In spite of a lack of physical advertisements and last-minute arrangements, the Bubbles Bands Banyan event’s word-of-mouth chorus gave student bands on campus a chance to be heard on Apr. 27 amid the white noise of finals—featuring the likes of Platonic Lovers and Chicken Machine. Student Success Center (SSC) assistant, percussionist for Chicken Machine and thesis student Nick Beck shared the challenges, compromises, timeline and turnout of Bubbles Bands Banyan.

“The whole event was Terry [Murphy]’s idea from Health Education,” Beck said. “As a student assistant for the SSC, I volunteered us to collaborate and do most of the legwork because Terry is pretty new to the job, and it sounded like a really cool idea that I wanted to help see it succeed.”

“I haven’t seen a strictly student band concert in the Nook in the broad daylight in my time here, but I believe that the vibe of this event is similar to that of the OG Woodstock Wall before those became Newstock,” Beck continued.

Despite the last-minute nature of this event, the event saw a turnout of approximately 30 students on a Thursday afternoon during bacc week, a time when many thesis students are having their baccalaureate exams.

“The most difficult part of organizing this event was the timeline,” Beck said. “I couldn’t send out any informational flyers until right before the event because we weren’t exactly sure about the lineup and timing.”

Among the event’s final lineup were the student bands Platonic Lovers, Sungrazer and Chicken Machine.

“Sungrazer performed for what has to have been their seventh gig in seven days—only a light exaggeration—but they were locked in and sounded great,” Beck commented.

Beck’s own band Chicken Machine—which he described as a “newfound folk country band”—debuted songs from their upcoming album.

“It was lovely to play what we’ve been working on from start to finish,” said Beck.

Arduous as the arrangement process may have been, Bubbles Bands Banyan gave budding musicians on campus a platform to perform on.