James May
Chief Copy Editor
Last week, Pinegrove released a slick new album entitled Cardinal. It’s catchy and well-conceived without being overbearing, and will absolutely last out the year as a top release from 2016.
Why bring up this obscure album, besides shameless promotion? Well, Pinegrove has a history at Wooster that started in the fall of 2014, when the band visited and put on one of the best shows our little campus has seen — as I’m sure anyone in attendance will attest.
This show couldn’t have happened without the vibrant student music scene here. Events like Covers and shows at Common Grounds are only small peeks into the plethora of active musicians on this campus. Here, I’d like to highlight a few:
Haley Austin ’16 plays banjo in the Bluegrass Jam, for Covers, and in other miscellaneous musical capacities.
Warner Brownfield ’16 serves as Woo 91 co-music director, WAC small concerts co-director, Goliard music co-editor, and also plays guitar and bass. He’s improving the radio’s automation system (better songs when nobody’s DJing), running Covers and recording student musicians for the Goliard.
Sam Corman Penzel ’16 plays drums in the C.O.W. Jazz Ensemble and Combo, as well as in student band Big Big Bumblebee. He also drums “for a church downtown to get that Jesus money,” as he puts it.
Gabe Dale-Gau ’18 plays guitar, violin and sings in a variety of venues, most frequently for Covers. He’s played with Dobby, as a soloist and hopes to start a few original projects this semester and explore the writing styles of other student musicians.
Nick Hodges ’19 plays guitar and bass around campus, notably as a frequent member of random bands for Covers and works with The Goliard. He’s also played over 150 concerts in the Chicago area.
Mickey Osthimer ’16 is a DJ for Woo 91 and an active campus musician and film editor for The Goliard. He’s performed in a variety of student bands, including Dobby and Stop. Motion., as well as in a solo capacity under the moniker The Captain The Ship.
Bridget Slone ’16 has played drums in a variety of capacities, including as a member of Wooster’s Jazz Trio, as principle percussionist for the orchestra and in student bands Stop. Motion. and Dobby.
Eliza Trickett ’17 is a frequent performer at Common Grounds, as well as Gathering Grounds downtown. On campus, she excels in the realm of folk covers of pop songs and participates in the Wooster Chorus and A Round of Monkeys.
Brendan Youngquist ’16 has been active as a recording engineer and producer on and off campus and currently plays guitar in Big Big Bumblebee.
This is only a small slice of the huge music scene here, a portion of active musicians based on who I could get in touch with in the past few days. If you want to get involved, start a band and contact one of them — as Brownfield observed, there is a “collective need for more student bands on campus” to keep up Wooster’s great musical energy.
