WXCU’s second annual Frostbite Fest is gearing up to be quite the show featuring two student bands, each with unique sound.
Seniors Alex Stemple and Andrew Eaton and Reese Maslen, first-year, make up garage rock band the Plebeians.
Stemple and Eaton first became friends in high school and their group more recently came to include Maslen in the past few months.
“I met [Maslen] through failing at class my freshman year and re-taking it last semester,” Stemple said.
“… We just like, bonded over the first few weeks,” Maslen said. “And then we started showing each other each other’s music and … it worked out.”
Eaton said that he and Stemple had played with other people before, but the chemistry they have with Reese is one-of-a-kind in that his energy matches theirs and that “he definitely doesn’t suck.”
In terms of sound, the Plebeians don’t really fall into one specific category.
“We used to be some like, indie, sad, just like, weird jam-y [music] … and it was … not good,” Stemple said. Inspired by indie artists like Mac Demarco at the time, they’ve more recently evolved to be a more all-around intense band.
The Plebeians don’t think that they really sound like any other band — they’re just writing songs and seeing where it goes.
As the three of them, Frostbite Fest will be their first show together, with the help of bassist Nate Kalnitz.
“We’re like … a fetus at this point, and now once this show happens … [we’ll be] birthed,” Stemple said. “This is going to be like … the kickstart of us getting shows elsewhere.”
This show will also give the band an opportunity to work on organizing songs and getting a sense of what to play.
“Once you have a setlist, it’s kind of like established … for a few shows, and once we write more it’s just going to add to the Plebeian experience,” Stemple said.
The Plebeians will be releasing a single in the next month or so, but for now they can be found on social media @PlebeiansBand.
The headlining band playing Frostbite Fest is Ghost Soul Trio, featuring junior music technology major James Harker.
“Our sound has a bit of an experimental/weirder side to it, but at its core it’s still essentially indie pop music,” Harker said in an email. “This new record is pretty maximalist at a lot of points, but I feel like it’s a really interesting take on an indie pop sound.”
Like the Plebeians, Ghost Soul Trio is excited to play Frostbite Fest.
“It’ll be a fun show and the Capital music tech program puts on really cool production-based events. We’ll be playing a lot of new songs from the new album so we’re excited to finally start playing these songs live,” Harker said.
Their upcoming album “Too Many Futures” will be released March 12 and the band will be playing a release show at The Basement on March 15.
Also playing Frostbite Fest will be Cleveland band Distracted.
Carlee Kime, WXCU’s general manager, said that she spent break planning the show and that although it can be a lot to handle, she’s grateful to WXCU for giving her the real-world opportunity.
“We’ve been collaborating with Chad Loughrige in the music technology department for sound and Jeff Gress in the theatre department for lights,” she said. “… One of our biggest hurdles with concerts in the CMC has been making a classroom into a venue, and lighting is always the best way to make it really feel like a concert and not a classroom.”
WXCU will be streaming the concert live on air and Music Director Bri Snider will be interviewing the artists following their sets.
Frostbite Fest will be held Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. in Convergent Media Center 121. Admission is free with a Capital ID and $5 general admission.
