Students Rock Out at Live Band Karaoke

This past Saturday, handfuls of Exonians attended the Maxxtone Live Band Karaoke event in Grainger Auditorium and let their inner rock stars out. At the event, students had the opportunity to choose from a list of over 500 songs and sing alongside Maxxtone band members including lead vocalist Aaron Fay, guitarist Pete Maserati, drummer Jesse Casinghino and bassist Nathan Fay Maxxtone.

The setting was relaxed and the audience small, never more than 30 people. For most, it was a laid back and safe environment where they could forget about the week’s stress by singing a favorite song or two with friends.

A group of senior girls kicked off the night with some classic Miley Cyrus. One of the girls, senior Amanda Hu, was attracted to the event because she thought karaoke would be the perfect outlet to relieve stress. Upon performing, Hu had even more fun than she anticipated.

“The first few weeks of senior spring have been extremely busy and work-filled, so I was grateful for the opportunity to let loose. The band was very supportive and even provided backup vocals,” Hu said. “My friends and I all really relate to Miley and her ideals, so singing “Wrecking Ball” on stage meant the world to us. I wish we had karaoke in grill everyday.”

Upper Ella Werthan agreed with Hu. Invited by science intern Anisha Vinod, Werthan found herself singing and forgetting the ever constant stresses of school. “It’s super fun to go crazy singing and dancing and to forget about papers and tests for a couple of hours,” Werthan said.

Others came to the event because of the band itself and the idea of singing with a professional live band. After all, as lower Raul Galvan expressed it, “who wouldn’t want to sing with an actual band?”

Senior Liz Hoover also felt the allure of the band, and upon meeting and hearing the band, her expectations were beyond met.“We were most impressed by the skill of the band. The guitarist was especially talented and most of the songs ended up sounding a lot like the original,” Hoover said.

Compared to most weekends, Karaoke Night offered a more diverse event for the student body, and although only a few attended, those who did take part in the night had a great time.

Some, in fact, felt that the small audience actually improved the night by adding to the informality and comfortableness of the event. With the toned-down setting, senior Josh Desmond found the courage to go up on stage, be himself and sing a favorite. “Because there were so few people, I felt really comfortable singing. I picked one of my childhood favorite songs, ‘Inside Out’ by Eve 6,” Desmond said.

Despite the small turn-out, the event was quite lively and fun-filled. The people who weren’t singing, generally were just dancing along with the band and the Exonian singer, making the night an all-around supportive and enjoyable experience for the singers. Although the event was originally just karaoke, many felt it was a double package, a dance and karaoke night combined.

In addition, many forgot about the lack of audience members in awe of the band’s technical skills, attributing that the band made every song sound good somehow, even if the Exonian singers were not up to par.

Hoover said, “We were most impressed by the skill of the band. The guitarist was especially talented, and most of the songs ended up sounding a lot like the original.”

Others, such as senior Jonathan Regenold, were impressed with the band’s wide range of musical knowledge, having memorized over 500 songs to play with the audience.

Still, Desmond and many of the other attendees wished that more had come to join the fun; he believed that having a larger number of students would have increased the liveliness. 

Desmond said that the “lack of advertising about the event” exacerbated the way-below-average turnout. Next year, to increase attendance, many of this year’s participants plan to invite more of their friends to increase the already relaxed, fun and supporting environment.

“It was good fun with my friends, listening to the stellar band, dancing to the songs you just got to dance to. I would definitely go again, and this time invite a ton more people,” Galvan said.