On October 2, various music organizations on campus held the Stevens Showcase on Schaefer Lawn, consisting of multiple student performers and bands. The three groups who put this event together are Stevens Women in Music (SWIM), Stevens Underground Music Awareness Committee (SUMAC), and the Audio Engineering Club (AEC). Despite needing to reschedule the showcase due to heavy rain on September 25, the showcase had an incredible turnout of students there to see performances by Lindsey Thompson, Liam Cunningham, Jorts, Sia Quinn, and Midnight Drive.
Prior to this event, Brady Sansotta (Head Photographer, 2/3 Business and Technology major) and the Stute were able to interview some students who played a significant role in organizing this showcase, as well as some performers.
Lindsey Thompson (3/3 Music and Technology major), President of SWIM and a performer at the Stevens Music Showcase, told us about the organization and the role it plays on campus. “Coming here to Stevens, I saw this gap in our organizations and clubs where we weren’t uplifting the groups that we needed to all the time,” Thompson stated. “When I noticed that gap, I decided to restart one of the clubs we had here at Stevens called Stevens Women in Music, and our main goal is to uplift underrepresented musicians in the music industry as a whole.”
Sia Quinn (4/4 Mechanical Engineering major) is also involved in SWIM and is responsible for coordinating events for the organization. As another performer in the showcase, we asked her about her favorite part of performing live. “It’s very thrilling […] I get a lot of adrenaline when I play, and I enjoy that. And […] it’s fun to be put outside your comfort zone.”
We were also able to interview Tuesday Detore (4/4 Computer Science major), President of SUMAC, as well as former President Liam Cunningham. Both of them mentioned how they were responsible for contacting and recruiting bands for performances, including last week’s showcase.
“We like to bring in new acts for people to sort of expand their horizons in a way that they might not have the time or ability to,” Detore told us. “Having it on campus, it’s a lot easier, it’s a lot safer […], and you get to do it with your friends.” When asked about his experience in SUMAC, Cunningham told us, “It really is a great way to have a 3rd space on campus that people can go to […] even though Stevens is an engineering, more tech-sided school. It’s creating opportunity for people to come together for the love of music.”
As President of AEC, Cameron Millar (4/4 Music and Technology major) and the rest of his club were responsible for providing and managing the sound equipment being used at the showcase. In his interview, he expressed his love for AEC and the music community at Stevens. “I feel like it’s almost cheesy saying this, but it’s just such a cool community,” Millar remarked. “It’s really cool to just meet all sorts of people with like-minded interests and everything.”
Our final interview was with singer and songwriter Viktor Palmer (3/4 Music and Technology major), and a member of Jorts. He told us about the band’s future activities, as well as some accomplishments such as playing at TechFest last year. “I’m very influenced by folk music, and […] late nineties low-fidelity music, and everyone else in the band is influenced by so many vast, different genres. We’ve been recently jamming a lot and playing a very different style of music than we’ve been usually playing, and we’re kind of trying to expand on it.” Additionally, Jorts is currently working on a new Extended Play (EP), which he and the rest of the band are very excited about.
Despite being a technology-focused school, music on campus has shown to be an integral part of the Stevens community, giving students opportunities to express themselves musically and perform around campus and Hoboken. SWIM, AEC, and SUMAC will continue to host events throughout the school year, open to any students considering involvement in music at Stevens.
