Generally speaking, starting a band in college does not involve much of a hassle. Given spare time, money and energy, virtually anyone can pick up an instrument, gather a few friends together and have a jam session. However, for Danny Murphy (COL ’09), Sean Croft (SFS ’09) and a handful of other musicians on campus, the logistics of maintaining a band at Georgetown have proven to be more complicated.
“The options are very limited if you want to start some independent music group,” said Murphy, a member of a four-piece band along with Croft. While the university provides a variety of practice spaces in New South, LXR, and Reynolds, campus policy stipulates that “bands with amplified sound[,] drum sets, or other percussive instruments are not permitted in any of the practice rooms.”
Moreover, none of these practice rooms allow students to store their equipment.
“If you want to be in a rock band you need drums, you need amps. You can’t just leave that in a public space,” noted Murphy. “We’d have to carry our stuff in and out every time.”
Tired of having to drag their instruments across campus, Croft and Murphy began searching for a more suitable practice space.
“We thought there had to be some unused space that was undesirable that we could just lock and use,” said Murphy. “We went to housing and various other departments and it was just a complete dead-end.”
Unsure of what to do next, the musicians resolved to write a letter to the President, John J. DeGioia, citing their grievances. Within two weeks, they began receiving e-mails from the Program for Performing Arts (PPA).
Croft and Murphy were not alone in their plea. Meeting with Ron Lignelli of the PPA, Patrick Warfield of the Music Department and three other student bands, the musicians helped create the “Guild of Bands” in the fall semester of 2006. The group aims to allocate funds from the University in order to construct a soundproof room in New North that will allow bands to practice without interrupting classes.
“We really hope that the Guild will finally provide the musical and creative space that these musicians have deserved for so long,” Lignelli said. “There is a strong tradition of bands and musicians on campus and this is the next logical development.”
The Guild currently exists as an unofficial student organization and will remain so until it applies for recognized status at next week’s Performing Arts Advisory Council. In the meantime, however, the bands have been sharing practice slots Wednesday through Sunday nights in Studio D beneath McNeir Hall. Although the room is not sound proof, it fulfills the need for storage space and acts as a reliable place for the bands to use. As an added bonus, the room is also adjacent to the University’s recording studio, though access to the room remains limited.
Starting next semester, other bands will have the opportunity to join the Guild as well. Due to the small amount of space available, Lignelli said that the Guild will consist of “three to five” bands, a number that will hopefully increase as the organization grows. Murphy says that due to such exclusivity, a tryout and a fee will likely be required.
“If you’ve got it together, and you’ve got a desire to be in it, that’ll shine through,” Murphy said. “It’s not about types of music, or tastes of music. It’s just about a drive to do it and being serious about it.”
While the finer points of the organization are still being hammered out, the Guild plans to expand its presence on campus during 2007. Lignelli said that the group aims to work with the Georgetown Entertinment and Media Association, an alumni group, to put on a student concert called “GEMA ROCKS.”
Additionally, Murphy maintains that working with Georgetown’s radio station, WGTB, could be beneficial for both parties. According to WGTB’s General Manager, Talia Sandwick (COL ’09), the Guild has not “formally gotten in touch” with the radio station, but she maintains that the organization is “open to working” with the Guild to improve the campus music scene. In an effort to bring music to campus, WGTB has organized a concert featuring indie-rockers The Wrens on April 28.
By the same token, Murphy hopes that the development of the Guild will breathe life into Georgetown’s inert “music scene.” That is, of course, if there’s room for such a thing.
