Believe it or not, Plymouth knows how to rock. With sponsorship from PACE and WPCR, These Green Eyes and The Junior Varsity brought a solid show to the Multi-purpose Room on Thursday, October 12, 2006 in the Hartman Union Building here at Plymouth State.
Members of These Green Eyes are definitely familiar with the Plymouth campus, since former students make up a part of their ensemble. They have been seen on campus recently, playing at the Spring Fling “Battle of the Bands,” along with other events in the surrounding area. Their line up includes Colin Cunningham on vocals, Eric Libby on guitar and vocals, Greg Mauro on guitar, Zach Braz on bass and vocals, and March Brundrett on the drums.
Recently the band has been doing well. Not only do they now have a music video for the song “Self Inflicted” in heavy rotation on FUSE’s Stephen’s Untitled Rock Show, but have also been recently touring with The Higher, Lydia and The Killing Moon. Their set was intense and brought an edgy feeling to the night.
Opening with “Watch The Lights Go Out” off of their debut album “House of Glass,” they engaged the audience members to take notice of their unique style. Their third track, “Last Call… At The Dolly,” a new single off of their untitled, soon to be released CD, had crowd members clapping and jumping along with the energetic band. Their final song, “Banquet,” closed out their potion of the show and was a fitting end to a set that was intense and powerful.
After a brief intermission, The Junior Varsity took the stage. The Junior Varsity hails from Springfield, Illinois and was created in 2002 by guitarist Andy Wildrick. Current line up includes Wildrick, Asa Dawson playing bass and singing, Sergio Coronado on rhythm guitar, Chris Birch playing drums, and Nick Dodson on keyboards. The band is used to the road, performing with multiple other bands like Straylight Run, Good Charlotte and Motion City Soundtrack along with having a set on “Warped Tour.”
The band has also been through a lot of trying times together, including having most of their gear stolen on multiple occasions. Despite this, after making a 20-hour drive to start the leg of their East Coast Tour at Plymouth, they brought their “A” game. They started their set with “Everyone’s Got Something They’re Running From” from their sophomore CD, “Wide Eyed,” that got the crowd and amp’d up for an hour of good music.
The Junior Varsity had a couple of definite stand out songs; “Mad for Medusa,” a mellow hit, and “House Fire” off of their debut album with a contrasting up-beat pop sound, got the crowd “rowdy.” They ended the night with “Get Comfortable,” and with a contented cheer from the energized crowd, the night was complete.