The Lair was full of people on Tuesday, Nov. 10 as the Pacific duo, Room Five Cloud Nine opened a free show hosted by the Music Management club. The students, David Wu and Aaron Au sat and performed on their acoustic guitars songs they had written. The music was full of melodic and intricate picking and soft vocals. It was clear that the band had a lot of support as many students in the front of the room left when they finished their set and were there just to watch this Pacific band.

After Room Five Cloud Nine finished, Via Coma, the band hailing from LaFayette, California set up. Although it was a slow transition from one band to the next it was well worth the wait with the band’s three part harmonies and synchronized movements to the drum and bass beats. Via Coma had people tapping their feet and drumming along on the tables.

Chelsea Kelleher, a junior Political Science major, walked in mid-set and said Via Coma, “was really epic. It was dramatic.” She was impressed as she walked into the Lair and heard their music. “They were good,” said Freshman Pre-Pharmacy major, Sophia Masani; as she left to study she said excitedly, “This band made my day!”

The next band was K Sera; from Sacramento, this band is currently touring with Pacific’s evening’s headliner, Hazel and Vine, and have completed recording for a new EP in Seattle a few weeks ago. The EP is set to release on Jan. 15. This band was very animated, and although they definitely had a harder sound than Via Coma, the music had a light feel to it with lots of percussion, shakers and tambourine, along with some staccato strings played on the keyboard.

“I enjoyed the band. It was pop, upbeat—happy. I didn’t hear about anyone’s exgirlfriend from what I heard,” said Amber Bishop, Junior English major. She said K Sera was “a nice middle ground between the teenybopper and hard core” that she feels Pacific sometimes books.

Hazel and Vine, also of Sacramento, began setting up next and a lot of people who had congregated during the performances of K Sera and Via Coma moved from the back of the room to the front tables. Hazel & Vine are currently on the release tour for their self-titled CD, which was newly available the day of the show. There was a clear distinction between this band and the last ones because every word was pronounced and heard clearly throughout the Lair; but, perhaps this was just the balancing work of the sound technician. Hazel and Vine are clearly four guys who love what they are doing; there was energy in the performance of every song. The Lair filled up for this band.

“They were awesome. We just happened to come by to get dinner and saw them. It was a pleasant surprise,” said Megan Black, a Freshman majoring in Speech-Language Pathology. She was so impressed that she said, “I’m running back to my room to get my wallet so I can buy their CD right now.”

The final band of the night was a little more local, from Modesto. Stop Motion was made up of three brothers and the lead singer’s friend. Their music was full of piano melodies as the lead singer played the keyboard to lead each song. Stop Motion did not have as much of a stage presence as the bands playing before them, but their talent was apparent in their music.

All of the bands expressed their gratitude to the Music Management Club for setting up this show and Pacific for hosting it. What a great way to take some time off from studying and spend a Tuesday enjoying a free evening of music.

Published in : News, Volume 101: Issue 14