If you’ve been tuned in to the Stevens music scene in recent months, chances are you’ve heard of Business Radical, the pop rock band made up of Stevens sophomores that’s increasingly popular on campus. The Stute spoke with Meghan Slate, lead vocalist of “Biz Rad” to give students the scoop on who the rising band really is.
“Most of us are or were Music Tech students at one point,” said Slate, describing how the band formed as a group of close friends who decided they wanted to make music together. “I wanted to form a band, and I was good friends with Jack. I asked him, and Jack was friends with Oscar…”
The band now consists of six members: Meghan Slate, lead vocalist and bass-player; Shelly Ferina, lead guitarist; Oscar Diaz, drummer; Jack Scherban, keyboardist, vocalist, and described by Slate as Biz Rad’s “Jack of all trades”; David Van Hise, who plays the Electronic Wind Instrument (EWI), which helps to give the band its unique sound at performances; and Cole Spitzner, Biz Rad’s newest member and a bassist and guitarist.
Business Radical often highlights that it’s a band of best friends, but Slate acknowledges the difficulties of maintaining a relatively large music group with members of wildly varying musical tastes. “When we release music we want to make sure that every single person in the band likes it and approves of it, which can be hard. […] Since we are friends, it’s easy to meet, but again since it’s a lot of people it’s hard to combine all our schedules and find overlapping free time. […] Luckily, everyone is good to just try something new.”
But in the end, Slate says, “[What] can help us with our performance especially is that we’re all friends, so when I’m up there if I get nervous I just look at my friends, and it’s like we’re rehearsing and just having fun. Hopefully people see that as well.”
Biz Rad has become a regular fixture at open mics hosted by the Audio Engineering Club (AEC), and Slate says that’s because the band loves the open, casual environment of these events. Recently, though, Biz Rad also made an appearance at Battle of the Bands, the competition between Stevens-original acts. “It was amazing to perform with all of the other talented musicians at Stevens,” Slate said. When asked about future performances, she hinted, “We’re currently looking to play off-campus because we’ve never done that before, and so if you follow our Instagram you can find out more about those gigs.”
The group’s most recent single, “Bug Bites,” became a hit after it was performed at Battle of the Bands, racking up over 1,000 streams on Spotify very soon after its release. “‘Bug Bites’ took a long time to shape,” said Slate about the making of the song. Jack started it last spring. He had this idea and I remember he played it to me over the summer. I had an idea for the second verse, that it could be two people speaking.” That hook of the song gave it its energy and dynamic quality. “It’s a really fun song, and it’s one of my favorite songs that we’ve made.”
Stevens students can look forward to more performances and new original releases from one of campus’s most popular acts. Check out Business Radical’s singles “Gravity Sender” and “Bug Bites” right now on Spotify, Apple Music, and other music streaming services.
