CampusFest bands impress

Mallory Chapman | gcsunade.com

Local band Tha Hugs was the second band to perform at CampusFest. The Hugs is made up of (from left) Brent Tripp on bass, Brandon Jordan on vocals and guitar, Benton Meadows on guitar, Gray Lindsey on keyboard and Connor Yates on drums. The band is coming out with an EP within the next few months.

Front Campus is a place for studying, hammocking, Frisbee throwing and slacklining.

But last Friday it was a place for “fun rock,” guitar riffs and melodious voices.

CampusFest hosted the bands Rapanui, Tha Hugs and Baby Baby for a night of entertainment.

Tori Quante, senior English and creative writing major, was in charge of securing the bands for CampusFest.

“I am friends with Tha Hugs so I asked them, and Rapanui approached me and said this is something they would like to do,” Quante said. “Baby Baby was a suggestion from someone.”

Rapanui got the show started around 5 p.m. and played a mix of funky, electric songs with a dose of rap. They performed five solid songs that got the crowd excited for the rest of the night, while also creating an easy-going atmosphere for listeners.

Rapanui is no stranger to Georgia College, with its members being students and playing at other campus events such as EarthFest.

“This is the biggest amount of people we have had on Front Campus so it’s pretty cool,” Joe Latour, junior business management major and drummer of Rapanui, said.

The next to take the stage was crowd-favorite Tha Hugs. Their mix of doo-wop, surf rock and retro sounds made for an interesting performance.

“I love our musical style,” Brent Tripp, senior philosophy major and Tha Hugs’ guitarist, said. “We have a little bit of everything.”

Songs like “All Good Things” got the crowd up and dancing. The mood shifted from laid-back easy listening to energetic. Their set list was the largest of the night, maxing out at about eight songs.

“I thought it was a good performance,” Tripp said. “Everything went well.”

During the performance, Tha Hugs announced they will have an E.P. coming out in a few months featuring the songs played at CampusFest.

“I liked Tha Hugs because I could see myself listening to them on my own,” junior math major Tanner Mortensen said.

The evening ended with a performance by Atlanta-based group Baby Baby. Their style – “fun rock” – speaks for itself in setting the mood for the audience. They were highly entertaining and tried to get the audience involved by talking to them between performances.

“The atmosphere was amazing,” Kyle Dobbs, guitarist for Baby Baby, said.

Through their music, it is obvious that the members of Baby Baby are energetic and playful. A tambourine and even a conch were thrown into the mix on some songs. They describe their sound as “fun rock” because while they play the instruments extremely well, they also have fun with their performance and get the crowd up and dancing.

Baby Baby has performed in Milledgeville numerous times before.

“We’ve played for Sounds of the South, and that was really fun, and we’ve played at Amici’s and Velvet Elvis,” Dobbs said.

They have even gained fans from their different performances.

“I originally came for Baby Baby,” Liz Rary, freshman English major, said. “I got to see them a while back so it was awesome to see them again.”

Quante felt that the night’s performances were a success.

“I think the performances went really well,” Quante said.  “All three bands did a great job, we had a pretty good turnout, and everyone seemed to really enjoy it.”

Posted by Mallory Chapman on Oct 25 2012. Filed under A&E. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.