 "Photo: Sarah Lamberson/The Penn")
Bands Brand New and The Builders and the Butchers gave a rockin' performance in the Ohio room at the HUB.
The Builders and the Butchers, a bluegrass punk band from Portland, Oregon, opened the show with songs from their eponymously titled album.
The instruments the band used were just as interesting as the sound they produced. Standard punk-genre instruments such as guitars, basses and drums were combined with an electric mandolin, a banjo, a dented bullhorn and a washboard to give the music a bluegrass feel.
A big difference was the hybrid drum set manned by two percussionists that played very rhythmically on what seemed to be a random pile of percussion instruments.
The band started as a hardcore-punk band and, as time progressed, the sound evolved with the addition of the instruments into the sound that was performed that evening.
Ryan Solee, the bands' lead singer, said he really does not know under what genre the band falls, he just knows that it is what it is.
The band closed their portion of the show with a little help from audience members who were standing in the front row.
The band members passed out instruments, including a cow-shaped baby's' rattle, a washboard-and-stick and an old marching bass.
After the show, Solee said that when they stop in a town and have time to make it to a thrift store, they go and purchase as many toys as they can to use in their show.
Overall, the band enjoyed performing at IUP. When asked about the audience, the band agreed that the audience did not really seem into the show so it made it that much harder for them to enjoy performing.
Solee also commented that it was not one of the best performances of the band, but he still had fun.
Headliners Brand New from Long Island, N.Y. opened their set with a Tautou, a dramatic song, complete with a synchronized light show.
Following that, the band performed a fast-paced portion of songs. The mood settled as lead singer Jesse Lacey played solo in an acoustic portion of the show. The band closed with more fast-paced rock.
Brand New performed such recent hits from their latest album "The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me" as "Jesus Christ," "Degausser," and "Handcuffs." From the album "Deja Entandu," they performed "The Quiet Things," and "Tautou."
Brand New was not available for comment after the show.
The show was sponsored by The Entertainment Network of IUP (TEN). TEN provides programs of a cultural, recreational, social and educational nature to students of the university. TEN events are all located in and around the Hadley Union Building.
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