Guitar riffs and melodious voices rang through Grange Hall as student bands fought for the honor of opening for Seeb, this year’s Centralhallapalooza feature band, at the Student Activities Board’s CHP Showdown on Friday.
Penny and the Mandimes took first place, followed by The Village Idiots in second and Trophy Wives in third. Seven bands competed in total.
Trophy Wives, named for its predominantly female members, includes sophomore Domine Clemons as lead singer; seniors Callie Ring on bass, Grace Vandegriff on backup vocals, and Claudia Sladick on rhythm guitar; and freshmen Abbey Bohrer and Julia Salloum on backup vocals, and Jenny Buccola on keys. Its only male member is senior Dean Sinclair, who played drums.
“I felt that our presence as a girl band brought something very new and spunky to the stage at CHP Showdown,” Clemons said. “I was very surprised we placed third, because there was just so much talent and different kinds of music performed, but it shows that Hillsdale students really liked our theme of women power.”
Second place winner The Village Idiots includes members sophomores Timothy Green and Rowan Macwan, and juniors Calvin Kinney, Alexander Green, Matthew Kendrick, and Ethan Greb.
“We are a very ‘grunge’ band, and I think the name ‘The Village Idiots’ fits us really well with the style of music that we play. The crowd seems to love it,” Kinney said. “When we heard that we placed, we were really excited to play again in front of a great crowd. We are so pumped to debut a few more covers and jam out again at CHP.”
Despite their early time slot in the competition, Penny and the Mandimes dominated the competition. They will play immediately before Centralhallapalooza’s main attraction: the Norwegian rock band, Seeb.
“We were really nervous to be playing at the beginning, because we knew the only way we could win is if we got people to see us perform,” said Calvert, the leader singer and only female in the band. “There were more people than we anticipated, especially the Simpson boys. They really brought energy to our set.”
Most of the group’s members, apart from Calvert, live in Simpson Residence sophomore Adam Buchman on drums, sophomores Zane Mabry and Patrick Votel on guitar, freshman Jacob Gieselman on bass, and freshman Dominic Bulger on keys, which contributed to the large audience.
“Deep down we wanted to just place, until after we played and suddenly realized that we had a very good chance of winning,” Calvert said. “We play a lot of classic rock, but for Centralhallapalooza we’re going to incorporate some contemporary music and even a country song.”
Calvert said that as they experiment with new music styles, they want to keep their set a secret until the show.
“I am really excited about a particular song we’re going to perform because it’s going to bring a lot of uniqueness to the set, but we want to keep it a secret,” Calvert said.
Penny and the Mandimes will open for Seeb on Saturday, April 28th at 6 p.m. for Student Activities Board’s annual Centralhallapalooza.
