Punk bands rock the Broad Street stage

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Punk bands rock the Broad Street stage

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The crowd cheered when Fathom City invited a member of Smart Alecs on stage to dance to its last song, resulting in the entire band jumping onto the stage and singing along with the crowd.

Four punk/rock bands performed at the Broad Street Underground the night of March 4, including the Smart Alecs, Fathom City, Stereo Song, and 8 Foot Grimiss, all of which traveled from all over Michigan to set a precedent for the Underground as a concert venue in addition to a college bar. Broad Street has events planned every weekend through the spring to further their reach of performance artists and draw regular crowds.

Opening band Smart Alecs, a pop/punk band from Jackson, Michigan, started in 2015 at Michigan State University.

“I always wanted to play in a band, but could not find enough members due to lack of commitment and a fear of balancing work, college classes, and dedicating enough time to practice,” said Alex Di Biosso, the lead vocalist, songwriter, and composer of the band.

Alex connected with the rest of his members through Facebook and began practicing for local shows and competitions around Jackson.

“We have had our ups and downs as a band. One of our greatest achievements by far was winning second place in the Homedown Throwdown hosted in Lansing, Michigan, in 2015,” said Di Biosso.

The Smart Alecs coined their name through the members’ shared traits of sarcasm and rebelliousness.

“It was originally a nickname given by my dad, but it fit our genre of the ’90s to early 2000s, so we went with it,” said Di Bosso. The Smart Alecs promote through Bandcamp, Facebook, Tumbler, and Twitter.

The Smart Alecs were followed by Fathom City, a band started out of Detroit in 2014 and founded by bassist Steve Lupinski.

“We are unique because we don’t trap ourselves in a single genre, but are collective so that we can play whatever we want,” said lead vocalist William May.

Fathom City began as “Fathom,” but decided since the members were all from different cities, they wanted to encompass the sound of the band’s hometown of Detroit, and changed the name to Fathom City.

“If I could describe our sound in one phrase, it would be funk-based turned the block,” May said.

8 Foot Grimiss was the last band to play Friday night. The members started the band in 2010 out of Battle Creek, Michigan “with the idea to play music they would genuinely enjoy listening to,” said lead vocalist Don Daniel.

The band collectively composes its music while Daniel primarily writes lyrics.

“8 Foot Grimiss attempts to structure its sound after personal preferences rather than over any certain pattern of music, and even though we identify as heavy blues rock, our music selection offers incredible diversity with the ability to change genres and tones mid-show,” Daniel said. One of the band’s high points was playing support for Saving Abel in 2015. 8 Foot Grimiss offers updates of its music and shows on Facebook, ReverbNation, and Twitter.

Broad Street will continue to host bands, performers, and other events open to the general public age 18 and up every weekend throughout the spring and summer.