hot melodies. I think every band aspires to that.
Q: How do you plan to leave your mark at Snowchella?
A: The big thing for us is that we’ve played so many shows in Bowling Green that, especially with these newer bands, it will be tough for us to keep it fresh. The goal is definitely to play some newer songs. I don’t want to over-promise, but we will definitely play at least one or two. Then, I think it will naturally be special because of the crowd. Connor Allen made this event tighter and any event that he puts together manages to draw a big crowd of people that really care. At these events, you can feel the energy from the people who show up, and that just makes it really special.
Q: What do you hope to get out of Snowchella?
A: As always, we really want to grow our fan base. It’s not always that in a BG gig you’re able to reach a wider audience, but at these events, they do a really good job of getting people from all over out to hear some music. I hope a lot of new people can hear our sound. Another goal I have is to just hear some new bands. There are a lot of new bands on the lineup that I’ve never heard of, and I think that’s a great opportunity for our band to kind of learn and grow more. I guess I’m just really excited to grow in terms of our music getting out there more and in terms of learning some new sounds and learning from these other bands.
Q: Is there anything you would like to add?
A: Whether you play music, just listen to music, or do neither, this is the kind of event that is cool. No matter what your walk of life is, this is the kind of event that you can bring your friends to and just have a good time. Events like this aren’t going to happen forever, so make sure you can come and be a part of something special while it’s still here.
