Local bands welcomed students back to campus with performances in the University of Massachusetts Amherst Student Union Ballroom on Friday evening.
Let’s Be Friends hosted its second annual Winter Festival in conjunction with Local Mojo, both student-run music organizations. The event was sponsored by the UMass Residence Hall Association.
The festival, which ran from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., featured performances from local acts Sommet, Skruple, Grand View Point, Peakwad, Trash Rabbit and was headlined by the Baxbys.
“We wanted to create shows where it was a positive environment where students could come and show their art and watch each other perform and have kind of a stage to express themselves,” Let’s Be Friends Director of Operations Devin Dixon said about the company.
“Local Mojo, at the heart I would say, just tries to uplift the music community and tries to bring awareness to bands, artists, venues,” Danny Richard, a senior finance major and Local Mojo president, said.
Amherst-based rock band Skruple were excited to play at the festival. “I feel like this is a good way to start off the semester,” guitarist Ceci Carry, a sophomore English major, said.
Bassist Sid Chuang, a sophomore natural resource and conservation major, worked sound for the festival last semester. “It’s cool to actually be like, participating in it this time,” Chuang said.
On musical inspiration, Carry said, “I just want to make people dance.”
“If you don’t have fun when you come to our shows, then we failed,” drummer Claire Neville added.
The Baxbys, who headlined the show, played an extended set when Trash Rabbit ran late to the venue.
“We’re thankful, it was fun,” bassist Spencer Rosenfeld, a senior music technology major, said about the festival.
Guitarist and lead vocalist Alex Nordlund described the band as “indie rock.”
“We like a lot of music like from the past that’s nostalgic like The Smiths, The Cure, all those new wave bands,” said Nordlund. “Sparkly stuff.”
Trash Rabbit performed last after a journey from New York that the emo rock band described as “blighted by rain and fog.” Their drummer was unavailable, so bassist Nic Adams played drums while guitarists Mina Lemos and Gia Flores switched off between guitar and bass.
“We drove for five hours, which should have actually been three, and the organizers were so nice about letting us switch,” Lemos said.
“It was great,” Flores said about the event.
“And this venue is beautiful, the room sounds good,” Adams said. “I feel like every time we come here, we have fun,” they added.
“Every time we play at Amherst, and people are there genuinely for music, it feels good,” Flores said.
“Sometimes you play a show in a different place, and it’s like people are sitting out with your friend, their friends, which is great, but it feels like when we come here, people want to hear the music, so that’s nice,” Flores added.
The band name originated with a late friend named Tommy, Lemos said. “We were driving and we almost hit a raccoon – we swerved – and Tommy’s like ‘Oh my god, a trash rabbit,’ and we were like ‘that’s not the word for that,’” Lemos said.
“It’s a corruption of ‘trash panda,’” Adams added.
Lemos said music is a way to bring people together, especially with current events. “I mean, they’re always bad, but sometimes maybe a little more so right now,” Lemos said. “It is really important to have some sort of escape and some sort of joy that is harder to take away than like, TikTok.”
Vendors sold clothes, jewelry, art, skincare products and more at the festival. Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) also tabled.
Liam Ingram, a senior marketing major, tabled for the UMass Songwriting Production Club, which hosts workshops and “show and tells” in the Fine Arts Center where people can showcase their music.
“For us it’s huge because this is a music-oriented event and, you know, the artists of UMass will come out to this and hopefully see our table in the corner,” Ingram said of the festival.
Students from UMass and beyond attended the festival.
Nick Cobosco, a junior accounting major, said he loved the event. “Live music is what makes the world go round, so you know, it’s great.”
“It’s lovely to have it right on campus, right at the heart of it,” he added. “You know sometimes it can be hard to find a ride to [a show] but, having it just right in walking distance, why not, you know?”
“I think it’s really cool that UMass does this, I don’t know, it drew me away from my college, so I feel like it’s pretty good,” Prue Sullivan, a Mount Holyoke freshman majoring in philosophy, said.
On her favorite performances, Sullivan said “I’ve seen the Baxbys a couple times, they’re always really good. Trash Rabbit was really good, we actually ran into them in the parking lot, they were really cool.”
Emma Kate Duggar, an undecided freshman at Mount Holyoke, didn’t have a favorite act. “I liked it all,” she said.
Let’s Be Friends co-founder Peter Drakos said the company plans to repeat the event next winter and hopes to do another festival to kick off the fall semester in September.
Alexandra Rowe can be reached at [email protected].
