Seth Mecklenburg | Arts & Life Co-Editor
Friday, May 9, KBVU is holding a concert on the Buena Vista University (BVU) campus. The concert will feature three bands including BVU’s own “Liberty Hall Collective,” indie pop rock band “As Clouds Break,” and headliner “Senseless Beauty,” a touring signed hardcore band out of Clear Lake, Iowa. The concert came to be through Sophomore Digital Media major Zachary Schmidt, who contacted the bands and helped organize the event.
“When I was in high school, I hung out with the guys from Senseless Beauty. And I wanted them to come play, and then I realized we (KBVU) could use another concert. So I contacted them, and they said, we’re actually ending our band and were still willing to play the concert,” Schmidt said.
Renewal will actually be the second to last show ever played by Senseless Beauty, a band that has gone through many changes throughout its history. On the other side of the coin, Liberty Hall Collective is a newer band that loves to perform and jumped at the opportunity. One of the hardest challenges faced in the process of setting up Renewal was hiring the third band, as it was originally planned to be “Short Notice.” Unfortunately, they dropped out and Schmidt had to find a new band.
“The day that I found out they dropped out, that night I was like, I can’t let anyone know I don’t have a third band. So I messaged six bands, whether they were from my hometown or they were friends with Senseless Beauty. Nobody replied except for one, I didn’t really know them but they knew Senseless Beauty and that was “As Clouds Break.” And to be honest, I’m really really excited to hear them,” Schmidt said.
Liberty Hall Collective has played at a couple events on campus already, and are garnering a fan base amongst their peers.
“So once I had the three bands, or at least the concept, I had to get the station manager (Annie Reiva) to want to do the concert as well as Bruce Ellingson. Both of them were excited, ‘you got the bands, we’ll deal with this other stuff type of thing,” Schmidt said.
Another issue is BVU actually didn’t have the right equipment to accommodate really heavy music, so Senseless Beauty is brining their own equipment. Matt Tudor, manager of event technical services is actually in charge of that aspect of the concert and has been communicating with the bands.
The concert is called Renewal as a way of saying this is a “Renewal” of KBVU’s concert series. A previous event that used to happen yearly was “Edgefest,” however; do to declining interest, that specific event no longer takes place. But the people at KBVU and students on campus keep pushing to improve the program. They want to give students a chance to get involved in the music industry in a serious way on campus.
“I like showing people that it doesn’t take a junior or a senior to do things. I’m a sophomore, almost a junior, but I’m throwing a three-band concert with KBVU and it’s not to terribly difficult. I also want to bring attention to KBVU. People think ‘ahh, it’s just screamo.’ Its not just screamo, look at Liberty Hall Collective or even As Clouds Break which is a happy medium,” Schmidt said.
There are even t-shirts for the event, which the staff at KBVU hopes will have a good turn out. Schmidt feels it’s a great opportunity to see some free entertainment in a way that doesn’t happen very often.
“I think it comes down to if you don’t go you don’t know. It’s a free concert, it’s right here on campus,” Schmidt said.
Renewal will take place at Central Campus (by the bell) on May 9. The concert begins at 7 p.m.
Graphic by Cassie Forsyth
