As another semester at Stony Brook comes to a close, the students of SBU can go home for winter break knowing they saw some high quality entertainment courtesy of RockYoFaceCase, SBU’s premiere concert organizer. RockYoFaceCase has capped off another semester at Stony Brook with four events that tended to the tastes of rockers, dancers and performing hopefuls alike. Although there are no events planned for the month of December, RockYoFaceCase provided a collection of great events this semester and plan on doing more in the upcoming semester.
RockYoFaceCase had their first event of the semester on Sept. 27 with Discjocks, a showcase for on-campus DJs, that turned into an all-out rave. Students sported neon glow sticks as they moved and grooved to the flashing nights and electronic beats.
Speaking to The Statesman, RockYoFaceCase event coordinator Christian Bardales, a senior double majoring in history and political science, talked about the idea for the show coming from fellow staff member Lucia Kolodiuk. According to Bardales, Kolodiuk thought up having “an upbeat DJ show” as the first show of the semester. Kolodiuk eventually recruited the likes of Haptric Flow, Neiss X Foggy, Dhvani, Alli and Enclave.
The second RockYoFaceCase event of the semester was their Open Mic Night on Oct. 18. Here, students from all around campus came to display all sorts of performance-based talent, whether that was guitar-backed singing or a solo vocal performance. It was an expressive event for students with all ranges of talents to take the stage themselves and be the headliners.
RockYoFaceCase continued their booking of local pop-punk acts on Oct. 28 with a live showcase of three energetic pop-punk favorites: Lost and Adrift, And The Traveler and This Good Robot. The bands provided high energy drawn from the great SBU crowd to bring out the typical bouncy, entertaining concert.
According to one of RockYoFaceCase’s interns, junior mathematics major Nelson Pascuzzi, RockYoFaceCase has always had a place for pop-punk. “RockYoFaceCase was initially almost always pop-punk,” Pascuzzi said during an interview. “We had a show with (This Good Robot) previously and they were still up for another concert with us. The other two bands were Lost and Adrift…and And The Traveler…they were all similar to our typical pop-punkesque people/bands that we normally had in the past.”
Bardales gave credit to James MacDonald for suggesting the idea of a pop-punk show this semester. MacDonald was deemed the show’s coordinator and set up the showcase through good connections. Lost and Adrift had previous ties to RockYoFaceCase, whereas And The Traveler and This Good Robot were New York locals (from Yonkers and Long Island, respectively).
The most recent event of this semester is, according to some RockYoFaceCase staffers, the most successful (and ambitious) of the season. Nov. 15 was the date of the Electro-Swing Night at Stony Brook’s University Café, a frequent location of RockYoFaceCase’s events. Described as “Gatsby in an electro club,” girls dressed as flappers and guys in their sharpest suits while Berlin’s DJ LordJustice spun classic swing records mashed together with electronic beats. The students sang and swung the night away, proving that an interesting concept can be pulled off with the right amount of spirit. Staffer Joseph Kickbush, a junior and MTD (multidisciplinary) major in music, digital media and business, thought the event was a “legitimate scene from the 20s with an electronic twist.”
The concept of the Electro-Swing Night came from RockYoFaceCase staff member Emily Alcott. According to Pascuzzi, Alcott “wanted a specific genre” for the event, but ended up getting two genres merged together. Alcott also met DJ LordJustice during a summer trip to Germany and brought him in to spin records for the event.
Alcott herself saw the exuberance of the combination of electronic and swing music while in Berlin over the summer. In her own words, she “really loved this newly emerging genre of music and wanted to bring it to campus.” Alcott called the search to find an electro-swing artist in America “difficult,” but she eventually found DJ LordJustice. She got LordJustice together with Enclave’s Kameron Myers and had them spin together at the event. “It’s such a happy genre that is hard not to dance to,” said Alcott, which was clearly proved by the large turnout for the event.
But that alone was not enough. Alcott also mentioned the promotional methods used to make the event known. Alcott “blasted” the announcement of the event at the Staller Center two weeks before the actual event. There were the standard posters and flyers posted around the university, including maps to the University Café itself. Alcott also tried to give students a taste of what to expect by having students dress in flapper gowns and suits to hand out flyers about the event. “It’s important for us to have fun while promo-ing the event,” Alcott said, “to show that we’re excited to bring these events to campus.”
As far as the future is concerned, RockYoFaceCase is gearing up for another high-profile semester. Alcott wants to bring back electro-swing for another night, along with another pop-punk show for the fans who come to see them every semester. She also hopes to have collaborative shows with the Oxfam charity organization for poverty-stricken areas and the Grad Student Organization (which would be shows exclusive the students ages 21 and up). Even a possible “math rock” show for Pi Day in the future.
According to Bardales, a big announcement for next semester will be brought to public attention very soon. Students who wish to know more about RockYoFaceCase are encouraged to check out the club. In Alcott’s words, RockYoFaceCase is meant “to offer students free, fun music shows and the more people we can show a good time, the better.”
