The gang’s all here

Remember Bacchanal last year? –Just kidding, who ever does? Well, for those of you who weren’t around, you missed the biggest band on campus, the Morningsiders. Here’s your chance to read up on who they are and what they’ve been up to since last year’s Battle of the Bands and their opening performance for Macklemore. And all of this is just in time for their final NYC concert (before 3 of the 4 members graduate), this Friday at 7:30pm at SubCulture. Interviewed by Dani Lopez-Salcedo.

TLDR: Morningsiders have an amazing show coming up this Friday (a 16 song set!) at Subculture (45 Bleecker St.) and will be releasing new material soon. #GetPumped

Q: Let’s go in order and start with the beginning. How did they meet and how did the band get started?

Reid (violin and vocals) and Magnus (lead vocals and guitar) met at one of the just accepted pre-frosh events, which had actually been canceled because of a blizzard—Reid and Magnus were the only ones there. After that, the 2 of them kept running into each other (turns out their high schools were 2 blocks from one another!) and eventually they just started playing together.

Magnus: “It was like a romance movie and neither of us wanted to be in it.”

Rob (piano and keyboard) started playing with them their freshman year.

Reid: “That was definitely the magical moment when we became the band.”

Sam (bass, currently a freshman) started jamming with them that following summer.

Q: How has life changed post-bacchanal?

As some of you may have noticed, the band has slightly changed faces. One of the most noticeable changes is that Ben (trumpet and drums) and Vlad (bass) are no longer part of the band. Turns out Bacchanal made them realize that they had different musical visions.

The current lineup has been super busy since Bacchanal working on new material for fans and their GPA’s have definitely taken a hit as a result *insert jumping-off-a-cliff-and-crashing sound.*

Reid: “Ben and Vlad are great dudes and fantastic musicians. After our split with Ben and Vlad, we were in a moment of shock where we wrote a lot of music (everyone chimes in agreeing to how much new music they composed). Probably ¾ of our current repertoire came from this period.”

Magnus: “We’re still figuring out what it means to be in a band, but at the time of Bacchanal we didn’t really understand what it meant… We’ve been trying to get as many different professional experiences as we can, and playing a lot of different venues.”

Q: What have you guys been working on and what can fans look forward to in the future?

They toured! Kind of… They road-tripped to Lafayette College! Apparently they listen to everything from Biggie Smalls to Beethoven (#ThatMusicHumEducation).

They’ve also been having a ton of concerts downtown! They’ve “broken out of the safety of the bubble” and have “been experimenting out of their comfort zone.”

They have themselves an agent and everything! They also work a lot with other Columbia alumni.

Magnus: “We have spent the past month in the studio basically working on 3 singles, that should be coming out in the next couple weeks.”

Rob: “They’ll be on YouTube and Spotify…”

Reid: “There’ll be one remake (Empress) and then there are two new ones.”

Magnus: “Even the show this week will have a few surprises. We’re crazy excited for this venue because it has an amazing sound system so it gives us the opportunity to play the songs as they were originally meant to be played with as simplest instrumentation as possible … We’re trying to make it as fun as possible and we’re also playing with David Su who is an amazing drummer and is also the drummer for Sun Looks Down.

Q: What are your post-college plans? Do you guys plan on staying in New York? Will you no longer be the “Morningsiders”?

THEY WILL ALWAYS BE THE MORNINGSIDERS! Worry not, crazy fan girls!

Magnus: “We’re all going to be in New York and Morningsiders will still be a thing. We are going to pump as much as we can into it.”

Reid: “We don’t know exactly what the future is going to look like be we will definitely keep the Morningsiders project going. And we’re probably going to record more this summer.”

Rob: “And we’re going to set up more shows. We’re working with an awesome booking agent through Paradigm Agency and producer Armand Hirsch (CC ’13, on tour with musician famous for Don’t Worry, Be Happy Bobby McFerrin).”

Q: Will they come back to Columbia?

Unanimous: Of course! If Columbia invites them back! #Bacchanal2015

Magnus: “Columbia’s what made us want to play music. We will always come back.”

Rob: “This was the highlight of my college experience. This is why I came to Columbia—actually. I came here to major in this.” #SuchSchoolSpirit

Silly Bwog Questions and fun facts!

• *Reid instantly shouts “Cheese!” as soon as I mention silly Bwog questions*
• Consensus: Sam likes cheese, Reid and Magnus may be willing to give it up however… for you know…
• They will never pull an Obama because Columbia is implicit in their name (no, they will not be changing their name to the Lower East Siders).
• Can’t reveal why, but Reid is genius at coming up with names. Their work, future and past, is filled with Columbia references.
• Also, they’re all super nice and approachable!

Bonus: A note from the Morningsiders!

“We just want to say thank you. Thank you for coming to shows in the rain and questionable bars. Thank you for learning the words to Lightning and singing them to us when the sound system broke at battle of the bands. Thank you for giving us 45 minutes on stage and getting appropriately drunk at 10am at last year’s Bacchanal. We are only doing this because we have the most supportive fans imaginable. You turned our hobby into a dream and we’re going to see it through.”

Morningsiders will be performing this Friday, April 28 at 7:30 p.m. at Subculture (45 Bleecker St.). It will be unlike any of their previous concerts and will contain 15-18 (new) songs! This show is open to all ages (so those of you who have miraculously survived without fakes can come) and tickets can be purchased for $12 online or $15 at the door. For more information, check out their Facebook page.

Portrait of the band via Facebook.