Bandcamp III

Traditional house show’s place is solidified in the music scene as new bands perform alongside Santa Clara backyard classics

Does a sweaty pit of 15-20 beanie-clad students shoving and stomping on each other sound like a good time? Bars and frats simply too mainstream? Your dreams will come true in the Santa Clara music scene, as demonstrated by students flocking to the third-ever Bandcamp house show. Many went with the intention to mosh–and many only prepared to stand, bobbleheading, at the back of the crowd to enjoy the music while avoiding the anarchy.

Clusters of students tumbled into Basecamp–a house populated primarily by Santa Clara’s outdoorsy Into the Wild club–to attend yet another installment of the music scene renaissance.

The early birds at the event were Bandcamp devotees–those who hadn’t missed one since the event's debut last year or students arriving early in anticipation of student band Ash Wensday’s premiere performance. Those who managed to get to the event on time were rewarded with highly appreciated Costco pizza.

What started as calm swaying at the beginning of the night, inspired by Ash Wensday’s slow and deliberate lyrics, soon transformed into inspired manhandling accompanied by Pluie’s heavy guitar and drums. This may have been influenced by the increasing consumption of alcoholic beverages and odd clouds of skunky smoke rising from the audience as the night wore on.

Ash Wensday opened the show for early-comers at around 6:30 P.M. Lead singer and guitarist Jackson Giraudi admits that while the experience was “pretty freaking terrifying,” it was an honor to be invited to play along with what are, in his opinion, some of the best bands in Santa Clara.

“It was definitely the most I've focused while playing music,” Giraudi said. “When you're on stage it forces you to be more involved with the process, so that was probably my favorite part. That feeling of super deep concentration that I've never quite felt before.”

For some, Bandcamp is now an annual tradition–a date that certainly deserves to be marked on the calendar. Others make it a pit stop on the way to a frat party and more still could not tell you what the event is. But for many seniors in Santa Clara student bands, this is their final performance among their peers.

The class of 2023 helped to create the live music scene at Santa Clara, which was previously a much wimpier, more hollow version of its current self.

Daniel Grant, senior and bassist of Pluie, recalled one of the first student-led concerts he hosted called Pink House (conveniently at his house, which shares the same name). Even though he remembered the music quality as much worse than it is now, and a significantly less crazy crowd, he still recalled this show as one of his two favorites.

“I'd never seen anything like that at Santa Clara,” Grant said. “Me and my friends just had this idea of doing this and people came out and everything just came together.”

According to Grant, this got the ball rolling for off-campus music; Pink House was the catalyst for student excitement towards the music scene.

Grant has been involved in three bands, and said his performance with Pluie–his current band–at the most recent Bandcamp was tied for his favorite.

“It's just all the music,” he explained. “The band played super well and the crowd was just super into it. They knew the words. That was the first show I got to close for. And Bandcamp’s usually the best concert at Santa Clara. We played last and we didn't get shut down early; everything just came together perfectly.”

Other popular student bands, including Vudu Caravan and 3PM Oats are composed partially or entirely of seniors. Many of these students played a part in bringing about the newfound popularity of pursuing music as an extracurricular.

With the looming departure of current beloved Santa Clara student bands, new students have an obligation to take up instruments and begin practicing.

A new cohort of Santa Clara kids with a passion for music are forming groups and practicing together in the shadows of the well-loved and well-worn practice rooms on Bellomy or going over songs tucked away in the KSCU room.

A previous version of this article mistakenly stated that members of KSCU were signing students in. KSCU was unaffiliated with the event and these students were not acting on behalf of the organization.