New York Musicians Band Together

Photo courtesy of Tantrum Imagery.
Photo courtesy of Tantrum Imagery.
Photo courtesy of Tantrum Imagery.

On Monday, Oct. 6, SUNY New Paltz musicians will rock the stage with well-known Long Island musician Jeff Rosenstock.

New Paltz Music Collective (NPMC) will host its first show of the semester next week in the Student Union Building from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Rosenstock, of the band Antarctigo and others, will be joined by New Paltz bands Oswald-NY, Whatever,Mom and musician Kyle Moore.

“I have fairly high expectations for this show,” Matt Sherman, NPMC’s president, said. “Jeff Rosenstock, who’s best known for his work in Long Island-based band Bomb the Music Industry!, is probably the most notable person we’ve ever had play an NPMC show. We’re hoping that this will be our best-attended event to date.”

According to Sherman, a third-year theater major, NPMC was started two years ago by a group of students who wanted to see more music events happen on campus.

“It’s very hard to enjoy live bands in New Paltz, since the only place in town they really have to play at are the bars, which can often provide less than ideal playing situations for the musicians, and listening situations for the fans,” Sherman said. “We want to have performances happen on campus so that the music can be the main focus.”

NPMC Vice President Kelly Lindberg is a third-year digital media management major and said she is excited to have Jeff Rosenstock play on our campus “with friends’ bands as openers.” The New Paltz musicians playing the show are also involved in NPMC in different ways. According to Lindberg, Whatever, Mom features Sherman on bass and since they don’t play often so she is  glad to have them on the bill. Oswald’s Nick Stola has designed flyers for NPMC events.

“Jeff’s bands Bomb the Music Industry! and more currently, Antarctigo Vespucci, are incredible and we are so lucky to have him coming. Everyone opening for him has been involved with NPMC at one point or another,” Lindberg said. “Kyle Moore has tried to get Jeff to play in New Paltz in the past and we finally did it.”

Sherman and Lindberg said the original headliner of the show was supposed to be You Blew It!, a band from Orlando, Florida that was making a stop at The Loft, a music venue in  Poughkeepsie. They were able to get Rosenstock because he has the same booking agent as You Blew It! and the agent was able to fill the spot in NPMC’s lineup.

In order to spread the word of the show, Sherman, Lindberg and NPMC’S Public Relations Director Gabriela Jeronimo post on social media, like Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram,  post flyers on and off-campus and rely on word of mouth.

“We’re all excited for [Rosenstock] to come out to New Paltz and it should be a successful show…It’s going to be a great time.  We encourage people to come to our meetings to brainstorm for future shows,” Jeronimo said. “The club is just a big group of friends who meet together to talk music and bring bands on campus to share our love for music with the college.”

While NPMC’s first few shows suggested donations for entry, the group has received financial support from the Student Association to pay the musicians, thus allowing this show to be free for New Paltz  students only.

“NPMC is currently only about 20 members. We hope to expand and do more events for our campus and the New Paltz music community,” Lindberg said. “It makes me so happy that I get to be a part of this club that creates cool events for people to discover great live music for free.”