By Darby VanDeVeen
Staff Photographer
The stage was built, the tricolor lights were aglow and the speakers were set for CUB’s Alt’s final show of the semester. While the shows have branched out into rap and folk music recently, this week’s concert returned to its roots for one last time this fall.
At 7 p.m., students welcomed three indie rock bands — Spirit Was, Stove and the headlining Screaming Females — to the Decker Social Space on Nov. 15.
Once Screaming Females took the stage, they had the crowd’s attention for the whole set. From the first song, students heads were already banging along to the rock influenced sounds.
Hailing from New Brunswick, the band played songs from its two most recent albums, “Singles Too” and “All At Once,” which included memorable tracks like “Glass House” and “Deeply.”
“You can’t control me,” lead singer Marissa Paternoster belted out, her voice powerful gliding alongside Michael Abbate’s bass and Jarrett Doughtery’s drums.
Senior communication studies major and CUB co-chair Evan Whitenack, who worked to book the show, was thrilled to see his vision come to life.
“I wanted to book Screaming Females because they have such a huge legacy in the NJ DIY community,” Whitenack said. “Even today, they’re a huge inspiration to a lot of NJ bands.”
The first band of the night, Spirit Was, opened with frontman Nick Corbo performing solo before bringing his bandmates on stage to finish the set. The band provided a mellow session, which had an upbeat song in the middle.
“Nick from Spirit Was actually played a show in Decker with LVL UP my freshman year,” Whitenack said. “Having him play here again brought everything together full circle.”
Stove kept the atmosphere heating up in the second set of the night. Students were dancing to songs such as “Mosquiter” and “Safe Guy.” The band even covered “Don’t Cry No Tears” by Neil Young & Crazy Horse, while adding its own sound to the song. The band rocked the room with powerful and high energy guitars and rhythmic drums.
“Stove brought a wall of sound to Decker and played as a group really tightly,” Whitenack said.
The crowd fed off of the energy on stage and was on its feet the entire time, as attendants jammed out to the dark, fuzz-heavy format of the band’s music. Stove has a familiar sound of an alternative band, but it managed to make it its own.
Halfway through the show, lead singer Steve Hartlett and drummer/vocalist Jordyn Blakely switched positions for the rest of the set. Blakely let her vocals shine through until the band played its last song and thanked everyone at the show for coming out to hear the music.
Senior marketing major Stephen Jennings also enjoyed the show as well, as he felt the bands lit up the room’s atmosphere.
“The Screaming Females electrified me and the entire Decker Social Space,” he said.
