The opening performance at Welcome Party featured Jay Jameson and the Car Bombs — a group of five members of the Men’s Music Fraternity carrying on a decade-long legacy. 

The band consists of juniors Erik Teder on the keytar, an electric keyboard worn like an electric guitar, Luca Vitale on the electric bass, John Frenz on the drums, Jeremy Holford toting the electric guitar, and Noah Lobue at the microphone.

Every year since 2014, the Men’s Music Fraternity, formerly Phi Mu Alpha and working to become Theta Epsilon, has put together a band composed entirely of fraternity brothers old and new, Stephen Berntson president of the fraternity said. 

“We want to enrich campus with music. We want to enrich each other musically,” Berntson said. “We call it fostering brotherhood among fellow musicians — making these deep friendships that are founded on common experience and an uncommon passion for music. It manifests in really fun ways.”

Berntson said the fraternity band has a legacy of performing at Centralhallapalooza and Battle of the Bands, which occurred last year when he was the lead singer of Spike Jäger and the Spitfires, Jay Jameson’s predecessor. Although Berntson will not be returning this year as lead singer due to a variety of reasons, he maintained it was not due to lack of enjoyment.

“It’s my favorite thing to do, but I just felt like my time was better spent elsewhere,” Berntson said. “I had done everything I wanted to do with bands.”

According to Bernston, the band has retained the same name scheme since its beginning, which takes the brand name of a drink and adds on somebody’s name. Berntson said “Jameson” was named after the brand Jameson Whiskey, combined with the name “Jay” representing the frontman, and “Car Bombs,” representing the band members, is named after the drink that combines Guinness beer, Baileys Irish Cream liqueur, and Jameson whiskey.

“So it has to do with alcohol,” Berntson said. “That’s just the frat brand.”

Vitale said the band’s lead guitarist from two years ago, Michael Thelen ’23, who played a leading role in shaping the music fraternity, met one of the members from the very first band in 2014, whose name was Dave. According to Vitale, Dave told Thelen the very first band was named “Deaf Davey and the Wineboxes,” for Dave was deaf in his right ear, and the band really liked wine.

“It was super cool for Michael to meet someone that’s connected that far back,” Vitale said.

Vitale said he likes the retention of the name scheme, tying the band back to the same origin and connecting a legacy, no matter how the band members change.

“It comes, it goes,” Vitale said, referring to other bands on campus. “People graduate. It’s here for two to four years. But not for this band, that’s why the name changes every year, because there’s almost always new faces.”

Vitale said the forming of the band really depended on the members’ passion and skill for music.

“There’s two things that you look for in a band, ‘Can they play, and can they hang?’” Vitale said. “And that’s true for any band anywhere.”

Vitale said he hopes to return to the band’s roots as campus’ rock ‘n’ roll band.

“Things that the crowd can get their heads moving to,” Vitale said.

Frenz said he’s looking forward to playing music from groups like Maroon 5, whose pop songs tend toward rock at live performances.

“We’re really excited to pick up more stuff like that, but a lot of that fits with the sound really well,” Frenz said. “We have a lot of guys who have good chops and a lot of guys who are really excited by that type of stuff.”

Frenz said he had not thought of joining a band outside of campus, but he changed his mind when he saw Schizmatics, another student band, playing at Welcome Party. Frenz was a self-taught drummer for two and a half years before he came to Hillsdale, and Jay Jameson is his drummer’s debut on the campus music scene — a position he had been waiting for. 

“More than just the technical aspects, like waiting in line and how being a drummer works, I’m just really excited to make music with my friends,” Frenz said.

Frenz said the group has great chemistry in their rehearsals together, helped by the small size of the band.

“We, in terms of equipment and our member size, are quite mobile,” Frenz said. “It does not mean our sound will be any less, any smaller. I think with the smaller group, we’re gonna have a lot more cohesion.”

Vitale said he is especially excited to play as many house gigs as possible this year for anyone who invites them —- something that is easier for Jay Jameson than bigger student bands like Runaround.

“It may be tough to fit Runaround into a living room, but we can kind of squeeze into the space,” Vitale said. “House gigs are electric, so small and so intimate. Can’t really hear much after it — that’s part of the experience, too. The energy is there in ways that places like Welcome Party and CHP are not. It’s just different, and I look forward to that.”

Vitale said when he visited Hillsdale as a high school senior, all he wanted to do was join the band belonging to the music fraternity then known as Phi Mu Alpha.  

“I’ve always had that ideal, but especially as time has gone on, it’s become more than just a band,” Vitale said. “It’s friends that I enjoy hanging out with, and it’s a cherry on top that I get to play music with them.”