On March 7, the RockYoFaceCase concert series held its third show of the semester and had its first ever EP release party. RYFC featured that night were Gambit, Breathing East and Night Fevers.
Gambit, a band native to Long Island, was first to take the University Café (UCafé) stage. While it was the band’s first time performing at RockYoFaceCase, lead singer Lyle Kamesaki was no stranger to the shows.
“I saw a band called Lion of Ido play here,” Kamesaki said. “They blew my face off!”
After walking in and seeing glow-in-the-dark tape stuck to most of the audience, Kamesaki knew that the UCafé was the type of place he wanted to perform at.
Jeff Ballantyne, the group’s guitarist and background vocalist, was skeptical with about how things would go that night since he, unlike Kamesaki, had never been to RockYoFaceCase. Ballantyne figured that since it was a Monday night with a students crowd, the mood would be toned down. However, he was impressed with the energy of the crowd and how consistent it was throughout the night.
Breathing East, a band also native to Long Island, was second to perform that night. The group took the stage for what is now its fourth RockYoFaceCase show. Considering how familiar the band is with the concert series, it was no surprise that they were also the first band to be involved in the planning aspect of the event. According to the group’s lead guitarist Mark Standish, the band felt comfortable working with Patrice Zapiti, the founder and event coordinator of RYFC.
“We never intended it to be an EP release,” Standish said. “But, we didn’t want to wait.” Of the eight songs played that night, five were from the band’s new album.
To get the crowd more enthusiastic about the release, the band put out plenty of free merchandise. A spinning wheel was set up near the back of the café with different prize options, such as a group hug from Breathing East, an EP download card, band T-shirt, one free smoothie from the café and a chance to go on a speed date with the entire band.
The crowd cheered on Will Stevens, the band’s bass guitarist and a senior Social Welfare major at Stony Brook, as the band played, showing off the Breathing East’s fan base at Stony Brook
“It was definitely one of the best RockYoFaceCase performances,” Stevens said. “It’s always so much fun to play there because we love Stony Brook.”
The band hopes that it will be allowed to come back and play at one of next year’s RYFC shows even after Stevens graduates.
The last band of the evening was Night Fevers. The five- member band really got the audience pumped up; by their last song, nearly the entire crowd was jumping up and down and waving their arms back and forth. Just like Gambit, Night Fevers was also persuaded to come perform at RYFC by Lion of Ido, a band which played at Stony Brook a few of months ago. When lead vocalist Jack Tangney was asked if Night Fevers would come back, he answered enthusiastically, saying, “Hell yeah, we’d come back in a second.”
In between performances, the UCafé DJs blasted dance music for the audience. When the DJs put on a song mixed from Transformers, Dean Pitter, a senior computer science major, took the chance to bust a move and do the robot. Although it was only his second time going to a RYFC show, he heard that Breathing East was a good band and was interested in coming to see them.
“I’ll definitely come back.” Pitter said. “The energy is really high and the atmosphere is pumped. It’s a really fun experience.”
