No time of the semester is as merciless to students as the end: finals, presentations, moving out, catching up on that asynchronous class you haven’t touched since before spring break– it’s all disorienting. But on May 5, William Paterson music students got to shake out their stress at the most anticipated event of the semester.
Independently deemed as “The Battle for William Paterson”, four bands composed mostly of jazz majors – Kissability, Neptune and the Sailor, Green City Trees, and BLÜECRÜE – all competed for the winning title at underground venue The Meatlocker in Montclair. Within the walls, decorated by creative works of self-expression, the eventual 65-person crowd was buzzing with excitement for the show to begin.
“I think the band to beat is BLÜECRÜE, honestly,” said Brave New Radio personality Eli Leder early on into the night. He wasn’t the only one to think so, but Leder and other members of the “crünion” would have to wait until after the last set to confirm their theory.
To kick off the show, Kissability performed with a confident, dramatic stage presence. Frontwoman Lily Tirch showed off her impressive artistic range by demonstrating her perfectly controlled metal vocals, contrasting with the just-as-controlled jazz vocals that students know her for.
“We’re really inspired by a lot of female doom (metal) bands right now, so that’s what we’re pushing towards, sonically,” said Tirch, who will be playing at The Meatlocker again on May 17.
The next band to perform was Neptune and the Sailor, formed by jazz program graduates James Bally (‘24) on vocals/piano, Eoin O’Mara (‘24) on lead guitar, and Conor Borthwick (’24) on guitar, who could not be in attendance.
Completing the lineup are current students Tim Leonard on bass and Lasse Corson (a jazz piano major) on drums.
Neptune’s songs, described by Bally and Corson as a “whole mish-mosh” and “hoopla” of genres, respectively, provided the audience with opportunities to both simply sway along to their music, and dance.
“I definitely liked Neptune’s music itself the most,” said freshman Michaela Shin after the show. “But I think my favorite set was Green City Trees. They were very fun and entertaining.”
Originally slated to go last, Green City Trees performed third in the show and brought the energy up to a new level. As the winners of last spring’s “Battle of the Bands” competition hosted by the campus’ Music and Entertainment Organization, band members Anders Pederson (vocals/guitar), Aiden Woods (sax), Killian Winn (bass) and Cedar Ellis (drums) pulled out all the stops to try and defend their title.
In a pre-show interview with The Beacon, Pederson stated that their “biggest competition that night would be the rain,” as Winn added, “the only way we don’t win this is if this place gets flooded, which is a possibility, unfortunately.” As per the Green City Trees name, the band likes to promote staying environmentally conscious.
Their set had a mix of originals (like the infectious “Carbon Copy Girls”) and covers, which were all spun to rhythmically encourage “bone-breaking” moshing, as bassist Killian Winn said jokingly (maybe). Members of the crowd particularly enjoyed their energized rendition of “The Batman Theme” (William Paterson residents, can you guess who made a special appearance?).
Green City Trees also utilized the emcees of the night, instrumental performance majors Cole Johnson and Sam Wagner of the newly formed “Johnson & Wagner, Masterful Comedy” to introduce humor and humility to the rest of the show. Their presence was adored by fans as they continuously entered the crowd and performed skits between sets.
In an exclusive pre-show interview, The Beacon spoke with Johnson and Wagner of Johnson & Wagner to get the scoop on who they were secretly rooting for to win the battle.
“I’d like to remain strictly democratic,” Wagner stated. Johnson replied with a similar answer, but then both proceeded to whisper almost in near-perfect unison, “Green City Trees”.
However, even with the pre-show and post-show hype around their performance, their biggest competition turned out to be the last band of the night: BLÜECRÜE.
Coming off of their exposure from performing at the Greek Week Sunset Music Festival on April 24 and in Braveathon on May 2, BLÜECRÜE had fans saying “that is that crew” since before the Meatlocker doors opened at 8 p.m.
The band is a collaborative art project between vocalist/guitarist Ryan “El Niño” Williamson, alto saxophonist Nate “NATE” Tota, Owen “Mr. DDC” Walter, Sidd “…” Suppiah, and Jackson “Jackie B” Bernstein on drums and vocals (all nicknames articulately provided by Johnson & Wagner, Masterful Comedy).
The band’s genre-defying compositions can only be described as “like yuh, pull-uh, indie-yuh, yeah” music as Williamson, Bernstein and Tota thoughtfully collaborated on defining in a pre-show interview.
When I asked about what surprises they had in store for fans during their set, all band members exclaimed their mantra at once; “You gon’ learn!”
I proceeded to learn. BLÜECRÜE opened their set with back-to-back energy amplifiers “DDC” and “Yeah Jackie B”, but brought things down for a beautiful ballad dedicated to someone they look up to. The energy rose right back up with fan-favorite chant-a-thon “El Grupo Azul.”
Further into their set and after successfully encouraging the audience to start a conga line, the band invited their great collaborator Phil “Philharmonic” Perea to the mic to debut a new single. Perea has a gift not only for writing lyrics, but freestyling as well. The crowd reacted to his verses with vocal and physical enthusiasm.
After one more song, it was time for the audience to elect a winner. Everyone had five minutes to crown their champion through an online form. After that, Johnson & Wagner brought up representatives from the top two bands, to announce the epic reveal: BLÜECRÜE had won.
However, the data showed that Green City Trees lost to them by only three votes, and some sources that have chosen to remain anonymous have admitted that in hindsight, Green City Trees had a more favorable set. But the overall camaraderie effect that BLÜECRÜE has on fans remains unparalleled.
“Das dat crew,” said their latest fan and my mother, Karyl Murray, on how she’d explain the band’s semi-controversial win. “I think ‘Jackie B’ and ‘NATE’ really make the band. Then it’s just also cool to see their outfits,” she added.
Additionally, Kissability and Neptune and the Sailor still received a respectable number of votes from the audience.
Finally, to commemorate the festival taking place on Cinco de Mayo, Johnson & Wagner presented BLÜECRÜE with a small, empty unicorn piñata, donated by an anonymous sponsor.
“I expected there to be something inside,” said drummer Jackson Bernstein after breaking it open.
Above all else, “The Battle for William Paterson” was a major success and marked a landmark event in William Paterson music department history. It’ll only be a matter of time until the next battle inevitably unfolds. Stay tuned.
